Finding the Long Way Home

Rode to work yesterday..(still no car or hope of getting it back before the rain hits tomorrow) It's a quick 5 mile shot to the office via Chesebro Canyon. Staying out of the crazy school mom traffic is the only excuse that I need to hit the dirt on my way here! I left work at 2 yesterday in order to ride over to the Ford dealership to see if they could get me out of my crappy money pit. That tacked on another 7 miles. No luck with them..although I am not to upset as another Ford is the last thing I want at this point. So I thought that I would find the long way home!
I headed for the hills. After an uphill seven miles, I hit the trailhead. Dark was starting to fall so I strapped on my light and began the 3.5 mile climb from Avenida De Los Arboles up Albertsons Motorway to China Flat. I had only ridden this trail a couple times before and I started to get worried that I had missed a trail turn? Worst case scenario is that I would end up in the Valley! Right after worrying I reached the top and my turn! My legs were feeling pretty good even with my 20 pound bag on my back! I decided to drop down into Chesebro Canyon and extend the ride a bit. There were a good number of folks out riding as well! About 5 miles from home the Red Flag winds started to get pretty nuts. At one point I was standing trying to pedal into the headwind...and I really wasn't moving forward!
When I was climbing out of the canyon towards my house my legs were letting me know that they were really pissed off at me!
When I got home the Garmin read 31 miles, 2.5 hours of ride time, 2800 ft of climbing! Not a bad way to sneak in some saddle time. My legs are still a little pissed this morning! Not the easiest ride in to work! Maybe take a long route home again tonight..we will see, Kristen's off today and I still need to figure out what to do with the car.
Keep Climbing
Lucas