While my 201 km ride on friday was on the long end and it was quite hot (somewhere between 28 and 30) the ride two days later on Sunday took the cake with regards to reminding me what it’s like to ride in warm weather. It was easily 30 degrees by 10am and the thermometer on some handlebars recorded 34 at one point which is probably a bit high. A few long dry stretches had relatively low winds so the feeling of getting baked was definately there.

John (Left), Gerald (not pictured, SeatoSea 2005) and Art (Right, SeatoSea 2005), and myself (center in the retro-Tri club jersey) headed south on highway 93 from Elko BC to the American border and back. The road surface was absolutely fantastic and the route is mostly flat with a few stellar hills in the mix. I figured it was downhill both ways which seems to suggest that it really was pretty close to flat and I did plenty of drafting.

I hope to have a few more opportunities to get out and ride when it’s smoking hot before starting out, a bit more acclimatization to summer will help out in that regard since I’ve been doing loads of riding at significantly! lower temperatures than the hot days we’ll experience this summer. I anticipate that when the forecast is close to 100^oF that we’ll be getting on the bikes early in the morning to avoid the heat of the day but nonetheless they’ll still be a challenge for a northern dwelling warm-blooded individual such as myself.