Yeah!

Today's ride left me tired but fired up! I want to scream like Howard Dean!!

So the day at Taft ended early and I was able to leave at 2:30 looking up at a beautiful blue clear sky, and with the perfect temperature. My riding partner since Sunday was game, so we headed out to duplicate the ride that we took yesterday. We got wicked lost trying to find a loop without using a map, were made to feel totally insignificant by the ostentatious homes on "Tranquility road," and ended up riding 19.1 miles in 1:31.
I wanted to ride for about 3 hours today, so I had planned a route through Litchfield that would take 2 hours. I stubbornly didn't want to give up on the route I had chosen, so off I went on my chosen route. After stopping for water, I headed out for a 2 mile steady-but-not-steep climb, followed by a very refreshing 3.5 mile 35MPH+ descent down to Black Rock state park in Thomaston. Left turn at 109, hook up with Litchfield road and on into Litchfield.
Heading out of Litchfield I caught up to an incumbent rider who showed me some better roads than the major roads I had chosen. We were probably together for 15 minutes, and it was great to have a riding partner for a short time. After leaving him and heading for the little town of Bethlehem (sorry, couldn't help it) I really started to feel the hills, the heat and the distance. I stopped for more sustenance, but even with a quick sugar boost and some cold gatorade, I was definitely hurting with 7 miles to go. I'm so psyched that I pushed through it. I cramped up later that night, which was painful and annoying, but ended up with a great ride that has me wanting more.
With a riding partner:
19.1 miles in 1:31:31
Without:
34.37 miles in 2:16:53