I'd planned to do this ride tomorrow morning and a mountain bike ride today, but since we got hit with a big storm last night, I figured that most of the trails would still be soggy. Basically, I sat down with a topographical map and figured out which roads looked to be the hilliest and the most lightly traveled.
As it turned out, just getting out of the house ended up being a challenge. I wanted to ride my 'cross bike, which has been sitting on the trainer all Winter. I needed to change tires, put on a bottle cage, etc. Just little stuff, but it takes time (especially when it takes three tries to get a tube that will hold air!). Plus, there were kids that needed to be fed, dogs to be taken out...
Once I finally got going, I ended up having a good ride. I didn't push too hard, I just let the hills, rough dirt roads, and heat do their thing. I flatted about 20 minutes into the ride; I wasn't happy about that, but I fixed it and my last tube held on for the rest of the ride. I don't know that I'd do this exact ride again. A couple roads ended up being better than I expected, and a couple were worse. I'd forgotten how evil washboarded climbs are... the climb itself is bad enough, then the washboarded road sucks away what little momentum you have...
By the end, I was pretty cooked. My legs were right on the edge of cramping as I climbed up my last climb (Bald Mountain Road in Auburn Hills). So, I figure that I did it about right. We'll see how I feel tomorrow for my ride...
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