All posts by Mike

Kevin’s 25th birthday ride & breakfast at Alice’s

Tues/Thurs 7:45am ride

Alice’s has special meaning for Kevin; it was the reward on his earliest rides up to Skyline, back in the day when he was, well, chunky. We’d ride up Old LaHonda and stop at Alice’s for a burger. As he got stronger we rode up Kings. 2007 maybe? 10 or 11 years ago, when he was about 4 or 5 inches shorter and 50 pounds heavier.

Kevin announced a month ago that this would be a breakfast ride, something we’ve done maybe once a year on our Tuesday/Thursday morning rides. Unfortunately people had places to be this morning, so it was just me, Kevin, Kevin (pilot) and Marcus riding up Kings today. Marcus nicely rode with me up the hill, while the two Kevins rode on slightly ahead. Despite not being able to get an under-30 time on Kings, I still felt pretty decent considering it was the first cold morning so my breathing was really bad. My heart rate was responding nicely, my legs felt strong, I just couldn’t get much air. Much improved over Thursday’s ride to the coast. A week back from vacation and I feel like there’s hope.

Marcus left us up on Skyline to head home, and Kevin (pilot) turned back at 84, not even heading out West Old LaHonda with us. We just rode the top part of West Old LaHonda, not realizing the road crews are gone for the moment so we could have ridden our regular loop.

So at Alice’s it was just like old times, just the two of us, only now Kevin is a whole lot faster and I’m a bit slower.

Could be worse… could be raining. Oh. Wait.

Ride reports (not Tu/Th), Tues/Thurs 7:45am ride

It’s not been an easy road bike on the bike after 10 days off, being in vacation with my wife in South Africa. Got back last Wednesday evening, rode the annual Turkey Trot to Pescadero and back via Tunitas with my son Kevin and Karen, one of our Tuesday/Thursday semi-regulars, and, well, it was tough. I was on fumes climbing Tunitas Thursday, with Kevin and Karen finishing many minutes ahead of me, but I made it (as if there was an alternative?). One of the few rides where I really didn’t feel like I could have ridden any further.

Then today… rain? Really? It was just me doing to solo gig; Kevin was on a date with his girlfriend, and nobody else was going to be out there with me on the first real weekend rain ride. The plan was to do the usual Tuesday ride; up Kings, across Skyline to 35, west side 84 to West Old LaHonda and then back down 84. It was a bit of a slog, not unexpectedly, heading up Kings. Meaning, slow. But slow got slowly faster as I rode, and by the time I made it to the top of Kings I was feeling pretty decent. Oh, I should also add that I had a mildly-dragging rear brake the whole way. The story behind that? I discovered when I got the bike ready this morning that both front and rear disc brake pads were shot, the rear ones in particular, which were almost down to the metal backing. After installing new ones, I couldn’t move the pads quite far enough away from the rotor not to scrape. I figured after a few miles in the rain they’d probably wear away enough to not be adding much resistance, although I admittedly haven’t checked since.

OK, just checked, the brake is still dragging a bit. Well, the good news is that I got a better workout than otherwise, right?

It was up on Skyline that I discovered I wasn’t quite ready for my first rain ride. I’d forgotten something. Something important. A cycling cap, under the helmet. Absolutely essential for keeping salty water from coming down into your eyes, as well as keeping the rain off your face while descending. I found myself having to stop every mile or so on the Skyline descent so I could wipe the stinging salty water away from my eyes so I could see again for a while, and decided I’d have to head straight back down 84 instead of doing the West Old LaHonda loop. But, since I didn’t see anybody else out today, I thought, maybe, not such a bad thing.

Well, as I turned off Tripp Road onto Kings, I came across a couple of guys who’d just descended Kings, after having headed out to the coast and back via Tunitas. What I should have done, probably would have done, had Kevin been with me and I hadn’t forgotten my cycling cap. I’ll be better prepared next time!