Yes, I did the ride yesterday. Forty-four miles, 4300 ft of climbing in 4 hours. It was beautiful. The hills are covered in green. After 4 years of drought, everything has it’s finest coat of green. And it showed.

As we reached the top of the first large climb, there are several short, steep climbs that almost require you to stand up. Guessing they are 18% grades. I didn’t recognize the sections until I was climbing them very slowly. The area sits in the direct sun and gets really hot, but it was covered in grass. Never seen that before.

The good news is I felt strong the whole ride. And the plan is to do it again next week.

It feels so good to be an older lady (50+) to be able to ride like this. And now this year I add cancer survivor to my accomplishments.

It’s turning out to be a great year!