A grueling day after a long break...

Sorry about the lack of blog posts recently. I know there are many of you out there hanging off the edge of your seats waiting to hear of my latest rides. Unfortunately, for those following my every move (I know you're out there), I've been on so many dang rides since my last post, that there is no way I could post about them all. Let me just make a quick list of places I've been since the last post.

1. Washington State (3 rides)

2. Ride around West Mtn. (south end of Utah lake)

3. Up to Highland a couple of times.

4. Up Provo Canyon a few times.

5. Down to Spanish Fork

6. Past Spanish Fork to Woodland Hills

7. Down to Utah Lake a few times to the Am. Fork/Pleasant Grove overpass.

There you are.

Now, on to today. I left with the intention of going on a long ride because I was by myself, and along the way I talked myself into retracing the Suncrest ride. Yes, I talked myself into torture without the help of my good friend Chris. usually he talks me into punishing my body.

I have to include some funny stories from my ride. One habit I have adopted is to wave to all of the other riders I see. I even try to fight away my silly pride and wave to the peeps on their beater Wal-Mart bikes (due to some misconceptions as to what this means, let me explain that this means people in plain clothes riding squeeky/rusty bikes who couldn't care less if I wave at them or not). Well, today I was at a stop light, and I could see a hard-core rider behind some cars on the opposite side of the light. I got ready to wave to him as the light turned green. I was standing up off my seat while pedaling, thus having all of my weight balanced on my handlebars. I took my right hand off my bars to wave, but the bike swerved from the mis-balanced grip I had. Of course I swerved, fell forward on my bike, and barely caught myself before eating my handle bars. I looked dumb, let's just leave it at that. I shot the dude a toothy grin and a chuckle, and he chuckled back and waved... without faltering an inch. Good thing we were going opposite directions.

The Draper Temple on my ride today. Proof that I really did the ride. Beautiful morning!

My second funny story was toward the end of my ride. I stopped and an old mission companion's house to say hi and get some water. No one was home, which made me sad, because I wanted to see their new baby... and I was REALLY thirsty and out of water. Well, right by their front porch was a spigot with a hose attached. I took the hose off and filled up my water bottle with water. I called my buddy and left a message saying something to the effect of "hey, I missed you guys. I am going to get some water out of your faucet here. I hope it's good water, because if not and I die, it's your fault." I went on my way glad I had water. In fact, by the time I got home, I was all out of water again. I cam into the house, literally collapsed on the bed and tried to recover from my killer ride that I'd accomplished in 3 hours and 45 minutes. I saw that I had a message on my phone from this friend. He said something to the effect of "Hey Smitty, I wouldn't drink that water. It won't kill you, but I've had it before and my cup was full of nasty stuff. I just dumped it in the grass. Let's chill soon. Bye." Oops! Well, I'm still alive... barely. My muscles are super tired and sore, but I hope that rides like this will make them stronger.

Miles ridden feeling foolish: 64.7