This morning was Kevin’s first day back on the bike after having his latest kidney stent removed and, as expected, he doesn’t take it easy but rather tries flying up through the park on the way up Kings, and flaming out not too far up the hill. This is standard procedure for him; he just can’t get his head wrapped around the idea that taking a bunch of time off the bike means you’ve got to take it a bit easier when you get back on.

Most interesting thing was the return of fog, and cooler temps. Not bad climbing Kings, not too bad up on Skyline, but descending the west side of 84 there were sections where it wouldn’t have been more wet had it rained. We exited the fog on the west 84 descent, and then re-entered it as we climbed higher on West Old LaHonda (which you can see in the photos).

Can’t say that I’m looking forward to next week, as I spend Monday night through Thursday in Las Vegas at the Interbike trade show. That means missing both Tuesday and Thursday’s regular ride, so by the time Sunday comes around, I’m going to be feeling it. There was a time when trade shows were fun, but it’s pretty much just work these days, and were it not for being on the National Bicycle Dealer Association Board of Directors (which holds one of its meetings at the show), I’d likely skip it entirely. Heck, one of these years I might just go to Eurobike (in Germany) instead, which is held a couple weeks earlier. That way at least I’d get a bunch of elite-qualifying miles on United!  –Mike–