I took off work at 4PM on solstice and rode home. Ate a PBJ and filled the water bottles on my favorite bike, then headed out at 5PM for my first over&back of the Colorado National Monument. http://www.nps.gov/colm/photosmultimedia/index.htm The east side climb was in the sun with temps in the lower 80s. By the top I had sweat circles on my shorts. It is gnat season which promotes a minimum pace and no stops, so the camera sat in the saddle bag the entire trip. Temps were in the 70s across the top with only light wind and full late afternoon sun. Traffic was light. Towards the west end is the visitors center. There were many kids&adults in the parking lot apparently preparing for a bike ride. I dove down the western descent hitting 38mph a few times between curves. The Riv Road's handling and Roly Polly tires elicits big confidence for me and I often let it hang out on these curves.
Cyclometer was on 32 miles as I turned around at the west gate. I spun a 36X21 back into the warm sun adding another white ring to my shorts by the time I made it back to the visitor center. Sure enough several kids with adults were riding back to the visitor center from the east with their adult partners. There was one tandem with an attached tagalong, and an older sister following on her own bike. The sun was getting low behind me and colors were coming out in the lower light. Flowers were prevalent after a good rain this last weekend, the last rain we may see for at least another week from the look of the weather pattern. Finally back to high point at 6640ft at 8PM with sunset looming. Temp was a cool 62 degrees. Zipped up and shifted onto the big ring. Pushed a big gear in the drops hitting 44.6 mph at some point before the east gate 16 minutes later. Luckily the Park Ranger below the tunnel just waved and did not stop me as I was clearly over the 25 mph speed limit. Back to downtown and then another 4 miles out to my home arriving at 8:43, exactly sunset on the longest day. I have some more work to do to be ready for century season, but it was a fun longish ride for a workday. Tired legs this morning. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
