The miracle of IHOP

So today was planned as just some long steady miles. I figured I would go up to Flagstaff and hang up with some of the other guys who are up there for the Flagstaff Fat Tire Festival, do the Peaks Loop - a 50~ mile route that's rated with a difficulty of "Biblical" according to Cosmic Ray. Getting home at 7:30 AM, I decided packing up and driving 2 hours to ride 6+ hours didn't sound like a good idea. So, on 3 - 4 hours of a sleep and an order of Chocolate Chip Pancakes from IHOP, I headed out on my bike from the house.

1000 calories of eGel and Clif Bloks, nearly 6 liters of water, and nearly 5 hours later I rolled back home with some 50 odd miles on my Forerunner.

For those who know the trails (map here if you want to follow along but don't know the trails), I cut across the state land and hopped on the Long Loop at the South Ridge sign, rode the that back out. Rode the road up to Pemberton (B on the map) and rode it counter-clockwise all the way around to the lower Tonto Trail (the east side of M), back up to Pemberton, back over to Bluff (L), took that down to the second Granite intersection (G), rode counter clockwise back up to Bluff, Bluff back down to Granite and took a right to head back to Pemberton - back to the Trailhead Group Area for some shade, some non-eGel food, and to refill on water. From there, it was back down to the Competative Loop (the trails on the southeast part of the map) and did the Sport all the way back to the Tech, all the way back to the Long Loop - the Marathon course. I cut it short at the South Ridge sign and headed back home.

I'm toast... I drank plenty of water, but I'm dehydrated - the residual of last night's festivities I guess. At least I'd already planned to make today an easy day. I can't imagine if I would have been trying to hammer that ride out today.

Oh, and I need to order some more eGel, so everybody go sign-up and order a case (make sure the referral id is 323371). I need some more credits so I don't have to pay :>>