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This is why we ride! Finally, a ride that went according to the plan! It was getting a bit frustrating, as the past couple of weeks have seen a number of rides shortened, some for weather, some for Kevin's epilepsy issues. Nothing should get in the way of a bike ride, y'know? And today, nothing did. Not even the frigidly-cold weather in the forecast, which we got around by doing what we do best... leaving really late and racing the sun. Nobody does this better than my son and I. 40+ years of riding 'round these parts and I can estimate when I'll be back home for just about any loop possible. I figured we needed to be home by 5 to not run out of sunlight, and we arrived home at 5:02pm. And yes, we did bring lights, just in case. It was the usual, the "Coastal Classic" it's often called, heading up Old LaHonda, down the other side, over Haskins to Pescadero, the three bumps on Stage Road heading north, then back up to Skyline on Tunitas and down into Woodside on Kings.  We left at 12:29pm (isn't it wonderful that Strava knows everything?), called it a draw at the Loma Mar sprint, split a coke but ate all of a cheesecake ollalieberry muffin (I'm sure it was low-cal) and then headed out for the tough part, those three nasty bumps heading north on Stage. Don't know why it seems like they're tougher than Old LaHonda (which, at just under 23 minutes, was pretty slow, even for me), but it seems like they're just tall enough to be annoying, not tall enough to develop a rhythm on. But today it was worthwhile, the view of the Pacific being so spectacularly clear that you could even see the Farallon Islands!  No headwinds, no tailwinds on Tunitas, so no excuse for going slow, and nothing to help us go fast. Which makes sense; we rode "middle" with a time of about 52 minutes to the top (Strava says 53, but I think that's one of those Strava things where we needed to blow through Skyline and stop on the Kings Mtn side (east), not the Tunitas side (west). That's my story anyway, and I'm sticking to it. For a bonus, we spotted someone walking a cool Corgi dog just before the climb. Weather-wise, sure, it was a bit on the cold side at times, although it was up to 42 or so by the time we left and rode through Woodside. Got cool enough descending towards LaHonda to put on our light wind-shell jackets (which Kevin didn't start with; we got a few hundred meters from the house when I asked if he brought one, and said no, he didn't need it... I told him sorry, that wasn't a choice, and later, he was very, very glad to have gone back and gotten that jacket!). By Pescadero we could remove them, as it was up in the mid-50s along the coast, dropping steadily to the upper-30s near the top of Tunitas and all the way down Kings. It was only 57.5 miles, but quality miles, and felt like a much tougher ride than the New Years Day ride up Mount Hamilton. |
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Post date: 2013-01-14 00:36:51 Post date GMT: 2013-01-14 08:36:51 Post modified date: 2013-01-16 12:42:27 Post modified date GMT: 2013-01-16 20:42:27 |
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