You’d think you’d eventually get bored of a ride that you do so often it’s become your “reference ride” to judge your strengths & weaknesses, but as long as the Pescadero Bakery is open for business, that’s not likely to happen. And the duck pond in LaHonda… that’s something else to look forward to. How many turtles will you see each time? Today it was 6 maybe? I didn’t know there were more than 4, but I’ve got a feeling there’s a lot more than 6… they just can’t all fit on the same log at the same time. You’ve got to seek them out quietly; they’re a bit skittish and will jump off the logs readily if they notice you. Note that turtles can move pretty fast when they want to!
Kevin and I started the ride pretty late (no surprise there!) leaving the house around 10am, heading to Woodside Bakery for a pre-ride Mocha to fuel us for Old LaHonda. Lots and lots and lots (did I say lots?) of other cyclists out today, as the Tour de Cure was being held, and it was just a darned nice day to be out. About 80 degrees at that point, dropping slightly to the mid-70s on the way up Old LaHonda. I was taking it a bit easy on Old LaHonda, hanging back just a bit for Kevin, although as usual that’s a bit of a dumb move because he recovers quickly and then zooms off ahead of you. Today was no exception; as soon as we got to Upenough, he took off. In a nutshell, Kevin can deliver an enormous amount of power & speed for 3 to 4 minutes. So, if you want to finish a climb at the same time as him, you’d better also have saved something or ridden on ahead first. I didn’t do that, so I arrived at the top maybe 30 seconds after him.
The next climb, Haskins, was not much different, although this time I did manage to hold him off at finish together at the top. He was in trouble quite a few times on the climb, and I held up each time to let him catch back up, but I’m now thinking maybe that’s not such a great idea.
At Pescadero we ran into Ken O, nice guy (and one of our good customers), and we rode with him out towards Pescadero. He can drill it on the flats, but isn’t quite there yet on the steeper climbs. I’m thinking that’s going to be changing soon; he’s pretty darned strong.
Arriving at Tunitas Creek I quickly noticed no headwind! An opportunity not to be wasted, so I went to the front and rode pretty strongly all the way to the base of the climb, getting there about 90 seconds faster than normal. That’s good and bad. Good, because it’s always good to be fast! Bad because you have the opportunity to do well for the segment from the coast up to Skyline! I pushed Kevin as hard as I could, and once again had him falling off the pace a few times, and once again had him charging hard up the last steep part of the climb. Once it flattened out I stayed out in front, hauling him to the top as well as I could. In the end, just over 46 minutes. If I’d been riding solo, could I have done better than my best Strava time (44:15)? Maybe. I was able to keep the heart rate up and the legs turning.
Descending Kings into Woodside I noticed the road was getting really smooth; yeah, front tire was loosing air. Found a nice corner to stop and take care of it (where another rider was doing the same), only drama coming from Kevin apparently stirring up a yellow jacket nest; they were everywhere. Thankfully, no bites or stings.
And Woodside? Yikes, did it get hot. It was only 90 descending Kings, but kicked up to 101.8 in Woodside. Good training for France I guess.
