Sunday I had a very short ride with Kevin due to, well, I don’t even remember at this point. But we didn’t do the usual ride to the coast, just a brief not-even-40-miler in the foothills. Tuesday’s ride was severely shortened because I had an early appointment to have some of my bone marrow sucked out, and skipped my normal ride home because the doc didn’t want me to exercise “strenuously” for 24 hours. Yesterday I was back to the regular ride to & from work, and felt pretty good riding home last night, chasing my son up the hill.

And today… today finally felt like normal times again. The regular Thursday morning ride, with both Kevins, heading up through Kings. Just a few degrees cooler this morning, which made a bigger difference in my (in)ability to breathe than I expected. But it was a good effort and, like Tuesday, I found myself able to carry on a conversation heading uphill. If I’d been trying to get a decent time, sure, that wouldn’t have been possible, but this winter the theme has been “ride casual.”

We’ve still got three stoplights slowing down our times; the first on Skyline near Bear Gulch, the second on Skyline between West Old LaHonda and Sky Londa, and the final affront to a speedy ride comes about halfway down 84, heading into Woodside. None of these seem to come at opportune times, meaning a welcome chance to take a short break. They’re just annoying, and leave you wondering just how long before they finish our local road repairs. Maybe they’re waiting for it to start raining again.