4th of July Weekend.

Friday was more of the same: hot and humid.  Chad, my brother in-law, and I went out for about 50 miles of gravel around the cabin.  He knows the area better than I for riding so it was nice to find new routes and such.  Despite only being 50 miles we were both pretty knackered by the heat and ready to be done.  Chad had finished his bottles and I almost drained my 100oz hydration bladder (CamelBak Chase vest retrofitted with a bigger reservoir).
The rest of the day was spent in and out of the water and watching the kids that never got out of the water for 12 hours!

Saturday I headed out a bit earlier.  While not as hot, yet, the air was oppressive. I stared out on pavement to let the legs "wake up" a bit.  Eventually I hit gravel and stuck to that till I hit the Central Lakes Trail.  On the trail I traveled NW up to Ashby where I started my way North to Underwood.  Not wanting to take hwy 210 back I zigged and zagged a bit to avoid it.  On this ride, and most other rides, I stopped at two historical markers.  I'm a bit of a nut with history, or how things used to be.  Interesting stuff.

The ride.  The Garmin temp does not reflect how it felt!

Then it was more of the same!  In and out of the water all day. There really isn't a much better way to end a ride than jumping into a lake.  So refreshing.  Because of the heat and humidity I've been sweating a lot thus craving salt.  V8 and potato chips are also a nice end of ride treat!

Chad did a fireworks show for us that when ended we quickly dispersed to get away from the hungry mosquitoes. 

Sunday it was time to go home.  I headed out around 11.  At the lake it was once again oppressive. But once I got out in the open it seemed to be ok.  The temp was high but the humidity and dew point seemed to be much better than previous days.

Earlier in the week I had thought about heading further South than the trail into the wind, eventually making my way West and back North with a tailwind.  But I had enough of the heat and had a bunch of miles on my legs that I took the more direct way home.  I was only on gravel the 1st mile than it was all pavement or trail.  The first 30, to the trail, are quite hilly but riding on the trail makes up for that.

About 10 miles to the trail I got a puncture on the rear tire.  The sealant stopped in but it kept busting loose.  Not wanting to deal with it I rode the rest of the way home with a low psi tire.

I met Jim near Albany and he rode me the rest of the way in.  Which was great as it made the last section of trail fly by.  

We made a point of stopping at John's (Java John) bench.  July 5th was the day he passed.  Jim snapped this pic of me.

The ride.

I cooled off in the AC and drank a bunch of water before heading back out to mow.  Man was I a wet mess after mowing.

Now it's back to our somewhat summer routine.

I put in a couple big weeks the past two weeks so I'm thinking an easier week is in store.  We will see!  Thunderstorms are predicted throughout the day today.  Bummed as it's Mountain Bike Monday with Harper.  We'll have to sneak it in a different day.

Happy Week.