Today was another early morning ride. The forecast was to be in the upper 80's. When I left, it was around 60 or 70 degrees with the winds going north. The objective today was to see how my body and mind reacts on this ride. More importantly, because this is the first major climb of the Gran Fondo ride. I felt good going out to the top of the descent. Some of which the wind should be credited to. I cruised the downhill and did good time reaching the base. Again, the wind was a (good) factor. Climbing the mountain proved to be more challenging as the wind was now a head-wind. I kept the pace nice and steady, no heroics. My body behaved well, I had no significant ailments. I did experience some knee pain for no more than a minute at some point in the ride. Nothing major, though. Concentration was good for the most part. I had good focus and keeping my mind on what was around the next bend. I reached the top in good time considering that I was going into a head-wind. Gear is working great, no problems. Other notes, I saw at least 10 riders today. I wore my new Pearlizumi shorts and they felt real good. Definitely a step up from the Performance shorts. I bought some standard shorts of the same model without the shoulder straps. I'm going to use that for the Gran Fondo ride.