The Elephant in the room

The S.O. and I are going to ride the 25-mile off-road ride at the Elephant Rock Cycling Festival this Sunday. To prepare (perhaps a bit belatedly) we took our bicycles out this morning for the first time in many, many moons.
We rode about 7 1/2 miles, with plenty of climbs thrown in. It felt pretty good. (Thanks, Boot Camp!) The shortest ride you can do at Elephant Rock is the 7-mile ride. I'm pretty sure that would be way too easy for us. The 25-mile ride will probably be a bit of a challenge, but I'm confident I'll do fine.

This morning was perfect for a bike ride. It was a little cool but not chilly. The sun was shining, and all the people we passed who were riding or jogging were smiling. That's a good ride.

I'm looking forward to this Sunday. There will be refreshment stations along the way, so I won't have to worry about crashing -- figuratively or literally. And there will be a great crowd of people, all enthusiastic about getting out on their bikes. All, that is, except the ones who who rather be sipping lattes and watching "Meet the Press" but were dragged there by a spouse, parent or significant other all gung ho about a long bike ride.