This variation on the loop(http://www.weendure.com/user/MoonOverPittsburgh...) for 25.07 + an extra Schenley left descent, down and up, for 2.24 + an extra lap on the jail trail for 5.16.

Had Frightened Monkey with me for the jail trail and two of four Schenley descents when he begged off for time reasons (he was still riding strong). Rain threatened the whole time, and especially in Lawrenceville, arriving home, it looked like it stormed a bit a while back, but I managed to tip-toe through the raindrops for the most part.

It was lovely; when the storm first threatened, in the park, there were these pockets of low pressure, delightful chills, and the extra down and up the left descent in Schenley was part curiosity about how it is to climb that hill and partly for an extra gander at a pretty woman reading a book under a tree near the top of the park, not really in a salacious way but just because it was neat: slight woman, looming clouds, big oak, in the quietest part of Schenley Park, alone with her thoughts.

All in all, a delightful evening ride, and as further evidence that I'm as ready as I'm going to be for this weekend's 150, at the very end I climbed Stanton at a really nice pace . . . and for the first time ever, after the first curve at the foot of the hill, I climbed the whole thing in the saddle without breaking cadence. Almost a mile of 7%+ at 44/18 without standing. Another milestone, however modest in objective terms. I can remember when I couldn't climb it at all without slowing way down to rest at least twice during the ascent.