We knew it wasn’t going to be a fast ride Thursday, and in fact I kinda guaranteed that by forgetting to take a few hits from my inhaler. Yeah, same stuff Chris Froome used, but it’s never seemed to make me quite as strong. Why is that?

Heading up through the park, somehow Kevin missed this guy (in the photo) in the road. Sadly, already dead before we got to her. Not very long but rather full-bodied if that makes sense. I spotted it and stopped, got a couple of photos and moved on. Not sure if he’d been run over or dropped by a bird. Seems like a pretty big guy for a bird to pick up though. Amazingly, this is the first rattlesnake we’ve seen in quite a while. Used to see them all the time, typically out on West Old LaHonda. Maybe they’re still out there, enjoying the still-closed road.

At the base of Old LaHonda, we wondered if maybe this would finally be that 28-minute day. Nope. Still 25-something if I recall correctly. We can take it easy, but not quite THAT easy!

Sunday’s ride was OK, even better than OK for part of it, despite being a bit sore from having to pump up all those tires at the Foster City Bike Ride in the morning. But it seemed like the soreness from all that pumping kept building and building; yesterday both Kevin and I felt pretty stiff and sore around our lower back. Some of it was still there this morning. So maybe that was it. Or maybe it was just one of those famous “High Gravity” days.

I gave Kevin the option of doing a different-than-normal ride, skipping Old LaHonda and riding up Alpine and “walking” Joaquim instead. Strangely, he said no. Not quite sure why. Said something about being able to do Old LaHonda on autopilot, so the struggle wouldn’t be so bad. But trust me, the struggle up through the park, it was bad. Slow. Bad. But we made it.

Old LaHonda, maybe it would finally be that 28 minute super-slow time we’ve said would be the case on those days we didn’t feel fast. At 26:25, is wasn’t fast. It wasn’t 28, but it wasn’t fast. Maybe Thursday will be fast. Or maybe not. After a series of surprisingly-fast rides, having a few falling-off-the-chart rides doesn’t bother me. It’s almost a relief.