Cycling, Mostly

The waters have receded and behind them, deep crevices on some of our trails. 

Our wonderful sunsets are beautiful even when there aren't many clouds in the sky to amplify.

I'm selling my condo so on a recent trip to clean, I was trapped between my condo and suv by a herd of 13 javelinas.  They were spread out, vacuuming nuts that have fallen from the trees

I joined the Bicycle Ranch shop ride on Saturday morning.  Only 16 of us and rather than two separate groups of "A" and "B" riders, we all went out as one.  The outcome was predictable.  At mile 9, some guy who had been keeping the pace reasonable rotated off the front, the next guy rose and began sprinting and I was left gasping. LOL.  I finished with 31 miles, far short of the group's 55 mile route because....

....I wanted to have something left in the tank for the next morning when Amy and I drove to Amado, unloaded our bikes and headed west to Arivaca.

The pavement and views matched, awesome.  We had a strong, gusty head wind as we headed west but took comfort that the return would be a bunch more enjoyable and....

....so it was.  Not only with a tail wind but mostly down hill too, yeehaw!  The Santa Ritas in the distance with Mount Wrightson the highest peak.  

We finished with 43 miles and 2000' of climbing.  That gave me 138 miles for the week.

I'm at a kinda trim 170 pounds.  My cycling fitness deteriorated quite a bit in the last 4 years as I pursued hiking, which I enjoy a bit more than cycling.  Hiking too is great for fitness but it just does not translate well for cycling.  I suffered one too many indignities in recent group rides (getting blown out the back of easier paced groups, passed by people who never should be able to do that, tired legs after too few miles, envious of my Ohio cycling buddies I follow on Strava who ride far faster and farther than me, etc...) so I put in a 138 mile week.  I noticed the difference so will continue for awhile but hiking is never far from my mind.