So yesterday’s ride was unexpected in more ways than one. First, it wasn’t just the two of us (myself and Kevin). My brother Steve came along on an e-bike. And Kevin (pilot) was there. And George. And half a mile into the ride, Kevin (pilot) gets a text from a friend of his who was going to ride with us too, so we waited at the turn from Kings onto Greer. And waited. And waited. Over 5 minutes we waited, but nobody showed. Highly unusual for anything to change the pacing or timing of this ride!

Kevin (pilot), George & Steve hung back a bit while I tested my legs to see what’s there, pushing myself to keep up with Kevin (kid). There was no point to riding for time since that had been screwed up while we waited for the guy who never showed up. Still, there was that feeling of being a rabbit, with dogs chasing us from behind, and at each straight section I was always looking back to make sure they weren’t gaining on us. George would certainly be capable of bridging up, no issue for Steve either on an e-bike, but Kevin (pilot) is still recovering from his battle with lyme disease. We finished a few minutes ahead of them.

Note about Kings Mountain- they’re doing HEAVY tree and shoulder work, starting at 8am. So head up early and plan a different way down. Some signs had been posted but no activity on our way up. Which leads us to the next issue, West Old LaHonda still being closed while they’re doing repairs. So we rode Native Sons again, with Kevin, Kevin and George flying down while I hung back a bit to make sure Steve didn’t take any wrong turns. Hey, his ebike has disc brakes; why’s he off the back? Yeah, whatever, obviously he had no issues coming back up. Nor, surprisingly, did I. Not exactly surprisingly though, as I’ve been feeling quite a bit better lately. Better enough that I was able to get a PR for a couple of the segments climbing back up. George was doing a really good job of pacing me.

Overall another nice ride with my new & improved body. Don’t know how long it will last, and, of course, winter *is* coming. But when it’s as hot as it’s been lately, that seems a long way off.

Another very surprising ride this morning. At the start just myself and Kevin (kid) but saw quite a few more cyclist on the roads than normal. Probably people trying to get in a ride before the day heated up too much. The surprise was that I was able to put one foot down, then the next, and keep repeating, over and over and over (I mean, how else are you going to get up a hill?) but at a pretty steady and strong effort. The timing points were all looking pretty good. Would have liked to have gotten to the first hard-left after Huddart at 10 minutes, but was only 15 seconds or so behind that pace. Memories of the old days say you have to get under 10 by that point if you want a decent time. But the concept of decent time has changed over the years, so what was necessary for a 26-something isn’t quite needed for a 28-something.

I kept going and going and never really felt like I was going to fall apart. At least not until spittin’ distance of the top, when you start worrying whether you can hold it together long enough to stay under 29 minutes. At some point I even dropped Kevin (kid), who wasn’t on top of his game today. Probably about the same time I picked up Kevin (pilot), who’d left 5 minutes ahead of us.

In the end, 28:50, fastest time since June 2017 (and that particular ride was a bit unusual, being faster than anything the prior year). Makes me wonder how my son could ride with me last year, thinking how much slower I was then. Since WOLH is still under construction, we did Native Sons road this time, another fun little dead-end road off Skyline. Pretty steep climbing back out, but as on Kings, I felt surprisingly good, dropping both Kevins at one point before becoming social and waiting for them. This, too, shall pass.

There’s no question some of the extra speed is the result of shedding some weight when I broke my pelvis. That’s pretty much stayed off, which is a definite surprise. At 6 or 7 or 8 pounds heavier, the science says I’d definitely be about 30 seconds slower, maybe more. I much prefer faster.