Three centuries in five days? Yeah, I’m nuts. Then again I have a double double, two double centuries in two days, planned for the first weekend in December and felt this would be a judge of fitness for that.
The morning started with a ride down to Inspirada to hook up with Joy to ride over to the start in Boulder City. The pre-ride was a pretty direct shot straight there. I’m sure we could have done the UPRR trail instead, but I knew we’d be riding some of it on the return and I hate out and back routes.
We arrived at Hemenway Park with plenty of time to spare and linked up with Robert. The three of us would end up rolling together for the entire ride. The course was a series of trips along the RMT starting counter-clockwise, and this would be my first attempt at climbing the three sisters. The ride itself was decent, but it’s unfortunate that the RMT is just so bad in spots and especially so along the northern section. The gaps in the asphalt are anywhere from 1- to 8- inches wide and after riding through that section twice my wrists were pretty sore afterwards. It’s really no wonder why cyclists avoid this section like the plague.
We did run into the GVC guys at the Equestrian trailhead. There also happened to be a SAG stop there staffed by the folks from Pedal & Pour. It was a perfect place for us to stop, and visiting with the GVC folks was an added bonus.
Once the ride was over we collected our finisher medals and enjoyed some catered Olive Garden. While the food was decent, it certainly wasn’t the catered In-N-Out from the day before. Also, the pickings were getting somewhat sparse by the time we rolled in. The three of us enjoyed a nice lunch. I was surprised to run into Shannon while we ate. She’d previously mentioned that she was going to do this ride, and I was kinda disappointed when I didn’t see her at the start. When we met at lunch she explained that the cold temps forced a change of plans. She had started to make it to the start and ultimately decided to wait for the later start time and only do one loop instead.
After lunch, Joy and I set off for home. Along the way back I picked up some more Wandrer miles in both Boulder City and Henderson. The ride down Greenway was awesome! Fresh asphalt and downhill. Instead of joining the UPRR we cut through a neighborhood and the new homes were pretty impressive to say the least. Even spotted a couple with huge RV storage and one was housing a decent sized boat with a trailer.
Joy decided to make the Democracy climb with me this time around. She’s threatened to do so in the past, but has only done so once or twice. Then again I can’t really say I blame her as it is a ball buster to say the least. I escorted her back along Canyon Retreat to Democracy to make her way back home. I then went back up Democracy to the top and finished up myself.
Overall great ride, albeit a little disappointing with the way the fundraising was done. The registration fees were low, but my understanding was there is an expected minimum fundraising goal. If you fail to make that goal you’re responsible for the difference. Now, there is some varying opinion on if this was required or not if you registered with a code provided at a previous Pedal & Pour event. I certainly can’t say for certain; however, I don’t really mind helping to raise funds for a good cause.
New bike fund: $76.24 (+$0.01)
8.5 new miles — From Wandrer.earth
242 vehicles @ 1.7 per mile, 0.4 per minute, Speeds: 33.2 mph (avg), 56.0 mph (max) — by MyBikeTraffic.com
Partly cloudy-Sunny, 43°F-68°F, Feels like 45°F-71°F, Humidity 38%-14%, Wind SW 2mph-NE 3mph — by Klimat.app
— myWindsock.com Report —
Weather Impact™: 1.6%
Headwind: 40% @ 2.5 – 8.3 mph
Longest Headwind: 58m 38s
Air Speed: 15 mph
Temp: 42.8-69.2 °F
Precip: 0% @ 0 Inch/hr
— END —
Max elevation: 3061 ft
Min elevation: 1187 ft
Total climbing: 9547 ft
Total descent: -9537 ft
Total time: 10:58:26
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