Am I out of my mind…or am I out of my socks?

What a great day and great ride.

Woke up super early to ride down to Anthem Hills Park to pick up anyone interested in riding from there. No one showed up, but then again I was late in letting anyone know. Started towards Mountains Edge Park and picked up Moose along the way at LVB and Cactus.

Moose and I made good time over to Mountains Edge Park, but rolled up and found it empty. We did a quick lap through the parking lot and rolled on for Pedal & Pour. We made it less than a block before we saw Caleb in his car heading for the park. We flipped around to grab him only to find that he had a training ride he had to do and wouldn’t be joining us. We talked for a few minutes before rolling out. It wasn’t very long before we found Kevin coming our way. He flipped around and the three of us made our way over to Pedal & Pour.

We rolled into Pedal & Pour with perfect timing right as everyone was lining up for a quick group shot before heading over to West Tech for the start of the official ride. Before we left though I unpacked the extra Adobo Velo jersey I’d brought along for Kevin to sport for the group picture we were taking later at the Red Rock loop summit.

Leaving Pedal & Pour I was towards the front just cruising along until Jon, Kevin, and Moose passed me up. Did a decent job of sticking with them, but they were pretty much just ahead. Did catch up Moose at one point. Kevin was next, but needed a red light to get it done. Never caught Jon, but then again is that really a surprise?

Rolled into West Tech with time to spare before the official start of 7. Visited with a few people before we pressed on to a Red Rock Loop.

As we were out along Charleston I was well behind dang near everyone. As I got going I was pretty quickly coming up on people. Instead of just hanging back I made my way around them. It took a couple decent efforts in order to pass up the larger groups but it all paid off when I got out in front and had open asphalt in front of me.

I was out all along until just before the Red Rock entrance. That was when Dave, Josh, and Jon caught me and blew on by. I jumped on to their wheel to follow them into the park.

No surprise once the rest of the group caught up and we were ready to go through the gate the poor folks working were just overwhelmed. They aren’t really equipped to handle groups our size, and, to be totally honest, I think we, as a group, could do a much better job of organizing everyone in order to make the process a little easier for all involved. Thankfully we were all able to get through and start for the summit.

Once through the gate I pulled off to hang back to make sure everyone made it through ok. With the last person through I started for the summit. Hung out with Kant for a bit and he got to watch in horror as I turned around to pick up some new bike money! I did catch him back up and we chatted a little more before I started to pull away and he was visiting with someone else. I made really good time to the summit and was feeling pretty dang good to boot. Ended up with a slew of PRs from segments all through the park.

Once at the summit we all got a chance to chill out and recharge the legs while waiting for everyone to roll up. When the last rider came in we all gathered up for the annual group photo.

With the photo out of the way we were off for Pedal & Pour for tacos. I think there was a group that went out to Blue Diamond and another that looped back for West Tech. Really it was riders choice for what they felt up to. Of course I want the mileage so I opted for Blue Diamond. As we were making our descent I was rolling with the very friendly faces of Kenny and Mark. We stuck together, and picked up a few others, all the way to the Terrible’s at the 159/160 intersection.

While waiting at Terrible’s, Jon, Joy, Henry, and Joe all rolled up. We visited for a bit while everyone grabbed some snacks before pressing on to Pedal & Pour.

We rolled up to Pedal & Pour ridiculously early. I think tacos were scheduled to start around 11 and I think we got there around 9. We were just flying so good we blew Robert’s schedule to smithereens. For those who started from Pedal & Pour it gave them a chance to get their bikes stored and changed into street clothes. For me it was a chance for some actual coffee, versus the breakfast caffeine pill, and a cinnamon roll. Then I was catching flak from people because I was having a cinnamon roll AND going to have tacos later. When it was obvious we’d be waiting for tacos because of how early we were I was happy to have had that cinnamon roll.

I then proceeded to hang out for the next three hours visiting with everyone. It was really a great time. Honestly, I had more fun hanging outside under the tent than at the Christmas party. Sometimes events are funny like that.

With all that time lounging around it was time to get rolling home. I wanted to pick up some Wandrer miles along the way. I opted to head up to Russell and cruise it all the way to LVB. I picked up a couple small side streets around that area before heading south along Dean Martin. Once I crossed over Blue Diamond I picked up what I had left of Wigwam before cruising to finish out Serene. With that tackled Silverado Ranch seemed like a good idea to head back east.

After I cleared LVB I picked up a couple more Wandrer segments before setting off down LVB. I got to Starr and debated riding straight out to Speed Vegas and ride Via Inspirada east and work my way to Democracy. Instead I stopped at the Terrible’s on the corner for some snacks and to fill my water bottles.

After a nice 20 minute break I continued east on Starr and decided to do a bear claw. Was feeling really good and was looking forward to trying to smash up Hampton, but I didn’t make it very far up the climb before I realized I was done cooked. I dialed it back and, honestly, I kept getting slower and slower as I went along. Thankfully I wasn’t bonking, but my legs were just done for the day.

Made the climbs up to the house without much issue. I was happy to see that my order from The Feed arrived and I was able to make me a nice GU recovery drink. It’s the little things in life really. Now I get to hang out and relax for the rest of the night. Already looking forward to the next one!

New bike fund: $4.05 (+$0.25)
16.08 new miles — From Wandrer.earth
Give your activities the names they deserve. – by Bandok.com
Mostly clear-Mostly sunny, 75°F-95°F, Feels like 72°F-100°F, Humidity 42%-15%, Wind ESE 4mph-ESE 4mph – by Klimat.app
— myWindsock Report —
Weather Impact: -3.5%
Headwind: 36% @ 3.2-19.5mph
Longest Headwind: 55m 3s
Air Speed: 17.2mph
Temp: 72.4-91.7°F
Precip: 0% @ 0 Inch/hr
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