Checking out "closed" West OLH and VAM coming back up : Almost-Daily Diary : http://www.chainreactionblogs.com/diary

Almost-Daily Diary
http://www.chainreactionblogs.com/diary/2017/02/27/checking-out-closed-west-olh-and-vam-coming-back-up/
Export date: Mon Nov 25 23:28:49 2024 / +0000 GMT

Checking out "closed" West OLH and VAM coming back up

View of the West Old LaHonda road washout taken from across the valley.

Today's ride was the same and different from most-other Sunday rides. The same in that it was our usual Sunday loop, heading up Old LaHonda, down West Old LaHonda, over Haskins to Pescadero, Stage Road north and back via Tunitas. Different because-

First, I managed to, finally, get back over 1000 VAM for a climb. VAM is a measurement of how many meters you can climb in an hour. I have been struggling for some time to get back to semi-normal climbing speeds, mostly due to a combination of my breathing issues and weather that hasn't been conducive for normal riding. It's not like I climbed Old LaHonda all that quickly; still 23-something, but that's better than anything I've done in quite some time. It likely helped that my son (Kevin) was slowed down a bit by a kidney stone issue, giving me something to pace instead of him just riding off & out of sight.

Heading down the other side (West Old LaHonda), yes, we came across "road closed" signs at the top, but rode on through without giving it much thought. We knew where the damaged section was, since we'd ridden up it on Thursday's ride. We stopped at the scenic overlook, the place you often see cyclists stopping to admire the view of the coastal mountains and ocean beyond, and looked across the valley to where the damaged road was. That's what you see in the photo at the top of the page. From what we could tell, there was enough remaining that we'd be able to get through, and this proved to be true. The road wasn't that much different from when we'd ridden up Thursday, but definitely has that look of possibly disappearing entirely if one more car passed over it. We rode through with no issues, but if road crews were out working on it, there's no way they'd let you pass.

Why you don’t want to walk through mud with your cleated shoes

Post date: 2017-02-27 02:11:46
Post date GMT: 2017-02-27 10:11:46

Post modified date: 2017-02-27 02:11:46
Post modified date GMT: 2017-02-27 10:11:46

Export date: Mon Nov 25 23:28:49 2024 / +0000 GMT
This page was exported from Almost-Daily Diary [ http://www.chainreactionblogs.com/diary ]

Export of Post and Page has been powered by [ Universal Post Manager ] plugin from www.ProfProjects.com