All posts by Mike

First time riding home felt good in a long time! (Putting mortality back in its place)

Personal stuff, Ride reports (not Tu/Th)

There’s usually not that much to say about the ride home from work, especially lately, when it’s just kinda been going through the motions, not much effort and certainly no real speed. But tonight (ok, past midnight, so last night) felt different. It was like things used to be. I wasn’t just riding home, putting in a few miles and doing the commute-by-bike thing because it’s what I believe in. It was… fun. Instead of dreading the climb up Highland & Jefferson, I was looking forward to it, and when I got there, I felt lighter and faster and just kind of alive. Something I haven’t felt like in at least two months; Strava says November 11th was the last time I had any speed up Highland.

It’s hard to say what changed. Did it just take a while, getting in some miles again after that month of basically being off the bike in December? Maybe. But I think it was also a bit of a relief going in for a blood test, first time in a couple of months, and seeing that things were OK. OK other than a declining hematocrit, which is definitely NOT ok, except that it helped having a reason for being a bit less strong. But the rest of the numbers, dealing with my essential thrombocythemia (mild bone marrow cancer), all looked pretty good and stable.

Sometimes you just have to keep plugging away, because if you keep at it, despite the discouragement that comes from the memory of how things used to be, you eventually reach some critical point where voila, you’ve arrived, you’re where you used to be, where you needed to be again. And thank goodness because how long can you go before those thoughts of “Is it over? Will I ever be able to ride well again?” are allowed to take over, so you slack off and never do get back to where you were?

Long way of saying I’ve pushed mortality off into the distance again. –Mike–

Felt like a REALLY high gravity day

Tues/Thurs 7:45am ride

Climbing the last part of Kings, with some nice shadows for added company.
Endless shots of West Old LaHonda get kinda boring, but, why? People look at the weather report every day, sometimes multiple times a day, hoping to see something to give them hope it’s going to be nice. So why not show endless shots of one of the most-beautiful views of any road any where? Maybe because not everyone can relate to it the same way I do. Actually there’s something to that; I relate to the view section of West Old LaHonda so favorably because not only is it pretty, but it also represents the end of the significant climbing. It’s a reward, and if you didn’t ride up the mountain (Kings) and the hills (Skyline & West Old LaHonda) to get there, it’s just another pretty view.

Getting there, today, was not terribly easy. Thankfully Kevin wasn’t pushing hard; in fact, he even took a rest for a bit heading up Kings by having a small seizure. It was an easy enough pace that I could even carry on part of a conversation, which is very rare for me once the road tilts upward. I can’t explain why it was so slow; it was warmer by a few degrees than Tuesday, and I’d slept fairly well the previous night. Maybe it was because we were off schedule a bit, arriving to the start 4 minutes early. Yeah, that must have been it.

Assuming a normal Sunday ride, this will be my first normal week of riding since… the beginning of November. Really? It’s been that long since commuting each weekday by bike, plus Tuesday & Thursday full rides (no skipping West Old LaHonda), plus at least 50 miles on Sunday? Maybe once I get in a full week of riding I’ll get back in the swing of things again.

Or maybe it’s just winter and I can’t climb worth beans when it’s cold.