Wow. This was a tough ride. The forecast called for afternoon thunderstorms, but I thought I'd ride out east and see how far I got. I turned around at the rest area between Bennett and Strasburg. By then, the wind had really started to blow, and I knew it would be a tough ride home. The ride back was a real ordeal. 1st gear (32.5 inches) on some of the downhills. I was lucky there was no hail, and only a little rain. I stopped in Bennett to put on my bright neon yellow vest, and stopped in Watkins to figure out what the weather was doing. As I hydrated, the wind shifted directions (again...) and I noticed it started blowing toward the west. The clouds were extremely dark to the south and west, so I took off with a nice tailwind. This was an interesting ride as far as my muscles were concerned. My legs felt strong (thanks to a Juniper Pass and Lookout Mtn.), but they really started to hurt at about 40 miles. If you look at my splits, you'll notice the effect of the wind, which was almost like climbing another mountain. I didn't eat dinner last night, and only a bit this morning, so I probably started out with a deficit. With this difficult 50 miles, I am worried about how I will do on Saturday. 50 miles won't even get me to the top of Loveland Pass. If I eat properly, I should make it to the top, and if I can make it up Loveland, the toughest climbs will be through. Then it's just hanging in for another 60 miles (and Vail Pass) - 45 miles of which is down hill. This was also my first ride using my Tachyon helmet camera. I was bummed to find out that I ended up with no video when I returned home. I need to play with it some more. I also need to remember to hit the resume button on my Blackberry Bones in Motion program so that all of my miles get recorded... Is anyone actually reading these posts? Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 5562 ft Location: Aurora, CO, Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 07/06/10 Up/Downhill: [+1971/-1971] Time: 07:54 PM Difficulty: 5.0 / 5.0   Weather: Flash Flood Warning until Tue Jul 06 2010 10:30 PM MDT   67 F temp; 62% humidity   67 F heat index; winds NNE 14 mph Performance Distance: 49.59 miles Time: 3:51:16 Speed: 12.8 mph Pace: 4' 41 /mi Calories: 2213 Map   Elevation (ft)   Speed (mph)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 6' 29 +1' 47 9.2 -3.6 +49 ft 2 4' 59 +0' 17 12.0 -0.8 +30 ft 3 4' 11 -0' 30 14.3 +1.5 -49 ft 4 5' 31 +0' 49 10.9 -1.9 -42 ft 5 3' 41 -1' 00 16.3 +3.5 +7 ft 6 2' 41 -2' 00 22.2 +9.4 -53 ft 7 3' 27 -1' 14 17.4 +4.6 0 ft 8 3' 26 -1' 15 17.4 +4.6 -33 ft 9 4' 45 +0' 03 12.6 -0.2 +62 ft 10 5' 03 +0' 21 11.9 -0.9 +59 ft 11 4' 12 -0' 29 14.3 +1.5 -33 ft 12 3' 19 -1' 22 18.1 +5.3 -36 ft 13 3' 14 -1' 27 18.5 +5.7 -59 ft 14 4' 23 -0' 18 13.7 +0.8 +17 ft 15 4' 12 -0' 29 14.3 +1.5 +43 ft 16 3' 19 -1' 22 18.0 +5.2 -10 ft 17 3' 28 -1' 13 17.3 +4.5 -7 ft 18 3' 06 -1' 35 19.3 +6.5 -13 ft 19 3' 03 -1' 38 19.6 +6.8 -10 ft 20 2' 51 -1' 50 21.1 +8.2 -52 ft 21 3' 20 -1' 21 17.9 +5.1 +6 ft 22 3' 15 -1' 26 18.4 +5.6 +3 ft 23 3' 31 -1' 10 17.0 +4.2 -6 ft 24 3' 16 -1' 25 18.3 +5.5 -49 ft 25 4' 55 +0' 13 12.2 -0.6 +124 ft 26 4' 15 -0' 26 14.1 +1.3 -124 ft 27 5' 51 +1' 09 10.2 -2.6 +49 ft 28 8' 10 +3' 28 7.3 -5.5 +10 ft 29 3' 01 -1' 40 19.8 +7.0 -3 ft 30 5' 48 +1' 06 10.3 -2.5 -13 ft 31 7' 56 +3' 14 7.5 -5.3 +56 ft 32 6' 10 +1' 28 9.7 -3.1 +13 ft 33 6' 15 +1' 33 9.6 -3.2 +10 ft 34 6' 06 +1' 24 9.8 -3.0 +13 ft 35 6' 20 +1' 38 9.5 -3.3 +6 ft 36 5' 59 +1' 17 10.0 -2.8 -49 ft 37 5' 41 +0' 59 10.6 -2.2 +39 ft 38 4' 36 -0' 05 13.0 +0.2 +30 ft 39 5' 09 +0' 27 11.6 -1.2 +69 ft 40 4' 25 -0' 16 13.5 +0.7 -33 ft 41 3' 14 -1' 27 18.5 +5.7 -66 ft 42 3' 23 -1' 18 17.7 +4.9 -23 ft 43 5' 52 +1' 10 10.2 -2.6 +36 ft 44 5' 46 +1' 04 10.4 -2.4 -20 ft 45 5' 44 +1' 02 10.4 -2.4 +39 ft 46 5' 50 +1' 08 10.3 -2.5 +50 ft 47 6' 37 +1' 55 9.1 -3.7 +27 ft 48 4' 30 -0' 11 13.3 +0.5 -16 ft 49 4' 01 -0' 40 14.9 +2.1 +23 ft end 4' 51 +0' 09 12.3 -0.5 -46 ft Versus average of 12.8 mph

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