It was a dark & stormy night… well, not really. It lightly rained most of the night, but not the epic storm we were led to believe was coming our way. Still, when I got up at 6:50am, it was pitch black and legitimately raining. At least, raining hard enough that most would rather be riding on a trainer or waiting out the storm, hoping for dry weather later in the day.

But that’s not how Kevin and I roll. If it’s a Tuesday or Thursday morning, we ride. Well, I ride anyway. Kevin rides if I’m not traveling somewhere; otherwise, he might be inclined to be sensible. I’m talking about my son Kevin, not the old-geezer “Pilot” Kevin who rides with us (I can call him an old geezer ‘cuz he is, after all, about 5 months older than me).

So we head out, appropriately-dressed for what might come, yet not totally surprised nobody else is there at the starting point. On the other hand, it seemed odd that we did not see a single other cyclist out there; nobody returning from the “morning” ride out of Palo Alto (the one that starts at 6:15am???!!!).

It wasn’t that bad. It never stopped raining, but it never got really heavy either. Lots of debris on the roads though, including the downed tree you see in the photo (that was on Kings, about 1/4 mile from the top). Have to admit it felt pretty good, being able to get past it on our bikes, while cars had to turn around.

Skyline was cool but not really cold, but since we were running a bit late (delayed by a couple of stops on Kings for little things like trees in the road as well as adjusting layers of clothing) (and we were just plain slow anyway!) we passed on the West Old LaHonda loop. Nobody with us to hold us accountable either.

Descending 84, we wisely waited maybe 30 seconds at the top and followed some road crew trucks on the way down. Why? Because they don’t go super-fast and give you a sense of protection from cars coming up behind you… they’re not going to get annoyed at you if you’re following something slower.

Overall a pretty nice introduction to winter riding. Looking forward to Thursday morning, when it just might shape up to a storm of more-epic proportions. –Mike–