The Perfect Loop?

298.9; 23.2 miles. Tempting to go around the block just to pass 300, but we're in this for the long haul.

Well, it's better than the ride that included the hellish Frei Road segment. All the same, but instead of turning on Frei, I stayed on Guerneville Road to the end, turned left on 116, right on Green Valley, and met up with the West County trail there.

The remaining segment on Guerneville road is a slow grade (slowing me to 5mph at worst), but with at least 5 feet of shoulder, which feels like a mile compared to the entire lack of shoulder on Frei, even with cars passing at 55. There's still another variation yet to try, cutting over on Vine Hill Road, but it looks rather Frei-ish, and it would also make me miss the fun Green Valley Road downhill, on which I got up to ~32 mph coasting today. Biggest downhill I've had in this two weeks of riding.

It's taking me about two hours to do 23-ish miles. I think I was a little slower today, in spite of starting earlier with presumably less heat and headwind. Third day in a row over 20 miles, so maybe it's wearing a bit--and as noted yesterday, precious little in the way of visible/tangible results.

They're trimming brush and trees on part of the Greenway, and they have adequate signage on the eastbound entry to that segment, but NOT on the westbound. So twice now I've suddenly come up on these guys blocking the path such that I have t ocarry the bike around them. If they had a sign at the previous underpass, I could simply cross of the creek and ride the trail on the other side for that segment. As I was negotiating this obstacle today, a guy down near the creek was yelling at me to go back--yeah, like I'm gonna backtrack a mile when I can get around this in 20 seconds! I cupped hand to ear, universal sign for "I can't hear you!" and continued.

Thinking I should try to do some more serious climbs--seven years ago, I was doing hills like the truly fearsome Burnside Road--but it seems almost better to do a lesser grade consistently and steadily than to do a major one with multiple gasping-for-air stops...

FOund out how to adjust the front fork, I think. Might add a little preload to stiffen the ride there. Would definitely help in the case of actual standing-on-the-pedals climbs....