1000 Mile Month!

I put this in here because it is so typical of the desert southwest.  People riding horses.  I'll pass restaurants or bars and see multiple horses tied up outside.  I wonder if anyone has been pulled over for riding drunk on a horse?  So cool and.....

...so too was Friday, the final day of the month.  After days of temps in the 80's and 90's, today's high was 67 with strong winds.  Note the grainy appearance of the above image due to dust swirling in the sky, borne by strong winds from the west. I needed 57 miles to reach 1000 cycling miles.  I arrived for a group ride and a guy was warning us about "Valley Fever".  Apparently, it originates in Avra Valley, which was on our route today. There are spores in the ground that become airborne during high winds.  If they lodge in your lungs, you will have flu-like symptoms for a long time.  Of course, I shrug this off (remember I do stupid stuff like hike in rattler country when rattlers are out, off trail hiking, not smart).  We head out and....

....I struggle to keep up during the warm-up phase.  My legs are dead.  I spit the bit at mile 1, finishing with 3.5 miles.  Ugh.  Then, I receive an inspiring message from a friend and in the afternoon, head out on the bike again!!!!  At mile 37, with light dimming, winds howling, cold (probably 65 degrees so that's cold stuff) I am headed south on a bike path (probably bad idea to road ride late on a Friday) when it hits me.  OK, I have 984 cycling miles but I also have 34 hard hiking miles.  By my math, that is 1018 activity miles so I am there.  How bout that and head for the barn.  For a guy who had under 200 cycling miles for both Jan and Feb, that's pretty good, right?