Sunday’s ride didn’t quite go as planned. Again. Kevin was pushing really hard for a good time up Old LaHonda, after a good customer told him he’d just beaten his (Kevin’s) best time by a few seconds. And then, literally within sight of the top, he had a significant seizure. Of course he was hoping it would go away on its own, as they sometimes do, since he didn’t want to wreck his time. And of course it didn’t, so of course he fell over, hurting his knee a bit. So, no great time up OLH, and a banged up knee, so no ride to the coast.
But we did go through the first barrier to inspect the Old LaHonda Ross work, and it’s almost done! Can’t be more than a few days work left. Can’t wait. We were going to cross the barrier at the other side but came across a group of women and dogs, of which the dogs were much friendlier. The dogs would have been happy for us to come over to their side, while the women, or at least one of them, was reminding us that “their” road was closed. Sigh.
Headed back and then took Skyline all the way north to 92, then down to Canada. Traffic was backed up, bumper to bumper, all the way to 280. Must have taken people 3 hours to make the drive to Half Moon Bay!
We had a better plan, stopping for coffee at Emerald Hills Coffee, before the final mile or two home.
We talked briefly on Old La Honda road before the fence on Sunday, and you warned me about possibly unhappy women and dogs ahead. My own encounter went OK, but I was sorry to find the small market at La Honda closed when I continued down 84. As a result, I headed up West Alpine without my usual cinnamon roll and extra water for the long climb. Fortunately, a I found a food tent with hotdogs and coolers of soda and gatorade set up by the side of the road in the lower Heritage Grove stretch of the climb. The former owners of the La Honda market were providing a welcome lunch break for road workers who were still cleaning up after the overturned tanker truck that had spilled asphalt into the creek along the climb. The truck had rolled over at the first hairpin Monday Sept 30 (news story here: https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/09/30/tanker-truck-rollover-hazmat-situation-closes-alpine-road-near-la-honda/). I talked with the workers, asked if I could chip in for a hot dog and a nice cold bottle of water, and was glad to have the extra supplies for the rest of the climb! (Road itself was open all the way to the top, but there are still crews along the lower stretch cleaning up after the spill on Sunday afternoon Oct 6).