All posts by Mike

Why time a ride for the hottest part of the day? Good question!

Ride reports (not Tu/Th)

Stage Road sat right on the edge between the cool fog on the coast and the intense sun & heat inland. Pretty nice 70 degrees.
Hottest day in months, would have made sense to get out early, right? Watch the Vuelta coverage, which finished at 8:45, then get out and ride before it gets really warm. That’s what a sensible person would do.

Helping out some visiting cyclists from Hong Kong while an interesting recumbent rolls past.
But a person with less sense? That person gets various things done first and doesn’t hit the road until 11:23, pretty much guaranteeing a hot & long day in the saddle. It actually wasn’t all that bad though; maybe 80 degrees climbing Old LaHonda, and I actually got to stop about 2/3rds of the way up and help a couple guys visiting from Hong Kong with their route. The fact that they were stopped was an indication they weren’t really up to the task at hand; they wanted to know how much more climbing, and they were relieved to know just a mile or so. I asked where they were heading. Out to LaHonda then up West Alpine. I let them know what to expect… something much hotter and much steeper than what they were presently on, and suggested perhaps they ought to just head south on Skyline and drop down Page Mill. I have a feeling even the stretch on 9 to Page Mill was going to be tough for them!

Stopping on Old LaHonda wasn’t an issue in terms of wrecking a Strava time; I wasn’t feeling very frisky today. New, higher medication level isn’t exactly performance-enhancing. However, the climb up Haskins went easier than expected. Got to say it’s a lot more fun heading out to Pescadero when someone else is helping to fight the headwinds! It will be nice when Kevin’s broken arm is a thing of the past.

Thankfully the coast was cooler… much cooler. Pescadero was about 70 degrees, with fog sitting right at the coastline. Fueled up for the return at the Pescadero market (Arcangeli), and then, heading north on Stage… kind of hit the wall. Not much energy on the two climbs, just putting one foot in front of the other. Not a very classy way to climb, but eventually, you get to the top. Great views, as you can see in the photo at the top of this page.

Tunitas? Not today. I wimped out and rode back via 84. In some ways Tunitas actually feels easier, because it has a definitive beginning, middle and end. Heading in from 84, you have some annoying little rollers until you get to La Honda, where it becomes a long-ish hot climb without tree cover. But nice to do something different once in a while, and I started regaining a bit of power about halfway up.

Hopefully the new higher doses of Hydroxyurea will significantly improve my platelet numbers, because I’m certainly seeing a negative effect on my cycling. In theory the stuff does a number on your heat tolerance, but even though it hit 96 on my ride today, heat really didn’t seem to be the issue. Off the bike, another thing entirely; you feel hot & sweaty mid-day at work. But riding? No issue. Life could be worse!

Solo ride this morning; where was everybody?

Tues/Thurs 7:45am ride

The spooky tree, or what’s left of it, on West Old LaHonda.
You never know how many people will show up on the Tuesday/Thursday-morning rides. There’s no real rhyme or reason to it. Sometimes it could be 10, or even 12. And, very rarely, it might be just me. This morning was one of those very rare days.

It was a bit warmer than Tuesday, so I dispensed with the base layer (but kept the leg warmers, just in case) and never wished I’d worn it, with the temp never dipping below 50. But certainly the weather wasn’t keeping anyone away as it was clear and 55 at the start. I wasn’t entirely alone though; there were the usual people out walking their dogs, and heading up through the park I passed a young lady (“young lady” covers an increasingly-broad range as I get older; in this case, she might have been mid-30s to early-40s or so) who said something about it being such a nice day to ride. I agreed as I passed by, thinking that her pace up the hill seemed a lot more civilized than mine. Certainly no records set by me heading up the hill though; 31:24 is quite a bit off the mark for me.

On the other hand, riding by yourself means there are no regroups, no pauses, which speeds things up a bit. I ended up finishing the ride just a bit earlier than normal, despite feeling pretty like I’d run out of gas on the West Old LaHonda section (which, as you can see in the photo above, was pretty fogged-in).

Riding solo isn’t so bad, but I do miss getting to talk with the others. Or at least listen to them, since talking is still a bit tough for me, even though my breathing issues do seem to be improving.