Slept okay, got up in the night for a bathroom visit, and of course had some difficulty getting back to sleep. It was warmer in the night than in the previous two nights. I woke up after 7:00 and got dressed for the day. Then I went out and made pancakes, leftover peach cobbler, and coffee for breakfast. It turned out well. We cleaned up afterwards and then considered options for the day's activities. Headed over to the general store, got a postcard, some stamps, ice, and a Coke. Because it was warming up an decided against the hiking option, so we drove up to Crystal Grove instead. It took a little less than an hour, dropping us down I to Kings Canyon and ong the south fork of the Kings River. This is the most beautiful part of the park, in my opinion, and the drive was pretty in the second half particularly. We got down to the tiny visitor center a little after 11:30, just in time for a short break and a program by Ranger Connor. He was young, passionate about his subject of art and national parks. Showed some Ansel Adam's photos and paintings by a couple of Japanese American artists. It was mildly interesting, ran a tad long for me. We headed over to the store and snack bar, had a forgettableumch of bun sandwiches, and Ann got an ice cream bar, which she ate while we were by the river banks. Then we drove out toward Road's End, not all the way, before turnip arousal and retracing our route to the campsite. We got back at 2:30, there was enough afternoon left for a quick bike ride, so I got ready quickly and headed out. I headed south on the highway, past Grant Village and over to the highway toward Lodgepole. Had a little climb and downhill to get to the intersection, then it was rolling hills for a little over a mile before it started climbing. The climb ended up being over 5 miles and a little less than 1000', never very steep and with some flatter sections to recover. Wasn't as hard as the climb the other day, and I had a bit of a tailwind to help me along. My Wahoo initially said the climb was a little over 4 miles, but when I got to that point it added another mile plus of climbing. Got to the summit and descended to the turnoff for Big Meadows, where I turned. I didn't want to climb another 200', so I rode up to the sign, took a pic, and then rode back down to the highway. Short climb back to the summit, then it was a long, mostly fun descent of over 5 miles. My tires were making a lot of noise and feeling bumpy on the pavement, was worried I might have a rear flat (I found out when I took my bike off the bike rack after the trip that the rear tire was indeed flat). But it was just the condition of the road, I figured. Stopped a couple of times on the descent to take a break and some pictures, it was still pretty fun after the climb. Back to the intersection, then some more downhill and very short climbing to get back to the village and then to the campsite. Was a nice workout, temperature wasn't as much of an issue as I had feared.
Avg speed = 15.0 mph. Total mileage = 18.2 mi
Avg power = 133 W. Weighted avg power = 167 W
Total elevation gain = 1650'
Avg heartrate = 129 bpm (Coospo)
Relative Effort = 46
Training Load = 72
Intensity = 76%
Got back and changed to take a sprayer shower. The water in the bottle was actually warm, so it was quite refreshing. Then I changed and had a quick break and a beer before starting dinner. It was Dutch oven enchiladas, which are an effort to prepare but worth it. They were very tasty, the best meal of the trip by a long shot. Ann did most of the dishes after dinner, I had cleaned the prep dishes while the enchiladas were cooking. Then we got ready for an evening program at Panorama Point. It was a longer drive than I expected but still pretty short as drives here go. Ranger Kristina had a decent program about maps, including an informative and interactive map-matching exercise up by a really pretty viewpoint. The evening was beautiful, we couldn't fully see the sunset but it was still nice. The drive back down to the village was a little dicey, it was dusk on a winding road, but I made it down okay. We got back to the campsite and settled down for the night.
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