I decided to go extra today. The weather was cold and winds from the north. I wore 2 base layers, arms, knees, and I brought my cap. My legs felt good from the start, maybe just a bit heavy. I decided that I wanted to scout Willow Springs to the south. The furthest I've been on that route was to the summit. Today, I wanted to see how far the left turn was from the summit. I've driven this part many months back. I didn't remember exactly how far it was. It turned out to be closer than I thought. It was safe for the most part. There was enough room on the shoulder to make it safe while on my bike. The left turn was safer than I remembered. The gradient eased up a bit, I was able to approach it at a safe speed. Immediately after the left hander, the road starts to climb gradually and then some. I think I made it about 2 miles from the 58 freeway. That's where I turned around. I gauged my tempo almost to perfection. I calculated, first that I have enough provisions to get me out and back. Then the time constraint. It took me about 1:30 hrs to get out and close to the same on the return trip. There was so much there to see, I stopped at least 5 or 6 times to take photos of the wind mills and scenery. This allowed my body to recover periodically. I had just enough fluids to get me home. I kept moderate tempo for as much as I could. I did near maximal efforts only when necessary. Concentration, was pretty good, yet some gremlins here and there, but for the most part spot on. I was partially in aw from the surrounding scenery. Ailments were surprising less than I anticipated. I don't think I was in any danger of bonking. I may have had some soreness in my left knee. The fact that I can't remember means that it was next to none. Balance is coming along well. Gear is working well, but the GPS didn't work as I anticipated. It ran low on batteries about 30 minutes from the end of the ride. I am almost certain that it was fully charged. The last time this happened, it turned out that it had at least 1.5 to 2 hours remaining. That wasn't the case today. Fortunately, I had my Charity app running. It was at about 40 miles at the end of the ride with 3:10 hrs of total time. So, I missed about 3 miles of metrics. Other notes, I saw about 5 deer crossing the street on Mariposa, just as I was making a left turn. I took some photos. The wind farm reminds me a bit of Caliente. Vast amounts of land with minimal housing.