Kevin had a commitment at noon, which meant that, if we were going to ride, it couldn’t be the usual Sunday 10:45am take-off! Or at least that wouldn’t give much of a ride. Even with an earlier start, it couldn’t be too long either. My suggestion was to head out to the coast and back Tunitas, without stopping for food at San Gregorio. No coffee? But one of Kevin’s favorite rides is about the same length, without even an option for a coffee stop, so you don’t feel bad about passing one up. Old LaHonda/LaHonda/West Alpine.

Last Thursday I had a pretty good day on Kings, but today was a pretty sad day on West Alpine. Not that I was fast on Old LaHonda, but surprisingly, nobody passed us. Also interesting to get out earlier and actually see lots of others climbing at the same time. But West Alpine got to me; nothing in the legs or lungs. But at least we did get to see the Flanders flag flying from the usual place on the way up West Alpine, fitting as this was race day for the Tour of Flanders.

I eventually got to the top, with Kevin raring to go, not being confident I had the required ride time dialed in. But there were a couple women stopped at the other side of the road, looking over a bike, and I know a thing or two about bikes. Kevin was in no mood to wait for anything though; he didn’t want to miss the date with his girlfriend, so he rode on. Good thing I stopped for the bike issue. A rear tire was lifting off the rim due to an improper installation (tube not fully contained inside the tire). Apparently this had been an issue before as well. Yikes. Pretty dangerous descending with a tire that’s trying to blow itself off the rim! It took maybe 10 minutes to get everything going and then I rode solo the rest of the way home. I knew there’d be no chance of catching Kevin, but I was surprised that I got home just 10 minutes after he did, implying I wasn’t riding all that slow.