Once again, work offered up 3 $50 gift cards for longest commute and such, so I got motivated to put in a long ride to work and win $50. I did all the prep Tuesday so I would not have to carry anything for work and hit the road at 5:23am, just as it was getting light enough to ride (safely).
Headed N. from my house to Baseline, Baseline to SuperFlag and out to Gross Res. and followed the pavement until it turned to dirt. Headed back into town, took 6th/4th St. to N. Broadway, Lee Hill to the top, down to Lefthand, 36 to Nelson and then in to work in Longmont, arriving a few minutes before 9am. It was a perfect morning, clear, cool, no traffic, lot's of wildlife (luckily not in the road). I felt great for not having ridden in ~2.5 months, but kept the pace fairly casual for the most part, though I cranked the final 10 flat miles feeling stronger as the ride progressed. Had I not had to go into work, I would have kept going for a few more hours in the mountains, it was just one of those rides that I did not want to end.
I ended up with 67 miles on the day, 6,282 vertical feet, in 4:13 with an average HR of 139. I still do not know if I won the $50 yet, but at this point, it would not matter either way, it was such a great day to be on the bike, the money would just be icing on the cake.
Also, I got a new camera for my upcoming 40th birthday, a Canon Elph 300 HS. It is barely larger than my cell phone and has way more firepower than my old camera, so I hope to have it with me more often. One of the many cool features is a 24mm wide angle lens. At first I could not really tell the difference, but a few test shots revealed a big difference in the amount of "scene" it can take in vs. the old camera. I'm pretty stoked on it, as I am a picture taking fiend (especially taking pictures of the twins).
Picture from the back deck using the new camera (24mm)
Same framing using the old camera (35mm)
