Went to my usual road this morning. Not that scrabbly Colorado Trail road. But my usual scrabbly road. I felt a bit stronger than usual possibly because I had returned to a somewhat lower altitude. So I thought I was pushing harder but I didn't get any better of times. That's ok, I don't want to get too obsessive about it. There were some cars at the pullout when I got there. Trail runner girls. So they got some unknown amount of head start on me. It seems kind of odd that a bicyclist would consider running and biking to be comparable. But that road, climbing, is the great equalizer. So a runner and a biker can talk about the elusive ten minute mile and our game is more or less the same. ... on that road, climbing ...
Descending of course is not comparable. Except runner girl's husband. That guy is fast.
Him and I, we started the same one time. We went about a mile kind of yakking. Then we settle into our zones and he starts pulling away from me. He is pulling a ten minute mile and I am about 2 minutes slower. So after a while he is just plain gone. But he turns around at his distance goal and so I see him on his return. I say "where did you turn around at?" He says "six mile."
But for me six mile isn't 2,000 of climbing. So I go another half mile before I turn around. I got that 2,000 foot obsession. Top of the guard rail marks it.
So I go down. Bicycle going down is pretty quick. I keep thinking when am I going to catch him? Well I caught him before we got to the cars but not all that far from them. He had fallen. The side of his knee was bleeding. I wonder if he'd a beat me if not for that fall. He was running pretty dang hard to stay ahead of me.
A handful of vehicles went by me today. They were like suvs and light trucks. They go by me while I am in the 13%. Normally I stop and get to the edge for a vehicle to go by. But if I am in the 13% and I stop I can't get going again. Too hard to get a pedal stroke and subsequent inertia. So I go on the left side so that I am on the driver's side of the vehicle as he squeezes by.
So I also gave those vehicles the "clean" side of the road and I took the choppy and steep.
So this is kind of me showing off. These guys don't go by very fast. It isn't a fast road.
So I see them all parked at a trailhead and pass them back. I say "hi guys." But that is all the breath I can spare. They stand there staring at me as I go by. I think I could hear them thinking "whoa!"

Happy Birthday @craigo3154

@rangerrickl, 125 45 pound bales! Was that from the ground to up onto a truck? Higher and higher that work gets as the project progresses. Don't need a gym membership if you got work like that to do. Man o man!

I almost forgot to say 3x yes.

Oh and I am down a few pounds. Not to include too much vulgar detail but I kind of partially attribute that to colonoscopy preparation. Talk about a dietary reset. Ok, now I am empty!