Wind

It was the operative word of the day. The wind was horrible all night long. I could hear the chairs sliding across the deck and an empty trash can that I hadn't brought in the garage yet found it's way down the driveway. I was not really excited about today's ride. To make matters worse, this was one of Colorado's swirling winds. It was a headwind no matter what direction I turned. Very frustrating. Gusts had to be in that 40-50mph range. I rode all the way up to Palmer Lake and back and had 50. I was really wanting to call it a day but then I thought I'd head south on the trail into the less desirable sections. I saw the usual questionable transients, trash, and eventually rode through the neighborhood that clearly seems to be marked as belonging to the Sureno gang. I got through it unscathed but I'm always riding with a swivel neck down there. I rode another 10 miles south and then turned around to head back. I had a full on headwind on the way back and it was puttin' the hurts to me. I ended up with 70 today and 5 hours of ride time.

Today I was drinking some Perpetuem and it didn't sit right with my gut. I was heading south just out of Monument when I began to realize I might have a situation on my hands. I stopped at this gazebo and got some solid food in me and then figured I'd try to ride through it. It worked and I felt much better.

This is Monument Creek. The trail runs along this for about 20 miles. It is not an attractive creek by any means and.......it stinks. The trail is nice though but I'm always guaranteed to see at least one person lugging along a sack of belongings behind them.