Today is early day for Charmaine. She ran a lot of errands to get us ready for STP in a couple weeks. We still had time for a short ride up the 56 bike trail when she got home. It was a perfect evening for riding. There wasn’t much wind. The temperature was nice and cool. And to our surprise there were two hot air balloons taking off just to the southwest of where Carmel Valley Road crosses the 56. We thought about stopping to watch and possibly take pictures, but I pushed on ahead and Charmaine followed. In hindsight, we probably should have taken a quick break, but it was still very cool to see so close to where we were riding.

We mostly took it easy, but I did push a few times. On the steep hill at the end of the ride I stood up and climbed almost all the way to the top while standing. I was wasted when I got to the top, but I did set a new PR for the hill. It was a lot of fun.

The wind picked up a little on the way back, so there was a bit of a head wind, but it wasn’t too bad. It was a perfect evening for a ride.