Whilst doing some camping at the Elephant Butte Lake State Park, I did a bit of riding. One really enjoyable ride was a twenty five mile loop.
I think I had two cars pass me (same direction) and saw a total of about six – maybe it was twice that many, I dunno. The point is, it was a very quiet ride. Boy, do I love quiet rides!!
Most of my road riding (near my home) is pretty flat. There is one small climb that I hit so I can say I climbed something but overall, not much up or down. This ride was going to be different and I knew it. The campground at which I am staying is down on the banks of a lake.
Sometimes I’m not very committed. This ride was one of those times. I wasn’t sure where I was going, how far, how long, how hard. I knew the loop existed but I was thinking garbage like ‘maybe I’ll just ride to this point and then double back’. It hit me part way thru the loop that this was a good setup for failure. So, I set my mind on the goal (the entire loop) and kept chugging.
As you can see from the Strava image, the first third was a lot of uphill. Doubly interesting were the short but sharp climbs spaced here and there. By the end of the ride, I really felt like I had done some climbing. For only having ridden twenty-five miles (pretty normal daily length for me), I felt mighty tired.
Some folks don’t like solitude, quiet, or even the desert. I love all three and this ride provided them in spades! Having the ever changing view of Elephant Butte Lake was just a bonus.
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