Notes
Great ride out on Blufton this morning. Beautiful, Beautiful day. Sunny but not too hot yet. A light jacket was nice to have at the beginning. Didn't need it by the end, but didn't stop to take it off and never over heated.
Wind was only minimal as I checked the weather, and I headed off towards Blufton, and maybe Canton, although doubting I would get that far, which I was right about. Got through the first couple climbs/bluffs and enjoyed the rolling topography up on top of the second bluff before cruising down the long decent into the Blufton bridge. Took a left and went in to Blufton to say Hi cause I haven't been there in a while, and climbed once up Blufton Hill Rd. Pretty steep climb, definitely took me a little by surprise, but I wanted to try it because I remember Steve saying something about liking it once upon a time. I also remember Steve saying it T's and connects with Blufton Rd. just a couple miles further down, which I figured would work for my intended route, but just after the peak of the first big climb it turns to gravel, and my madone would not have appreciated that very much. Headed back down and into Blufton, then cruised back out and caught Blufton Rd. again to start the climb out of the Valley. Legs were definitely starting to feel some fatigue, but nothing too bad, and I enjoyed the "newness" of the route after that, as the town of Blufton is the furthest I'v been out before. Couple good climbs north of Blufton, and spectacular scenery I enjoyed as well. After another half hour or so I started to worry about the wind. I felt it steadily picking up and knew I was maybe in for a rough return trip. Sure enough, over the course of an hour or so a 9-10mph SSW wind had developed. About 17 miles out I stopped, took a few pictures, had a couple bites of a clif bar, and turned towards home, aware that my legs were fatiguing and I was going to be fighting a headwind all the way back.
The return trip on Blufton Rd. was enjoyable, albeit more difficult than the way out had been because of the wind. Got startled by a wild turkey taking flight from the ditch just about 10m ahead of me at one point, and I think I actually uttered an "oh jeez" out loud to no one.
By the time I hit Pole Line I had nothing left and was ready to be done. Quads had no more power to give and my back and shoulders were quite sore. Great to glide down towers hill towards Regents and know the end was near.
Tried to make it an enjoyable ride and I think I succeeded. Definitely didn't feel as though I was pushing as much as I could the whole time, as I described a couple days ago. And per suggestion from Brenna I spent a decent amount of time on my small ring, and that seemed like it helped me find an appropriate effort as well.
Really enjoyable time, the bluffs are so beautiful.
15 min core
10 min stretching
Post-ride, the quads are absolute bricks, but it was a great day for a ride.