All posts by Mike

About time I felt better than Kevin!

Ride reports (not Tu/Th)

Kevin sporting the new “kit” (jersey & shorts) that will soon be seen by Trek’s team at the Tour de France next week. This isn’t as dangerous as it looks; the car had pulled over and there were no oncoming cars in sight.
Nice day for a ride, much nicer than it would have been Saturday, when it was much hotter! Kevin and I lucked out, seeing nothing higher than upper-70s. On the other hand, three weeks from now we’ll be in France where it’s going to be quite a bit warmer, most likely plain darned hot!

We got off to our usual very late start, shortly before noon. Old LaHonda was… interesting. I rode very strongly for the first half, then faded on the second, managing to get exactly 1000 VAM (climbing rate, measured in meters/hour), with a time just 4 seconds slower than two weeks ago. I’m wondering where I wasted 5 second! Heading down West Old LaHonda we came across Sarah Coyle, long-time customer who loved Kevin’s new kit (jersey & shorts). Got to admit it is a pretty good-looking jersey!

Haskins… well darn, a repeat, sort of, of Old LaHonda. Once again, just 4 seconds off my time of two weeks ago. What’s up with that???!!! But the good news is that I felt generally pretty good on both, aside from sweating a bit more than I used to, a side-effect of the meds I’m on for my bone marrow issue. Hate that, but just gotta deal with it, and deal I will.

It was the run into Pescadero that surprised me. The last 4.5 miles I was able to go to the front and pull into the wind, all the way to Pescadero. I haven’t done that in ages. It wasn’t the epic pull Kevin gave me a few weeks ago, heading out to San Gregorio on 84 (that was a good 7 miles) but it was a solid effort. I would, of course, pay for that effort later.

Lunch in Pescadero, the usual Chicken club with a cookie for Kevin, a Olallieberry pastry for me. Stage Road- well, I’ve got a photo showing “the flag” on the edge of Pescadero, the one that gives you an idea of what to expect. Today, tailwinds heading north! We did not, however, challenge our Strava PRs from last week.

Tunitas? Well, looks like it’s going to be a while before I get back into the swing of things there. Just over 50 minutes despite favorable breezes on the lower part. Just not too much left in the tank. Kevin could have dropped me easily, but stayed with me all the way to the top.

Descending Kings was nice because, well, no traffic. Almost. Half-way down the hill we came across a slowly-moving car that nicely moved out of the way so we could safely get by. Kevin and I are *way* slower than the really fast descenders on Kings, but unlike them, we don’t play percentage games- we stay in our lane and the lines we take assume there could be something unexpected around the next corner. Doesn’t mean we can’t have fun though, and today, we did have a bit of fun.

A week of missing entries! Lots of ground to cover

Personal stuff, Tues/Thurs 7:45am ride

That’s not the view you expect to see, riding up West Old LaHonda!
OK, first the obligatory West Old LaHonda photo from Thursday-morning’s ride. Only this time, no view! Not sure why we’re suddenly seeing one, sometimes two cars heading down WOLH as we’re heading up. What’s up with that?

So yes, I’m way behind in almost-daily diary entries. Shop stuff got in the way, big time. We’ve been inundated with repairs, which puts a lot of pressure on me (repairs tend to have unique scenarios requiring time spent not just in diagnosis but also running down odd-ball parts, and having to explain to some that a bike just isn’t worth fixing up, which they don’t want to hear until you’ve spent 10 minutes totaling everything up), plus parking issues again care of construction around us (even though there are a huge number of dedicated, fenced-in parking spaces available for construction workers, where do they park? Right in front of our store!!!), new bike models coming in but no resources to build them (due to all the repairs) nor anyplace to put them (again due to repairs). Add to the normal summer repairs the additional customers we have coming up from our former Los Altos location, and it’s hard not to feel like you’re in the middle of one of those hospital triage settings on a TV show.

Oh, also a website re-do, so if you go to chainreaction.com on your cell phone (which is the way about 50% view our website) it doesn’t look terrible. Kind of in the middle of that one. And one more thing. Plantar fasciitis. I start the day feeling ok, but as the hours roll by, my right heel becomes increasingly sore, causing me to quite visibly hobble around the shop. Interestingly, this is an on-the-feet-only scenario. Riding a bike, no problem, because of the rock-hard soles that don’t allow your foot to flex. Walking in regular shoes is another thing entirely. OK, I think that’s it.

But yes, I have been riding. It’s the only thing that keeps me sane. Sunday Kevin and I did the usual Pescadero loop, Tuesday morning we had a special visit from Chris, one of our former regulars and fast enough to give Kevin a challenging time climbing Kings, and this morning (ok, yesterday by the time you read this) it was the return of JR. JR had a knee re-do in February and is just now beginning to come up to speed. Fortunately not full speed yet; it was a pretty relaxing pace this morning.

I am looking forward to things settling down. Hopefully within the next three weeks, prior to Kevin and I leaving for France. Have to admit I’m also looking forward to 10 days doing something different!