I was wrong yesterday about today being 80% road/20% dirt. That was from Natalie's place. From my place it was more like 90/10. Because of that, I was going to just drive to the base of Dirt Alpine but I changed my mind and mindset about the ride and rode my THESIS instead of the Epic EVO. Since I had just ridden the same roads yesterday on my Epic EVO, it was still fresh in my mind. I was immediately regretting not riding the Epic EVO. It's smoother, more comfortable and feels faster. The only place it loses out to the THESIS is in the top end since it's not very aero. Later, coming back in the headwind, maybe I was happy I was on the THESIS. Really, this wasn't an issue with the bikes. The route was such that any bike would've been a compromise. Maybe it was feeling harder because I was still tired from yesterday. Still, the Epic EVO would've been more fun at Monte Bello. I was especially regretting not riding it while descending Canyon Trail. I was used to going faster but had to remind myself to slow down. The river crossing at the bottom was pretty manageable. Once we got out of the shade of Stevens Canyon, it was HOT. It was much hotter than I was expecting based on the forecast. Also around this time, my allergies started to act up. Because of the heat, we decided to skip our original plan of going up Montebello to get back in to Monte Bello. We also wanted to get lunch and Natalie's previously injured wrist was hurting since near the beginning of the ride. During lunch, my allergies got worse and on the way back the headwind was tickling my nose, making me want to sneeze and blow my nose. That and the heat started to really tire me out so by the time I dropped Kira off, I was heading home in limp mode.