All posts by Mike

Fun climbing Kings/Will Skyline ever be finished?

Tues/Thurs 7:45am ride

It was nice, this first Tuesday/Thursday morning ride, getting up after the sun came up, instead of watching it. Also just a bit warmer than last Thursday. I wasn’t sure how I’d be after having such an easy ride on Sunday… miles, yes, but low effort. I needn’t have worried.

Just Kevin (younger Kevin) and JR this morning, with Kevin feeling, well, like Kevin usually does (fast) and JR a bit more sociably paced. Kevin and I drifted off the front a bit, then we’d regroup, until I altered the mix a bit by dropping back towards JR, and then sprint back up to catch Kevin. Rinse & repeat. After three of those I was pretty cooked, but it felt good, playing around like that. Haven’t done that for quite a few years. It’s not the fastest way to climb a hill, but it’s better training than a steady grind.

About that last construction project on Skyline- where they’re basically reconstructing a hillside that had started to slide into the road winter before last- it’s really hard getting a reading on how much longer we’ll have a stop light controlling the single lane. It certainly takes the fun out of one of the faster, and safer, descents in the area.

Heavy enforcement action on Canada Road today, plus easy ride with an old friend

Ride reports (not Tu/Th)

Heavy stop-sign enforcement on Canada Road for the Glenwood stop sign. Pretty much the entire PenVelo ride got pulled over and ticketed.
November 4th, and it’s clear skies, 59-68 degrees, light wind. Kevin was off hiking with a friend, but it wasn’t a solo effort today; Larry, someone I used to race with back in the 70s and rode in France with two years ago, was out here on business and joined me for a ride.

Since it’s Sunday it was the “usual” ride- Old LaHonda, Pescadero, Tunitas. Since it wasn’t with Kevin, it didn’t have to be fast. And… it wasn’t. We’re talking 34 minutes up Old LaHonda, 15 minutes up Haskins and an 1 hour 25 minutes up Tunitas. But hey, the ride down Kings was fast! And we definitely had a better ride than all those guys on the Pen Velo ride seen in the photo above, who were pulled over, en masse, for rolling through the Glenwood stop sign on Canada Road.

Regarding Thursday’s missing ride entry, yes, we did ride, myself, Kevin (younger Kevin) and Karen. Kevin was having a “bad peach” day (er, poop issues) so we had to make an unscheduled and fairly long stop at Sky Londa to use the restroom there, which didn’t allow us enough time to do the full West Old LaHonda loop. So instead, just to do something different, we headed down Old LaHonda road. I really don’t see the attraction to descending Old LaHonda. Too narrow, and neither cars nor cyclists heading up stay in their lane. Plus no opportunities to get any speed either.