It all starts with the weather forecast the night before; normally not a big deal but this time I had paused the TV for a few minutes so I could leave the room, and coming back to it, was amused by the frozen moment in time it displayed. Apparently, Roberta Gonzalez on Channel 5 uses a ladder during the forecast. Who knew? 🙂

6:55am the next morning my radio alarm goes off… pretty quietly. Don’t need much; my body is so used to Tuesday & Thursday mornings that it just knows when it’s time to get up earlier-than-normal and ride. Head out the hall, call the dog and have him wake up Kevin. Silly routine, that. Kevin’s door is shut but not latched, so Jack (the dog) can barrel down the hallway and jump up at it, kicking it open. Yes, I do make sure it’s not latched, because I have a feeling it’s a pretty expensive vet bill for a dog with two broken front legs. One of these days I’ll have to record Jack jumping on the door.

Not too many this morning; Kevin (not the pilot), Karen, Eric, Jan & Todd. We rode up through the park which, for the first time in a while, had the lower gate open (so no cyclocross barrier-crossing practice). Kevin and Todd rode on ahead, while Eric and Karen were behind, gradually creeping back up to me. It was inevitable that they catch and pass me, although, for a short while, I had hope. I did manage to get, according to Strava, my personal best time up through the park. At least for the past couple of years anyway; back in the day, I would have gone up a whole lot faster! For the Kings climb, not so good though. 29:01 which, while mildly OK for a time that includes going up through the park, is very frustrating due to those 2 extra seconds that make all the difference in the world. 28:59 seems so much faster than 29:01. At least a minute faster anyway.

We made the decision to see if Old LaHonda might be open and all of us might have enjoyed our first Tuesday/Thursday Old LaHonda outing in two months if not for a flat tire on the descent into Sky Londa. Flat tires are extremely unusual on this ride, partly because we all take pretty good care of our equipment, and partly because we know the roads so well. The extra 12 minutes for Karen’s flat required her, Todd and Eric to head straight back down into Woodside, while Kevin, Jan and I enjoyed got to check out the new pavement on Old LaHonda. Let’s just say it’s not quite ready for prime-time, gluing sand and small pebbles to your tires and giving you that feeling you’re riding on a road paved with double-sided sticky tape. Passable, yes. Enjoyable? Worth it for the views, but I’d give it a week or two!