Had a great excuse for an afternoon ride. This afternoon there was a memorial service for a fellow Scouter up in Ada, which is a little town in the county about 45 miles away. I do like to pay my respects, but it was also a great excuse for a ride, and in an area I wanted to explore.

Tried to take some back roads up there and had a bit of a plan, but missed the first turn and the second one too, so I wound up on a secondary highway for longer than I wanted to. All in all a nice ride, except for the headwind. Really fought that for half the trip and it slowed me down for sure.

On the way out of town after the service, I had seen some bikes rolling past, but nothing unusual. Until I got to the stop sign at Main Street. I was headed south, but when I looked to the north there were bikes lining both sides of the road for a couple of blocks. Apparently Ada was the destination of the MDA Fun Run. I knew it was going on today, and actually thought about joining it. But I’m such a noob, I decided not to. I didn’t know they would be going back to Ada again this year though. A bit of a pleasant surprise. I should have rode up there and just stopped for a bit. But I felt guilty of joining the group since I wasn’t a paying participant. It was very cool to see them in town though.

Headed back home, which seemed to be a much quicker, shorter ride. Maybe it was because I had a tailwind half the time, or maybe it was because the return trip always goes faster. Other than the nasty crosswinds, nothing really of note.

I find myself getting really tense out on the bike, especially when I’m fighting the wind. I’ve got to get comfortable enough so that I can relax out there. The winds really weren’t all that strong for here, so I’d better get used to it.

Oh, and one other first today. I drove through my first patch of gravel. Well, actually it was maybe 200-400 feet of “loose rock” on the roadway. I slowed down because I wasn’t sure just how loose it was going to be, but it really was no big deal. Might have to give real gravel a try now.

Odometer: 427 miles