Today was a last minute recon / rehearsal ride. The other day, I noticed that there was a part of the course that will go through the alpine forest. I've never been there, so I decided to check it out. The entrance starts modest and gets steep on Lemans and Apls street. It takes about 10 minutes longer than the usual Banducci route. My gearing will work, I just need to remember to pace myself. As for the ride... The weather was cool, sunny and some clouds. I'd say in the low 70's. I wore the standard kit. If it's going to be anything like this on Saturday, then I'll likely wear arm and knee warmers. I'm guessing I'll need them all the way to Highline, going west. Hopefully mom and dad can meet me there. I felt good today. My legs were a bit heavy to start, but they livened up in about 10 minutes. The cool, dense air helped. I did moderate tempo on most of the ride. I picked up the pace on a few places to test my legs and such. I felt good in this regard. Gear wise, I did a rehearsal for changing camera batteries and SD card. I think I have it figured out. First, turn the camera off, remove the power bank plug. If needed, swap out the memory card. Replace the battery bacpac. Replace the internal battery. Put the camera on the ground when necessary. Put the camera back in the housing and close it. Re-attach the power bank cable. Press the shutter button. Confirm that it's working. In order to swap things out, tuck the bag of goodies under your jersey (belly side). You re-packed your saddle bag. You now have 2 inner-tubes, wrapped with blue masking tape. You packed everything else you might need for the Di2, chain, spoke, Swiss army knife, zip ties, 4 CO2 cartridges, tire levers. That's pretty much it. Briefly about concentration, it felt good with few lapses. Balance feels good. I like the semi-new technique with heal-in/out and swiveling with the changing conditions. Ailments were next to none. The bike itself feels good with minor clicks here and there. After cleaning it in the next day, hopefully that will go away. Other notes, no markings on the ground yet, I saw only 1 other cyclist.

Other ntoes, I had to stop on the side of the road while going through the Alpine forest in order to get my barings. I used my smartphone to see where I needed go. It worked like a charm. Probably took an extra 4 or 5 minutes out of my ride.