Last time I did the Old LaHonda/Pescadero/Tunitas loop was November 25th, about 6 weeks ago. That’s the last time I did any ride of substance! Then it was off to Morocco for a couple of weeks (no bike), then the plague for a couple of weeks and voila, December was down the tubes. I was just barely back on my bike by January 1st but no way to do the usual Mt Hamilton ride so I just did the local loop. I got a couple of shortened Tuesday/Thursday-morning rides in (skipping the West Old LaHonda part) until, last Thursday, I finally got the full ride in. And then today, finally, a “normal” Sunday ride!

Got to admit I had some fear & trepidation getting ready. Seemed like it was going to be cold out there, and not sure I’d be able to be comfortable. But after just a quarter mile or so I realized things were pretty much as they’ve always been in the winter. Other than discovering that Kevin, who also hadn’t been riding in a while, doesn’t suffer the way I do after taking a break from cycling. Holding onto his wheel over Jefferson was really, really tough. Holding onto his wheel on Old LaHonda was another thing entirely. Impossible. The kid (ok, 26 years old) does 20 minutes up Old LaHonda without practice. I struggled to finish under 26. How does that work?

Fortunately he couldn’t shake me on Haskins, but holding his wheel on the run into Pescadero was tough. He was flying.

I should mention that, on the bay side of the hill, we saw lots of cyclists. Everyone was out riding. A good thing! In Pescadero, just a couple. But the deli was open for business and 6 weeks without a chicken club sandwich is about 5 weeks too long. Which also means we’d been 6 weeks without a giant cookie! Good thing we arrived when we did, as there were only two left.

Stage Road… well, it’s good to be back, but despite riding it hard, it wasn’t very fast. Just felt like it should have been fast. And Tunitas? At 55 minutes, hey, it’s still under an hour. It was discouraging to see how low the power meter readings were but hey, it’s January, lots of time to improve. And it feels so good not to have a hacking cough anymore.

This coming Tuesday’s ride looks like the worst case scenario- light drizzly rain that just makes a mess of your bike and not heavy enough that you get any credit for being out there. Hopefully Thursday will be a good storm. See, I’m back to normal, thinking it will be fun riding in really bad weather!