All posts by Mike

Finally a regular ride entry! An “Ugly” ride at that.

Kevin on Skyline at the view point just north of Page Mill
It’s about time I get a regular ride entry in here, even though somewhat of an irregular ride. It seems like nearly every Sunday ride has been the Pescadero/Tunitas loop, and for reasons unknown I decided it should be something tougher. And the ride through the foothills to Los Altos then up Stevens Creek, up Redwood Gulch, and finally 9… that’s tougher. Even though less climbing, trust me, it’s tougher.

It starts out easily enough, riding past Old LaHonda instead of heading up it, fooling you into a false sense of the ride being easier, just because you’re not climbing. Yet. We traditionally stop at the Peet’s near our former Los Altos store location which, by the way, remains un-rented. From there, it’s the not-so-fun ride up Steven’s Creek, which becomes Stevens Canyon, which takes you to the base of Redwood Gulch. Kevin was feeling better on Redwood Gulch than I was, at least at first. I was feeling really, really slow but for reasons unknown, the last third I found some extra power, saving myself from a dismal time.

9? Always a long slog to the top. Skyline? Pretty nice heading north, where you lose a bit of altitude and generally have favorable tail winds.

It was one of those rides where I felt a whole lot better than at the start. That’s always a good thing!

Long time no entry. But still riding!

So now I’ve let the fun stuff, the baggage of life, get in the way of keeping up with my posts. Not a good thing. I’ve done a pretty significant rearrangement of my evening hours and no longer spend 11pm-12:30am typing away at a computer. I’m trying to get in sync with my wife’s evening ritual, which is requiring some changes for both of us, the main one being getting to bed quite a bit earlier than before, and spending more time with her talking about the day, what’s going on in our lives, and trying to reassure one another that everything is going to be OK, that we aren’t living separate almost-parallel lives, and that 40 years of marriage is about more than endurance and survival.

There are times when that can be a tough job. But it’s tough mostly because we let some things slip away from us in the past, getting caught up in the business and life instead of the truly looking after each other. It turns out there’s not enough hours in the day to do it all.  More soon.