I gave some thought to doing a one-way ride in the direction of Carmel Valley, something where we’d see how far we could get and be picked up by my wife & daughter, who were driving to the wedding. Didn’t work out though, as there was no place we could be sure we’d be able to take a shower. I considered hosing off at the beach in Santa Cruz (they have rinse-off showers at the boardwalk) but it takes a lot of time to navigate the boardwalk area (cars back up for blocks) and we’d still have to find a place to actually change clothes.
So we chose a short local ride instead, leaving much earlier than normal for a Sunday ride (7:30, same time as our Tuesday/Thursday ride) and head up Page Mill. Not sure why I chose Page Mill; I’ve always had a tough time getting into any sort of rhythm on the first part of the climb, and those steep pitches, if you’re not feeling good, can really kill.
But for some reason, this morning I was feeling pretty darned good, even though it was a pretty cool morning (I saw temps as low as 47). Kevin probably could have ridden just a bit faster up the steep parts, but nicely stayed with me all the way to the top. I ended up with my 4th best time since 2009, an indication that my daily poison pills for my bone marrow issue aren’t cramping my style all that much. A good thing, that!
https://www.strava.com/activities/1188782608
