TEAMG Memorial Ride 2023 w/ Extra Credit

During yesterday’s ride Joy and I went back and forth about riding or driving to today’s memorial ride. I eventually decided, kinda for the both of us, that we’d ride over. Besides, Joy has a mileage goal in mind for this year and the extra certainly wouldn’t hurt. I sent her a text that I’d swing by and pick her up along the way at 5:30, like yesterday, and we’d ride straight there.

I didn’t sleep well at all last night. I woke up several times burning hot and sweating only to wake up a few hours later cold and chilled to the bone. I wish I could say that this is something new, but it seems to follow when I’ve done a large ride, like yesterdays. All too soon the alarm went off at 4:00 a.m. and my feet hit the floor and I started getting ready.

Breakfast was a quick bowl of cereal, toast, and coffee. I went back and forth on what kit to wear. The Weather Channel was saying it was 40 degrees while the phone was saying closer to 32 in Henderson. I went the conservative route with thermal riding pants, thicker gloves, and full shoe covers. Ultimately I’m glad I went with the warmer gear. Our easier pace during the ride meant I would stay warmer without having to put in a ton of effort.

Going back and forth between full riding pants and leg warmers put me a little behind. I sent Joy a quick text that I was five minutes behind and another right as I was leaving so she’d know when to expect me. I’d hate for her to be waiting any longer outside at her gate for me than necessary in the cold.

The trip down to Joy’s was quick as usual, about 10 minutes tops. I got to her gate and had to stop to make some clothing adjustments. While I was standing there I was surprised when she came rolling up. I guess she had gone south along Via Firenze to try to catch me at Democracy. The funny thing is that this morning, unlike yesterday, I took the more direct route along Via Contessa and she’d missed me.

The ride over to Pedal & Pour was great. It was nice to ride at a nice chill pace knowing we had plenty of time to get to the start. Lord knows both Joy and I needed a nice chill recovery ride after our centuries yesterday. As we made the turn onto Buffalo, I caught out of the corner of my eye the sunrise. I tried pointing it out, but it had already passed behind the houses. Once we passed Haleh Avenue we had a clear view east and the sunrise was beautiful. I’m not sure what it was about today’s sunrise, but it really moved me. Maybe I was in that perfect heart rate euphoric zone and that contributed to the feeling, but it was something special that’s for sure.

The remainder of the ride to Pedal & Pour went great. One cool thing happened along Fort Apache though. As we approached the light at Maule, I looked back over my shoulder and started waving my arm trying to indicate that Joy and I’d be making a left turn. I spotted this Tacoma coming towards us and from their speed I felt certain they were going to continue past us and we’d move over once they’d passed. Much to my surprise they slowed up obviously waiting for and allowing us to move over to make our turn. After getting over, I made sure to give a huge wave, peace sign, and thumbs up acknowledging their kindness. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, as much as we talk bad about drivers we have to try to remember to sing the praises of those who get it right.

We rolled up with just enough time to visit with a few people before the ride got underway. It was great to see so many friendly faces from all over the valley out to celebrate the life of these five riders. The talk was to do the “regular” Pedal & Pour ride and I was at a complete loss as to what that meant. I’ve never done a Pedal & Pour ride before. It didn’t matter because the pace was totally chill, we never really got separated, and it was an awesome time. I got to visit with several people I haven’t talked with in a while.

It seemed like we were rolling up to Pedal & Pour in no time. I parked Shadow on the north side of the building next to Josh’s bike. I peeked inside and saw that it was crazy busy for both the provided breakfast and coffee so I dipped back out and pulled up a chair with Josh outside. I sat there and visited with several different people for almost two hours. The sun was warm and the company was fantastic. If that was the goal of the organizers they knocked it out of the park.

As more and more riders started heading home it was time for us to do the same. We chatted with Jack and he’d ridden over from Seven Hills and we decided the three of us would roll back east together. For the most part we recycled the route from yesterday, but decided to cut back across via Starr instead of going all the way to the end of Southern Highlands. Jack made the left onto St. Rose to head home while Joy and I continued south (ish) on Raiders Way. Not long after Joy and I decided on a whim to take the right onto Sunridge Heights to see where the new roads went. We continued to wind our way south along desolate smooth roads all the way into Inspirada. It was a great change of pace from Via Inspirada and something I’m hoping we’ll do more often. Nothing quite beats a wide open, freshly paved, quiet road.

Overall, I don’t think we could have asked for a better day to ride. We didn’t have the winds from yesterday, nor the clouds either. Sure it was a little cool for the start, but it certainly could have been worse. Once we were rolling I warmed up quite nicely despite the casual pace. Hanging out on the patio of Pedal & Pour was amazing considering it’s the second week of December. Today’s ride was a great cap to an amazing weekend that I desperately needed considering the week before.

Interesting fun tidbit here at the end. $0.19 is a little misleading for today’s contributions to the new bike fund. I also found two Philippine five-peso coins, about $0.10 USD each, and a Chuck-E-Cheese token, priceless!

New bike fund: $34.76 (+$0.19)
9.47 new miles — From Wandrer.earth
255 vehicles @ 4 per mile, 1 per minute, Speeds: 34.8 mph (avg), 61.7 mph (max) — MyBikeTraffic.com
Clear-Mostly sunny, 34°F-52°F, Feels like 36°F-58°F, Humidity 32%-17%, Wind W 2mph-NNE 2mph — by Klimat.app
— myWindsock Report —
Weather Impact: 6.2%
Headwind: 59% @ 1.1-11.4mph
Longest Headwind: 01h 40m 11s
Air Speed: 15.4mph
Temp: 33.4-52°F
Precip: 0% @ 0 Inch/hr
— END —