Sure, it was warm this morning, but not outrageously so, 68 at the start and 78 at the warmest part of the ride, out on west-side Old LaHonda. Pretty big group this morning, with only two regulars missing (Karl, still recovering from a broken collarbone, and Eric, presumably recovering from the Everest Challenge this past weekend). Kevin, Kevin’s friend Stuart (who hadn’t been with us for a while), John (back from a trip to Africa I believe?), George, Millo & Jan. With the warmer weather my lungs weren’t wheezing and a mid-27-minute ride up the hill wasn’t too difficult. Everyone stayed together, catching up to Millo (who’s started earlier) about 3/4 of the way up Kings.
Strange how we finally get summer weather now that summer’s over! It reminds me how much I’ll miss predictably-dry roads in the coming months. As much as we missed a real summer this year, what about the lizards and snakes? Do they end up hibernating 9 months out of the year, or do they just adapt to feeling pretty miserable when they don’t get the heat they want? Let me be perfectly clear about one thing- the Tuesday/Thursday morning ride never hibernates!
It was heading up west-side Old LaHonda that we saw the bobcat off in the distance, which probably explains the complete lack of rabbits this morning. Even more interesting was turning the corner over the creek (just past the part where the road is going to slide away this winter) and having a huge owl fly just over our heads and straight up the road, underneath the tree canopy.
Even on west-side Old LaHonda the group managed to stay together, despite what turned out to be a relatively-decent pace overall (16.7mph average speed from my front door & back). With the warmer temps we did keep an eye on water and made a stop at Sky Londa before heading back down the hill; that’s where I allowed George to take one of those exceptionally-rare photos of me.
Yet another very nice ride with a good group of guys. We really do have to work on that “guy” thing though. Women are most certainly welcome to join us. Conversations are, at their raunchiest, PG and generally closer to Disneyland-G. Not much to be afraid of in this group.
Hola Mike,
This is Phil, I rode some with you guys last year on the morning loop up Kings….is it now all repaved? Also there were patches of gravel on Stage Rd not too long ago, do you know if that road has been fully repaved recently ala Tunitas or at least the gravel patches are gone?
Everest Challenge was one hot Bit%h!!!
Thanks,
Phil
Phil: Kings is fine, no gravel, just a tad bit rougher road surface than before. Most of the gravel is gone from Stage as well, but I’d never descend Stage assuming a corner is clean. The worst right now is apparently Tunitas (the back side of Kings), which a week ago was still getting reports of quite a bit of oil & gravel.
Did you see Eric (from our ride) at the Everest Challenge? I just looked up the results and he did pretty well, 17th overall in his category. Of course, we haven’t seen him since so it might have done him in! –Mike–
Mike – Thx for the info. I climbed Tunitas a few weeks ago and remember it being all repaved…no wait, we descended it and we were all giddy about the repaving. If you’re referring to the flatlands area being gravely, that’s no big deal.
I must have seen Eric, I might have even ridden with him a bit, as I saw many Webcor guys both days. But it appears we didn’t recognize each other. I saw Kevin the week before on the back side of 9 and he was contemplating doing it with a buddy – Australian accent maybe? But I never saw Kevin.
We did the tourist class and probably spent as much time resting and getting water at aid stations as Eric spent riding!
~Phil