On The Road Again...

Well, sorta. For the last several weeks my road bike has been hanging in the garage, pouting, while I always chose to take out the Single Speed. But, with all the dust finding its way into my respiratory system during group rides I decided something had to change. The way I see it, I am left with only a few viable options.
1. Always be in the lead.
2. Only ride solo
3. Ride more road.
Because the idea of road riding to help with endurance training had been in my head, I decided to go with door #3. So, I signed up for a 36 mile, 14-16mph Sunday (Hammerin' Wheels meetup.com) road ride on the American River Bike Trail only to find out after I arrived, that it had been cancelled, Doh!. But did I care? No. I was there to ride, so ride I did. I hit the trail solo with a 100k goal (seems like a good #) and ended up with ~63 miles at ~17.6mph. As always, there was plenty of inspiration running and riding along the trail, gotta love California. :)  Sure this ride had no major climbs to speak of, but I did what I really needed to do; a long road ride with only two short stops (once to lower my seat and once to take a quick whiz) and the legs spinning the entire time.
After it was over I felt great (thanks to great weather and a flat course), I only went through 1.5 bottles (should have drank more, duh!) and best of all I was not completey covered in dirt. Sure, my road bike is ~3lbs heavier than my mtb, but it was a nice to mix it up...and now I am actually looking forward to my next road ride. Go skinny wheels! :)