Forest! Finally! Just look at this sequoia!

It was a seriously good day today. Took off around 7am in the morning and it was a great call as I rode through Kern valley in the shadow of the nearby mountain + there was a nice cool breeze coming from the white waters of the river. There was maybe at most 30min stretch where I was exposed completely to the sun during the climb, rest had a nice tree coverage. Learning from my mistakes I decided to carry two additional water bottles in my jersey but the heat was easy on me and I ended up bringing almost one liter to my destination. Damn! Thats 1kg! Probably like +5min on my climbing time! 😅 Btw. I was seriously scared of this climb but it was actually just right when it comes to the gradient - 5% avg with some 8% kickers and 2% ‘flats’ for recovery. I liked it. I arrived early to Camp Nelson and was considering going further but the camping here is super nice. And supposedly there is 105*F heat in the valley below. I have no idea how much is that in Celsius but sounds hot enough for me to stay here where I am.