Better than a major meltdown (or seize up).

Today was hot. Ride up to ORR this morning had alternating patches of hot and cold air. But, I knew the cold air was doomed as soon as the sun got higher in the sky. Nice group of riders. Dan Artley was trying to push himself a bit to get ready for Bike VA. He designed a real nice route with some good climbs and much needed shade too. There were a ton of riders out today. I wasn't even sure who was with Dan's group. And we were constantly passing riders. At one point I was chatting with another rider and got shouted at because I was too far into the oncoming lane where there were riders going the other direction. Never had that happen before.

I got ahead of the group with another guy as we went up Gorsuch and then got into the Prettyboy hills. We soft pedaled for a bit, but never did see the group behind. I kept up a comfortable pace (eventually alone) not feeling too guilty for it. Got home nicely tired and luckily no cramps on the way back up Jerome Jay. 76 miles.