We weren’t expecting it to be wet this morning though. In fact, I actually brought Trek’s new electric-assist road bike home to see what it would be like on our regular Tuesday/Thursday-morning ride. Being wet I decided it made more sense not to trash a brand new $7000 bike that needs to be in sellable shape, so Kevin and I had to switch gears and take our rain bikes (note that it wasn’t supposed to be wet this morning!). That change also put us about 5 minutes behind schedule, something that almost never ever happens, so Kevin (pilot) and Karen rode on, thinking we were no-shows. At 4 minutes late, they did the right thing. On a really good day, Kevin might have caught up to them, but he was hanging with me for the first part of the climb, and we only saw Karen as she was heading back down Kings.
I wasn’t climbing quickly; basically a month of very little riding does that to me. But I was climbing, I was on a bike, and actually having a good time. Up on top we came across a couple that Kevin had previously passed on the way up (he finished a few minutes ahead of me) and, of course, Kevin goes into target acquisition mode. Took a while as they were going at a decent clip, and Kevin couldn’t push too hard without dropping me. I kept thinking “The force is strong with this one!”
Because we had started late and were riding slow, we had to skip the West Old LaHonda section and head straight back down again. Looking forward to getting out there on Thursday, assuming decent weather. And really happy that I didn’t have that feeling of wow, this isn’t worth it, I’ll never be in shape again.
So it feels really good to feel almost normal again, and to remember how you’re supposed to feel. Not sick.
