Saturday morning was a great day. The drive over to Columbia had a slight fog hanging in the air with hints of sun trying to peak through the gray clouds. I turned onto Rte 3 and the area looked surprisingly scenic. The rolling hills and farmlands were more colorful than the typical green piled upon more green. Mixed in with that green were swaths of rich, brown freshly tilled soil and the golden yellow of wheat(?) fields that looked close to harvest. My eyes saw the land in a whole new light yesterday. The terrain reminded me a lot of some of the rural farmland in France.

Perhaps the surroundings lifted my spirits before the ride. We did a normal Ronde van Monroe and my legs felt okay as we went up the D Rd. By Gall Rd, they felt a little better. The test of how the rest of the ride would be was going to be the climb of Kasteelberg. We made the left hand turn leading into the hill only to have the approach to the climb interrupted by a short torn up section of road. The rock and dirt slowed us to a crawl. We usually hit the climb fairly hard but not this time. Instead, we had to gather steam up the hill before reaching a good tempo. At the top, I felt good still and knew the remainder of the day should go okay.

The rest of ride did go well. I felt really good and unstressed. The legs were lithe with good power. That had to be my best ride in a couple months. If only every ride could be so smooth.