DM Solo Training Ride: 35 Miles and a Mountain

It's starting to 'cool down' a little bit in Phoenix, but it's still DAMN HOT. Whew! Let me tell you... I'm getting sort of tired of having to wake up so early to ride on the weekends, so today I let myself sleep in a little bit. When I did wake up, I milled around the apartment a little, make some breakfast, watched a little television, and turned on some NPR while I took care of some chores. I hadn't been outside and assumed it was already REALLY hot, but during a station break on KJZZ, heard what a wonderful, beautiful day it was outside...

So I decided not to squander this glorious day by staying inside and suited up to ride. I think it was in the high 80s or low 90s when I left the apartment and I really only planned to ride around downtown a little bit. By the time I got to the downtown core, I decided I'd might as well ride all the way out to South Mountain and back. It got progressively warmer though and is about 100'F now - and I just got home.

I didn't do my South Mountain rides this week, so this was sort of 'punishment', I guess.

 South Mountain summit on a beautiful Phoenix day!

I had a great ride though. It was hot, but KJZZ was right! It's a beautiful day in Phoenix!

 About to cruise back down the mountain...

Since I had planned a short ride around town, I only had one water bottle with me, so I had to stop a couple times at the Ranger Station in the park. On the way out of the park, a woman approached me and asked me if I was riding to the top. When I told her that I already had, she asked if I enjoy that. She seemed to think I was some sort of masochist. We talked about what it's like to ride South Mountain for a few minutes before we parted; she told me to have a safe ride home as she slipped into the ladies' room.

So today's ride, as you might have derived from the title, was 35 miles distance with 1,900 feet of climb. With today's distance, my cumulative training distance for AIDS LifeCycle 10 totals 590 miles! That's MORE than the total 'official' or 'unofficial' distance of ALC!

Awesome, no?

I'm hoping to ride tomorrow morning and break the 600 mile mark. By the end of the month I should be around 900-1,000 miles!

I am hoping to ride a minimum of 3,000 miles in preparation for AIDS LifeCycle 10. A hundred miles for every year of the AIDS epidemic. Please join me by making a contribution to my AIDS LifeCycle efforts at http://www.danmaxey.com!