Only 17 miles today, but tomorrow I'm going to try a new route which should be about 35 miles. I've really noticed that my stamina is improving, so I planned to complete today's ride with no rest stops. That plan was put on the back burner when I was getting ready to run a stop sign and a Sheriff's car pulled up. Needless to say, I unclipped really fast and stopped. Since I was stopped anyway, it was a good excuse for a 5 minute break. And I happened to be in the shade so that made the rest break even more attractive.

I know running stop signs is a really bad habit (not to mention illegal), but when you're riding rural roads with no traffic, it's much easier to just keep going. Especially when the stop sign is on a steep hill!