Day 1 - Rapha Rising

TODAY'S RIDE
7.8 miles, 1187'
TOTAL:
7.8 miles, 1187'
TOUR DE FRANCE Stage 1: Philippe Gilbert.  Crashes in the race splinters the peleton and Contador is 1:20 down on GC.  I'm hoping Cadel can turn this bit of luck in his favor.

It's Day 1 of the Tour de France and the Rapha Rising challenge.  I know I'm not going to complete the challenge but that's okay.  This is incentive to put in more climbing miles and get my cyclocross base training.  Also fun photo documenting this.

I know the majority of my rides will be offroad since it is easier getting the elevation gain on dirt than on the road with the least amount of time.  This is the bike that I'll be using which is an On One Inbred 29er singlespeed.  My wife calls this "Big Wheel".

Luckily for me, my house is on the right and the trailhead is 1/4 mile from my house.  When I was done with my ride, I added a section of pavement as easy bonus elevation.

This open space is a 5 mile wide swath of land that goes for 20 miles or so.  Most of the time I can see development in the distance but not close enough to hear it or be concerned by it.

This is my usual view as I'm grinding up the hills in my 32x22 gearing.

Going up.

At my turnaround point which gave me under an hour to ride.  Being the weekend, it was family beach day and we were set to leave around 9:30.  With a bit of hot weather (95 degrees), the beach sounded awfully good.

10 minutes from home.  Even though homes are right there, I still get my little bit of singletrack.  I'm liking the riding incentive.  It's making me tack on any extra climbing that I pass.

So far all the pictures are from my iPhone 4.  Pretty amazing how technology has come along.  Most likely it will stay that way since I don't have a solid case for my camera.  I have a relatively good case for my phone so that's going to have to do.