28 C's Kelvin Helvin? Kevin Heaven?

 Hmmm, I suppose I should report on my 28 C's Kelven ride.  I'm not going to go too deep on this one as my Sunday got blown to pieces thanks to a car that broke down for my wife while I was riding Saturday.  So,  the car got more attention than you will I am afraid fair readers.  I will put up all my pictures though.
I officially started right at 4:30 from the convenience store across from Albertsons since the big A wasn't opened yet.   Temps were in mid 50's pretty much perfect.  They did get a bit cooler out towards Superior but not much.  It was pretty much a perfect morning to do this ride.  Winds were light and really not much of an issue the whole day.

 I brought some tunes to help pass the time and noticed the miles just seemed to fly by.   Us 60 was not too busy and I think they have repaved the shoulders on the way out since I rode this last as I recall it being a much more painful affair in the past.

So what ya wanna do?  I dunno,  what you wanna do?  Let's not start that again!

 Refilled water at Superior and plunked my Gu electolyte tablets into the bottles.  Juries out on these little guys,  liked the taste but I think they may have been involved in my issues after Florence but I don't know,  think I'm going to go back to what I know works and doesn't cause wierd pain- endurolytes.
Managed to drag my overweight keister, 3 full water bottles, and packed oversized seatpack up over the Superior side of the End of the World hill and all it's 10%+ glory.  Whew!  Need to lose a few pounds.

The End of the World!

 People were up and doing stuff in Kelvin.  I'm usually there before people are out of bed.   Looked like nice folks.   Not many folks on Florence Kelvin Highway today.  2 hikers,  a motorcycle and a couple of jeeps.   Freshly Graded this week by the looks of the road since it rained on Monday and the tracks were fresh.  Sweet, sweet, freshly graded road, almost able to keep pavement speed most of the way except a few short washboarded segments and the steep descent of course.  I was even able to use aero bars much of the way on the gradual descent.  I think 32C tires are the magical compromise for this route.  I had deflated them to around 40 psi and the ride was just right.  Think I might try this setup for the Dirty Mogollon Mormon Madness permanent I am thinking of at the end of June instead of going full mountain bike.

Stopped to pump up tires and mix some drink at start of pavement again.  No crazy headwind this time heading down to Florence.  Made it by 11:30.   Looks like a beach town with everyone in bikini's and absurdly short jeans,  looks like a Daisy Duke meets Sports Illustrated Swimsuit style convention.   Could swear there was a river or lake nearby by the way everyone is dressed at Gas Station and Sonic.  Weird.
12:00  finally off after the really slow service at Sonic finally got me two big waters and an ice cream cone.  Mistake-ice cream cone had some preservative or something that caused strange pain like I get when I eat Honey Buns.  Kind of a gotta pee someone kicked you in the marble sack type pain.  I think part of this was due to dehydration but I think I'm going to avoid sonic ice cream in the future.   I should have downed the rest of the second water while I was there but didn't.  That was my second mistake.

Steep start of Florence Kelvin Highway 14%!

 Because of the pain I couldn't get in the aero bars or even the hoods because it would get bad the more I leaned forward.   Really bizarre. Fortunately the winds were moving around so I never had bad headwinds for too long.  I started chugging water at the Gantzel market.  The pain would persist even after I knew the dehydration was gone and the ride was over.   Think I'm going to make a point of drinking extra fluids next long ride and hope it doesn't happen again.

Old Friends

Woo hoo!  At the top of the huge hill!