Today was my big ride. Again, I headed down to lower elevations and, again, I got screwed the farther north I headed. For a while I was actually sweating but then I had to dawn a down vest because of the cold. I started from the same spot in downtown Colorado Springs and took the path all the way up to Palmer Lake. Then I decided to go further north and went up and did Kipps Loop that's darn near to Castle Rock. It was bitter cold for those miles and the wind was punishing me. Then I headed back to Monument to get a coffee before continuing on back to Colorado Springs. All in all I was 5 hours and 40 minutes and about 80 miles. I feel much better than I did last week but that's because I drank and ate way more. I feel pretty good but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned about being able to do 115 in Durango. I still have what I think is enough time to prep and I really don't care about how I do, I just wanna use these events from the Rocky Mountain Endurance Series as little stepping stones to work towards. I do think it will help come August. I have never ridden this kind of mileage in March.

I saw this puppy about 10 miles from my car. She was recently sprung from the joint and could not have been happier about being out for a walk.

A while back, Marshal and I stealth camped just beyond this grave. There's not much in this area. The wind usually blows hard. It's usually cold. You usually hear every train in the state at some point in the night. And...the coyotes howl most of the night. Of all of those things...I actually don't mind the coyotes at all.

This is just before hitting Kipps Loop.

This looked damn tempting.

This eagle was circling overhead for a while.