I was supposed to ride Pass Mtn. today, but some mtbr hookups fell through and then Byron bailed at the last minute.   Karma for this ride was bad so I would do my roadie.   No overhead, to make up for all the planning for naught.

Got up at like 4:15 and puttered around, got rolling at 5:15 and it was just getting light. I hit 39 going down the hill on Power, and then ran into the sweetest blast of cold air coming off the river. for almost 10 minutes until the short climb out of the riverbed it was like winter! the sun framed perfectly behind 4 Peaks, it looked like the AZ license plate. Some point into this 10 minutes of bliss something darted across the road about 100 yards in front of me…hard to say what it was, but it moved like a bobcat. Before I could reflect further on what the critter was, I got smacked in the face by 5 minutes of near-blindness. It was only a question of when i’d be riding into the sun, but the actual event was so much more tangibly unpleasant than the idea of it, it was like a physical blow. it hit me like…like…like staring straight into the sun…orange wave of squint and burn everywhere at once. Eventually the angle improved and I could see again, and noticed a dead skunk in the road that was hit but not run-over…hoped it would stay that way until I returned.

Worked my way up to the B-line, down to Butcher Jones Beach, and then down down back to the river all still in shade! An hour and a half of great weather so far…and the skunk was still intact! Had a good climb up Usery managed to stay above 11 most of the way, and a workmanlike finish to the ride in 2.5 hrs for 44 miles.