I've begun my tapering for the T-Town ride. I decided to head up the Banducci summit to test out the equipment and body. The weather has gone a bit sour again with the smoke in the air. The wind is turbulent but mostly from the East. The body felt average. I made it to the end of OTR in good average time. I can tell that I haven't recovered 100% from the weekend's ride. I should be good to go by Saturday. I will put in one more ride up OTR and back. I'll do that on Wednesday. So, I'll have 2 stretching sessions on Thursday and Friday. The Banducci Summit felt ok. I wasn't redlining it and was able to hold a steady tempo. There was minimal traffic mitigation as well. Before I made it to Banducci, I noticed the left Achilles heel was a bit sore. It never escalated. I took a few moments rest when I reached the summit of Banducci. I headed back down after letting traffic by. I scoped out the area where the first T-Town ride's rest stop will be located. It looks to have mostly loose gravel in the parking area. From there, I headed downhill. I was being extra cautious while descending off the Banducci wall due to the turbulent wind conditions. Concentration was good. Balance and form felt good. Ailments were minimal. Just the Achilles heel that subsided. Gear worked perfect. I installed new tires and handlebar tape. All of which worked perfect. Nutrition was good. I had less than half my Gatorade and some water. Other notes, I'm having to put myself on a special diet to keep the GI under control. So far, so good. I'm also using ice therapy. There were no cyclist today.