The days are getting cooler and today was no exception. The temperature was in the low 80's, upper 70's. Winds from the North West. I wore the standard kit. I started by putting some extra bottles in the mailbox for the second half of the ride. My legs felt average at the start, but quickly warmed up. I kept the tempo high on my way to Highline. Once there, I put in a good effort on the 1 mile ascent. After that, I put it into moderate tempo. As I was making my way out, there was a thorn that lodged into my front tire. This is the second or third time it happened. I used the squeegee tool to remove it, but I knew it was going to manifest into a slow leak. Either way, I made it to WS in average time. I started the return leg in modest tempo and slowly picked up the pace. About 3 miles into it, I had to stop and fix the flat. It took about 6 or 7 minutes. Getting back on the bike took some time to get warmed up again. Suffice it to say, I was warmed up within a mile or two. Once over the summit, it was mostly fun and games till I reached the mailbox. Once there, I switched out the bottles, drank the left overs and the extra container of Cytomax and headed out to Keene. I stopped at the start of the descent to feed. I ate one power bar. Again, fun and games to the summit. As usual, I started the ascent in modest tempo. My legs were responding well, so I was able to increase the tempo within 5 minutes. After that point, I was pushing it, but I was well within my limits. I put in good efforts where it counted. Including a good push over the loop monument. Once over the second kicker, I kept the tempo moderate and out of the saddle to keep the momentum going. I was constantly stretching on the short descents as I was making my way up Keene. I kept the tempo high when I was about 1 mile from the summit. My left hip was sore at that point, so I was thinking to myself how to mitigate this ailment as I had no more downhill reprieves till the summit. I got out of the saddle, changed the hand position on the bars. It helped, but the pain never subsided near 100%. Concentration was spot on. I could feel my mind locked into the zone. Ailments consisted of left hip soreness and some mild pains here and there. The hip soreness was noticeable on the last mile up Keene. Once over the summit, I slowed the pace, stretched on the bike and the pain subsided shortly after. Gear is working well. The Gopro stopped recording somewhere between the outbound mailbox and the return from Highline. I have to check the footage. I noticed one click on the chain and gears, but it never happened again on the ride. The power pack looks to be working well. Other notes, there were some cyclists ready to depart as I was going out of Highline. I was surprised not to find any others. The hand pump worked well. After replacing the inner tube, I used the hand pump to inflate the tire to about 20 or 30 PSI. Then I used 2 CO2 cartridges to get it up to around 70 PSI. I hardly noticed any difference compared to 100 PSI. Suffice it to say, the hand pump worked like a charm.