All posts by Mike

First Sunday post-Covid ride. There’s work to do!

Ride reports (not Tu/Th)

So it’s been 9 days since Covid hit, 7 days without symptoms. Been in the “real world” since Thursday (5 days isolation being the new normal). Thursday morning I actually felt pretty good, maybe largely because it just felt good to be part of the real world again, and especially, to be back on a bike. We’d ridden a lot faster up Kings than Thursday morning, but we’d also ridden slower. Just making it through the whole ride, including the West Old LaHonda loop, felt like a victory.

It was good to reopen the shop again too. We were partially functional on Saturday, with just Steve and River taking care of people who had something to pick up, but unable to help people who were there to look at bikes or buy accessories. We were shut down completely on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday, save for Jose working in the back, getting the repairs done and new bikes built without any distractions. Somehow our mechanics have avoided Covid.

Ok, today. Kevin and I weren’t going to “go long” despite France coming up in just three weeks. That’s a problem; we haven’t yet ridden a single 100 mile ride this year; last year we would have had ridden 2 by now. At least, while we had to stay away from the shop, we did get the Bike Fridays (our travel bikes) built up and checked out. But today, we were on our “real” bikes, and went on a semi-real ride. Just Old LaHonda/San Gregorio/Tunitas.

Old LaHonda was tough, as expected. But at least, it was expected to be tough. Unexpected was how bad it felt just getting to the base! I was wondering if the ride would end up being even-shorter. But it was a beautiful day, perfect weather. Heading out towards the coast I had a brief but really painful upper hamstring issue, as I sometimes get on the flatter sections of really long rides, but this wasn’t a really long ride! Fortunately it passed pretty quickly.

Had a coffee and pastry at the San Gregorio General Store before heading up Stage Road to Tunitas. No records broken on Tunitas, but I didn’t fall apart on the steeper sections, as I feared could be the case. There is hope.

Covid update

Personal stuff, Shop news

Not fun; we’ll be closed through Tuesday for sure, and don’t yet know if we’ll be re-opening Wednesday or Thursday. The quarantine period is 5 days from onset of symptoms, and that’s a pretty tough call. When did it actually start? What was Covid and what was a cold, or allergies?

My wife, daughter and I have all started taking Paxlovid, which is known to both lessen and shorten the severity of Covid. In my case, it’s simply a precaution, based on age and that I’ve theoretically got a compromised immune system due to my mild bone marrow cancer. The reality is that I get sick less often than most, so my immune system is mostly likely intact.

The funny feeling that I had Saturday morning, and caused me a bit of issue sleeping the prior night, has gone completely away. The 1 degree “fever” is gone (in my case, that means 98.8; I tend to run about 97.8). But what I’ve learned is that nothing matters but time. Time from symptom onset. It used to be 10 days; now it’s five. You’re not looking for a negative test result because you can test positive for 3 weeks after you’re over it and no longer contagious. If you *do* get a negative test, which is repeatable, well in that event, you apparently are in the clear.

What a mess. Customers with their bikes at the shop, needing to pick them up. That’s really the biggest problem right now.