Keene n Back

It's a bit colder. I got out later than anticipated. I wore the standard winter kit with knee warmers. It's about 50 degrees, winds from the North West. A good day to go to Keene. My stomach was a bit sore when I got up. I ended up taking some Pepto. That seemed to calm things down. I ended up drinking just water on my ride. No sport drink. I forgot to bring a Clif Bar. I didn't panic since I never feed on this ride. The legs felt pretty good to start. I made it to the summit of WTR in good average time. I cruised the downhill. I put in two modest digs on the risers. I made it to the base of the climb in average time. After reaching the base, I headed back without hesitation. The legs didn't take much time to get warmed up. I was feeling good by the time I reached the Lower Loop. I kept the tempo steady while doing in and out of the saddle efforts. I was listening to my music and GPS announcements. That kept me in the zone. When I reached the top of the Upper Loop, I pulled over to remove my face mask since I was starting to get hot in the collar. I tried to keep the tempo no less than moderate. I was guessing how many songs to the summit. That seemed to help the suffering. I kept the power down going over the top. After reaching the summit, I took a few moments to recover and headed back home. I shut it down at the top of Weston.

Concentration was good. I was in the zone most of the time. My patience was in check. The morale felt good going into the ride. I'm glad I convinced myself to get up. Balance and form felt good. Ailments were minimal. Just some hand soreness here and there. Nutrition was good. I had a bowl of oatmeal, some plantains, and grapes for breakfast. I drank only water during the ride. Gear worked flawlessly. Other notes, there were some folks at the Loop Monument when I was on my way back. The local train was passing through when I was descending towards Keene. I made it there first.