Friday morning was what, phase 3 or 4 or 5 in the continuing process of figuring out how to get me to ride faster up hills? A follow-up echocardiogram (the original was a year ago) to see if there have been any changes, along with a blood workup. What gets weird is having all this attention paid to your heart and then going out and pushing it hard. There is some reassurance that they didn’t stop in the middle of the test and admit me for a quintuple bypass though!

Kevin and I did the usual, nothing at all creative. Up Old LaHonda, down the other side, over Haskins to Pescadero, lunch & a cookie, then Stage Road, Tunitas and down Kings. A few seconds slower on Old LaHonda today than last week, but that’s OK, we weren’t actually trying to go fast.

Haskins we rode at a surprisingly-easy pace. Stage went well, but on Tunitas, Kevin seemed to show the effects of missing last weekend’s ride (when he ditched his bike in favor of a trip to Disneyland with his sister). Rather odd to see him having a tough time on Tunitas; I was expecting him to have to wait for me!

Ironically, I’m going through more intensive testing for my breathing at the same time I’m (finally) picking up a bit of speed again. I’m back to climbing at speeds I haven’t done since September and, in some cases, mid-August.  There’s still a long way to go though! In the meantime, I know I’ve got clean arteries and don’t need cholesterol meds.  –Mike–