All posts by Mike

Time for an UGLY ride. Not much uglier than Redwood Gulch!

Ride reports (not Tu/Th)

Why is it impossible to get a photo of Redwood Gulch that caputers its steepness?
It’s been an odd week, lots going on, so much on my mind that Thursday morning I just wasn’t in the game, turned back at the park while climbing Kings and waved Kevin & Kevin on. Not getting more than a couple hours sleep during that night had something to do with that. But last night, I got my first full night sleep in… like I can’t even remember how long it’s been. And it was time to serve my sentence for turning back on Kings, first time ever. And ever means 47 years or so.

My sentence, which ended up being imposed on my son Kevin as well (even though he did the full ride Thursday!) was an Ugly ride, perhaps the ultimate Ugly ride. Head through the foothills to Los Altos then up Redwood Gulch & 9 to Skyline. Even the lead-in to Redwood Gulch isn’t much fun, and Redwood Gulch itself? Yuck. It’s an odd climb, something so steep that you can’t (or at least I can’t) generate normal hill-climbing power on it. That’s followed by a long run the rest of the way up Highway 9. And… no longer a Mr. Mustard at the top to buy a coke either!

But wait, there’s more. Wind. LOTS of wind. At least not a headwind, but Kevin and I got kicked around quite a bit up there, before finally heading down 84 into Woodside.

Didn’t even feel like I was warmed up until shortly before hitting Skyline either. So yes, all the makings of an Ugly ride, but at least I was feeling better as it went, not worse.

What do we say to the god of Death? Not today.

Tues/Thurs 7:45am ride

Doesn’t this picture make us look fast?
The title? Had to find a way to reference the turning point in last Sunday’s epic Game of Thrones episode. When, after an exhausting and endless and looking-like-it’s-hopeless battle against the Night Walkers, they finally give us hope. And that’s what happened on this morning’s ride. I felt like I finally had hope, real hope, that I’m going to come back and ride strongly again.

Nothing really amazing or epic about the ride, but I was able to climb Kings at a strong pace and never gave up. There even seemed to be a slight, very slight, chance of breaking 30 minutes. Not today. But maybe sooner than I thought! I was looking over my past results; last time I climbed about this fast was November 18, 5 months ago. Things should start to get faster from here-on. Now, if only the weather up on top would dry out. Not much incentive to clean my bike when each ride on Skyline makes a mess of it.

At the end, we finished at 9:26, just 4 minutes off the used-to-be-normal finish time of 9:22. Might be able to get there, especially if not having to fight all the headwinds we had today.