Sunday was a still a little chilly, but it was sunny and dry so I didn’t care. The plan for the morning was to ride to Makanda, a little town near Giant City park, to do repeats up and down a big hill that heads out of town. My legs were trashed from the previous two days, but given that we were planning to just ride back and forth on one section of the road it didn’t really matter if we stayed together. Everyone could ride their own pace.
We started out with a warm up ride over to Little Grassy Lake (my friend Cara’s favorite place). Then we headed back to Makanda where we met up with the riders who were staying at Lick Creek and we gathered for a team photo.
Then came the hill. It was steep, but after the first repeat I actually began to feel better than before. After the second repeat I felt even better still. I was beginning to feel like Rob again for the first time all weekend. Our noon check out time was quickly approaching, so I was only able to do one more repeat. I really put a lot into the last climb. Phew. I hit my weekend high of 39.1 miles/hour on the way down. Not bad considering the road wasn’t very straight, but still room for improvement. My fastest ever was 46 miles/hour on the descent of Clingman’s Dome.
Distance: 30.06 miles
Duration: 1:55:00
Avg Heart Rate: 125
Max Heart Rate: 171
Calories: 1472
Total Ascent: 1262 feet
Weather: 48˚, sunny
After an easy ride back to the cabins we showered, packed up, and headed out. John A., Jay, and I had an excellent lunch at Moe’s Southwest Grill in Carbondale. I had both the burrito meal and the quesadilla meal. I was sleepy on the way home but I managed to stay awake somehow. Melissa came out to the street to greet me when I returned home. Perhaps she missed me a little.
Yea Little Grassy! I hoped you waved hi to it! And glad you survived the weekend.