Heather and I went out for an early morning ride today with Dan and Mark. We set out at 7:00 AM to beat the heat which was supposed to get up to 101° today. We headed west to do the Hamilton Corner Loop. We chatted as we headed out on the rural roads then assumed a single-paceline on Old Hwy 30. We made a right onto SE 4th Ave before Hamilton Corner and took the back-roads to Dewey to avoid any weekend traffic. Even though the road surface was rougher, there were hardly any cars and we practically had the roads to ourselves.

We eventually ended up on Hwy 52 for the last stretch into Emmett. Heather and I picked it up the pace a bit and I tested the waters with a few hard pulls. It felt hard, but in a good way. We stopped in Emmett for some ice water, which was much needed by this time, then Dan, Mark and I headed up Old Freezeout while Heather continued to Horseshoe Bend. I pushed it up Old Freezeout and judging by my power I started confirming that I think I did indeed lose a bit of fitness from all my backing off.

Our ride ended up around 3:35 which was plenty for me and the longest ride I’ve done in over a month. While I was tired when I got home, it was the usual post long-ride tiredness, and not an overwhelming fatigue. Heather came home a while later, really tired and somewhat regretting her decision to go on. She ended up doing almost 100 miles and really suffered up Horseshoe Bend Hill in the heat!