Ride Like the Wind!

That's what Brenda and I did yesterday!

We started at 9:30 and quickly realized that we should've started earlier. It was already 70+ degrees and too much traffic. But it was a beautiful Saturday morning and we were raring to go.

So we headed out 20th St to highway 34, which we took to the first Windsor exit. The short section of 20th from The Buzz to 34 is narrow but I didn't think it was too bad. I forgot about the potholes and cattle guards, and it seems like the entire town of Greeley was headed out of town that way too. Ugh.

We finally made it 34 and were relieved. It was actually easier to ride on the highway than 20th. At least there is a wide shoulder and its concrete, making it a great place to really fly.

And it would've been fine if we didn't have to ride past a really big turtle that didn't quite make it across the road - EEUUUWWW!

We took the Windsor exit and flew down the hill on 257. If you stay to the right of the rumble strips, it's actually pretty nice riding.

We turned left onto New Liberty Road (I think thats the name of it) and circled around the south side of Water Valley and up the steep hill we like to ride. I had to drop into my lowest gear to make it up the hill but Brenda mentioned she still had two gears left (not exactly what I wanted to hear, btw).  The view of the front range at the top made it worth it!

Now for my favorite part: riding west on Crossroads Blvd toward the mountains. I just love riding there - wide shoulder, little traffic, breathtaking view of the snow-capped Rockies - love it!

That's where I noticed the wind. Either it had just picked up or we were too high with endorphins to notice. Either way, it was windy!

We made several turns in different directions on the way back so we had a headwind, tailwind, and side wind all the way back. The side wind was the worst because it really felt like we were going to be blown over. The tail wind was awesome because it was with us as we descended the big hill after the roundabout on Crossroads and we hit 41.5 mph!

And of course, we had the head wind on the toughest part - the long hill back up 257 that intersects with 34. We both laughed and said "no wonder we flew down that hill so fast"!

We ended up riding 32 miles from The Buzz and back but I had an extra 8 miles from my house, so I got 40 miles in - yay!  And the GREAT news is that I felt like I could've easily kept on going.

All in all, a fun and challenging ride. I'm so glad to have friends who are crazy enough to sign up for an Ironman too. It makes the training a lot more fun.

I went home and mowed the yard for 3 hrs (front and back, riding mower and push mower) and collapsed on our new deck, cold one in hand, about 5:00 PM. Ahhhhh....

Today I am probably going to take off since I need to let my hip rest before I try running again; plus, we have lots of yardwork to do and church to go to this morning (and the kids and I will ride our bikes there).  I'd love to run but better not.

TTFN!