Thank you sir may I have another!

...day like this one, and another and another etc.

78 degrees, sunny skies, April 3rd. huh?  The thing I don't get is why I'm not reading articles all over the internet today about how this is definitive proof that Global Warming does exist.  5ft of snow in DC this winter was enough to prove it doesn't, seems to me this is enough of a polar opposite to qualify following that line of logic.  Oh well.

I don't have a problem finding the good in our impending doom, today was awesome!  I got in a nice 30 mile ride around town wearing just a jersey and bibs, not a thread of cold weather gear 3 days out of MARCH.  It was more of an 'enjoy the day' type of ride and I planned on testing my legs a few times along the route.  I still need to figure out some good road loops around the new house.  Today I had a few options and I was going to head north and then pick one of three for getting back south...Huge hills, flatter road putting me at 20ish, or a roller road putting me at 30ish miles.

I had to drive down to Meredith Center to start the ride, roads around the house are still way too gnarly for 23cm tires.  I wanted to try out two new roads before looping back north and taking good ole Winona Rd up to Ca$hland.  Unfortunately you never really realize how tough some hills are going to be when you drive them...and this ride started with a few doozies.  Especially Pease Rd. that was a swift kick to the nuts only about 2 miles in.  But they did the job and got me warmed up.  I felt pretty good for the middle 10-15 miles or so I was never very good at powering over the little rollers on Winona but I definitely noticed some improvement in that area today.  Unfortunately powering over all those rollers left me pretty spent...it is only April.

I didn't have the legs for Dana Hill but didn't want to bail and only do 20 so I decided I would avoid the vert but still get a few more miles in.  I started bonking a tad around mile 22 and dialed it down to eat a Clif Bar and enjoy the scenery a bit.  I didn't get many road miles in last year and I definitely miss the longer saddle time and just cruising around and getting to take everything in, especially in NH on a day like today.

I tried one last dig up and over the hill on Rt. 104 and I actually had some power left and climbing felt good, the rhythm was there just need to work on the high end a bit.  After that though I was pretty gassed and just cruised the last 5-6 miles back.

The Garmin goods: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/28819728

All in all I really liked the loop, good variety of terrain and its a nice middle distance.  This could be my go-to pending more exploration down south a bit.