I went way off script today to tick a ride off the winter bucket list: Mt. Lemmon (26 miles and ~6,250 feet of climbing). Apparently, back in the day, this was Lance's small finisher at the end of each day. For me it was quite the challenge and an awesome day.
I had a pretty good pacing plan, as I had done the bottom half twice last week for the Tuesday/Thursday BaseCamp intervals. Today wind was brutal the first eight miles, and I had to go way over my watt budget just to keep upright. So I bonked a bit at the top, but that may have happened anyway. 🙂
I had an unplanned stop at the halfway point to fix a flat. Thought about pulling the chute but soldiered on.
Got smoked by a freight train of what had to have been pros. They were really cool and cheered me on.
Was running low on water (rookie mistake) and saw three guys on Harleys who were pulled over for a smoke, so I had a chat with them, and they gave me a bottle. Great guys.
The climb is awesome. The descent through the twisty roads at breakneck speed is a total hoot and nice reward for the effort.
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