Killdeer

I rode 29 miles today. Good, challenging bursts of rollers. I focused on intensity, accelerating during climbs and pushing hard on descents. Half-way through I stopped to see my incredibly gorgeous girlfriend Tory at work, refilled my water and continued. It was a pretty great ride, especially considering the natural features: I've been alive for 27 years and not until today had I ever seen a swan's nest. Very cool. Miles later I saw a group of 5 killdeer chicks, about the size and shape of golfballs, being carefully guarded by a pair of adults. I may pretend to be a hardcore cyclist who lives for big climbs and lactic acid burning his legs, but cute is cute and I immediately named them all: Anquetil, Cav, Hautacam, Izoard and Bastone. They were oddly close to a pair of Canada geese. They must get along pretty well because neither seemed to mind the other party.



That said, the route was simply an out-and-back to Lake Orion, and I'm proud that I was able to pick up the pace and shave five minutes off of my out time. At the rate I pushed today, a century with similar conditions would take me about 6.5 hours. The questions is, can I keep that pace for 6.5 hours?

Night ride tomorrow, any joiners?