Week 42

Date
October 23, 2015

Distance
101 miles

Strava Link
Week 42

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Ride Report 
The weather was pretty good, so I did two trips up the Truck Route and one up Six Mile Canyon. My legs and my mind are in off-season mode, so it was a slow ride.

I love Six Mile Canyon in the Fall.

Week 41

Date
October 16, 2015

Distance
102 miles

Strava Link
Week 41

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Ride Report 
I took 4 days off this week, really for no other reason than laziness. My only real goal left for the year is to hit 15,000 miles and I'm very confident that I'll reach that goal, so why not? I spent a little extra time lifting and stretching instead. After Petoji was over I decided that I want to make progress in my overall strength and flexibility this winter. I'm off to a decent start. I'm not much stronger or more flexible yet, but the first step in the process is to make it a habit to actually work on it. For the last month of so I've been doing a good job of lifting 3 days per week and stretching, even if only a little bit, every day. I call it stretching because my flexibility is so bad that I don't think anyone would recognize what I do as yoga. My hips and hamstrings are my biggest problem areas. I'm making a little progress. It's very slow progress, but I'll take it.

Anyway, today's ride was a flat one out to Red Rock and back. The whole weekend was cloudy with a chance of rain, but I was able to avoid the rain for most of this ride. I was actually expecting wind out of the north, but that didn't end up happening. Oh well.

Taking a little break on Red Rock Rd.

Fall is here. It's starting to get cold out there. A high of 75 sounds nice, but with the clouds out there is sure didn't feel like 75. The early part of October was warmer than usual, so it's been a shock to the system. I'm sure in about 3 months I would kill for a day like this.

Week 40

Date
October 11, 2015

Distance
115 miles

Strava Link
Week 40

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Ride Report 
I did two centuries this week for the first time in about two months. This was the second of the two, which was a loop on 50 and 722 out near Austin. I've done this loop before, but last time I did it clockwise and this time I went the opposite direction. It doesn't sound like much, but reversing the direction really does change the character of the ride. I'm still not sure which direction I prefer. The climb on 722 is more fun going counterclockwise, but there's also something nice about going clockwise and finishing with 16 miles of downhill.

The weather was perfect. It was warm but not hot, so I was fine carrying just 3 bottles. Best of all, there was no wind. It was a great fall day in the desert.

Week 39

Date
October 3, 2015

Distance
103 miles

Strava Link
Week 39

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Ride Report 
I was expecting a windy day, so I kept the ride flat and did a simple route down to the CA border and back. This is the standard route I do when it's windy and/or cold, so you might see this a few more times before the end of the year.

It's starting to feel like fall out there. The mornings are cold and the days are getting shorter. It's a great time of year to ride, but in the back of my mind I'm always dreading the fact that winter is coming. It's been a great year of riding and I don't want it to end.