Today was a beautiful day to ride, the start the temp and weather were perfect as the ride progressed the temps started to rise just like the climbs we were doing. Stephen kept me going and chastised me after walking on one of the super long steep hill climbs. I definitely needed more gearing, I was on a 53/39 front with a 11-25 rear. I needed at least a 28 on the rear which would have made all the hills bearable. As it was I had to give it my all on many of the hills and would be barely moving. I lost a few miles on the ride because I had the Garmin set to pause when I go slower than 4 mph and forgot to change it. I was doing a lot of sub 4 mph climbs. Even with all the grand challenges, this ride was most enjoyable. Stephen made it even more enjoyable. I will need to tweak this route. Some of the roads or conditions where not the best. To finish this ride I needed to top it with having my saddle bag left opened, lost a tube, a few tools and what I also thought my keys. To my luck I locked the keys in the van. Called AAA for a lockout they came in about 40 min unlocked the door and I was on my way. This is a must do ride especially once I tweak the route. I would recommend doing this ride both directions as some of the down hills were massive. I was even thinking making it a down and back vs. a huge loop.Special thanks goes to Stephan for accompanying me on this ride and suggesting we not do the ride after the Rain Storm, wet roads would have made this rie very dangerous to say the least.