Wednesday night the weather report was questionable. Rain, between 3 & 4am. With heavy winds. So in theory, the heavy winds dry the roads out so we have a nice morning. That’s the theory.

In practice, I wake up at 6am to the sound of… rain. What? This was supposed to be a couple hours prior! I convince myself to go back to sleep (get-up time for the ride is 6:55am), thinking darn, probably another ride on the rain bike. 6:55am and there’s no rain, but very wet roads and pretty high winds. Not yet ready to commit to which bike for the ride. Get dressed, get the coffee going, and go pump up the tires. But which tires? What the heck. Our bikes were anything but clean after the last few rides (where even though clear skies, there was still enough water coming out of the hillsides to make a mess of the bikes) so what’s it really going to matter? Go big or go home.

I think it was the right decision. The roads weren’t too bad, and bike choice wouldn’t make a difference with the cold (37 up on Skyline). Still, at least Kevin (pilot) showed up with fenders on his bike, unlike Kevin (kid) and I. This was one of those days where I felt pretty bad at the start but worked my way into things as the ride went on. Thank goodness the opposite never happens (starting out feeling good and ending feeling bad). Kevin (kid) was feeling good, Kevin (pilot) was really slow, and I was someplace in the middle. Admittedly a bit closer to Kevin (pilot) than Kevin (kid). We were literally riding in the clouds once up on Skyline, making me glad I chose the heavier winter gloves. Speaking of winter gloves, it will be really nice to retire them and not have to deal with that awful “winter glove smell” they get (and give, when you take them off).

The West Old LaHonda report? Still there, unchanged. I did find one line drawn in the pavement, the single indication that the county’s done any actual surveying of the damage. But seriously, we’re coming up on a month that the road has been “closed” and the road’s still there, and the hillside hasn’t moved. Unlike the hillside on 84, the alternate route, which is sliding continuously into the road and making cycling very dangerous heading from the West Old LaHonda intersection up to Skyline. We really need West Old LaHonda Road!!!

The 84 descent into Woodside was pretty smooth, with just a 3 minute wait at the first light, and the second was green. We almost got back to the finish at a “normal” time, something that hasn’t happened since… November? Things are looking up. Now I just need to find some time to clean my bike!

I was wondering how I would feel today; yesterday afternoon I was feeling a bit less energetic than normal, and last night had that feeling that maybe a cold was coming on. Slight scratchy throat that, added to the lack of energy, gave me pause.

I needn’t have worried; got up and felt fine this morning. Not so fine that I could get rid of the 30 minute monkey on Kings though. It wasn’t that long ago I suggested people shouldn’t try this ride if they couldn’t make it up Kings in less than 30 minutes, and now I’m not qualified for my own ride! It was closer than I’ve been for a long time though; I hit the wide-open clearing at about 20 seconds off a 30 minute pace, and finished at 30:27, best time since October. Last year I barely got into the 28.xx range, but I’m hopeful to do as well, or even slightly better, this year. Not that I’ve got any good reason to suspect that to be the case, just a feeling.

We saw George show up for the first time in a while, along with Kevin, Kevin & Karen. I kept up with them until the halfway point or so, and then simply tried ot limit my losses. What I need to do is figure out how to set up my Garmin to pace my ride up the hill, showing me over/under (how many seconds ahead or behind) on the way.

We had just a little bit of excitement descending Skyline towards Sky Londa when I heard that unmistakable sound a tire makes when quickly losing air. Funny thing about that is that it takes you awhile to figure out if it’s you or someone else. Definitely a scary moment or two as I’m trying to quickly bring down my speed without losing balance, which can be tricky when a tire’s flat. Turns out it was Karen, riding just to the side of me.

The flat was unfortunate; I was thinking today maybe we’d get back on schedule, arriving back at the start by 9:22 or so. Of course, that is also dependent upon the amount of delay descending 84, which today was very minor, maybe just 3 minutes or so.

West Old LaHonda? Yes, it’s still there. Even the thundering load of 4 cyclists didn’t collapse the remaining pavement.