Foxy's Fall Century

Earlier this summer, Josh and I traded in our old road bikes for some shiny new models that fit a lot better.  Riding suddenly got a lot more fun (even though we really liked it before!), and we started challenging ourselves on longer and longer rides.  Eventually,we started wondering whether we could ride a century (100 miles) in one shot.  We haven't quite gotten there yet, but we did ride Foxy's Fall Metric Century (100 km or about 60 miles) last weekend.  What a great ride!  It was our first foray into organized rides, and having so many other bicyclists out there with us added a whole other dimension and a sense of community to the ride.  We finished considerably faster than we thought we would, and had so much fun that we're planning to take on the Hell's Gate Hundred in Death Valley next spring.  It's going to be a heck of a challenge (it's a true century at 100 miles and over 8500 feet of climbing), but it will be really neat to go out and see one of my most favorite places by bicycle.  Let the training begin!

And to wrap up, here's an image from our very first trip to Death Valley years ago... We came across this long-abandoned car, and to me, it speaks volumes about the lives and challenges the miners of Death Valley faced.

Happy Monday!