Coffeeneuring Ride 5 - Perfect weather weekend--keeping it up

 November 1, 2020-Coffeeneuring ride 5

I can't really remember the last time we rode 17+ miles two days in a row.  But now I do, and so do my hamstrings :)  

An absolutely stunning weekend for riding. Perfect weather (late morning/early afternoon) made for another great coffeeneuring day.  I gotta admit, I wasn't overly thinking I'd be riding another 17 mile day, but I previously stated to my friends, who were staying in town after playing a gig the night before; that we'd ride to the beach with them if they felt like grabbing a coffee--this time on the beach again. 

We went to meet our friends at noon on the way to Pensacola beach on this perfect day.  70 degrees, very little wind, but my hamstrings were feeling it after about 6 miles, especially after riding yesterday. We met up and hit the Cumaru bar for an Sunday Bloody Mary, then went across the street to a great New Orleans cuisine style bar/restaurant called NOLA. I gotta admit also, I did feel a little weird drinking a black coffee with my crawfish andouille dip, and with the sun beating down, I got a little hot but got my black cup of coffee.  Jen was wiser and chose unsweet tea.  

After our brunch and bloody-mary, and coffee, we decided it was beautiful enough to ride down the beach, hit Paradise Inn for another drink, and spend some time on the beach before heading back. Felt so good to get our toes in the sand, but before we knew it, the winds kicked up a notch, and we realized that the sun goes down an hour earlier because standard time sucks. 

The wind was howling about about 25 kph from the North so the climb on the Pensacola Beach bridge was basically low, low gear and Jen and I spun and looked down until we got to the crest.  By the time we were within about 2 miles from the house the winds kicked it up another notch, just for my hamstring's sake, but we made it.  A 17 mile round trip yesterday and a multi-stop 20 miler today, makes me feel pretty damn good about these longer distance rides. 

Coffee effect: Black community coffee will hopefully keep me up until 8pm tonight :) 

Winds: Beautiful until the ride home, then felt what felt like the wrath of God. 

Mileage: 20 for two day total of almost 38 miles.  We just dont do that too much any more, so definitely a win for this almost 50 year old bod :)