All posts by Mike

Knew there was a reason to be riding earlier

Ride reports (not Tu/Th)

Kevin had a commitment at noon, which meant that, if we were going to ride, it couldn’t be the usual Sunday 10:45am take-off! Or at least that wouldn’t give much of a ride. Even with an earlier start, it couldn’t be too long either. My suggestion was to head out to the coast and back Tunitas, without stopping for food at San Gregorio. No coffee? But one of Kevin’s favorite rides is about the same length, without even an option for a coffee stop, so you don’t feel bad about passing one up. Old LaHonda/LaHonda/West Alpine.

Last Thursday I had a pretty good day on Kings, but today was a pretty sad day on West Alpine. Not that I was fast on Old LaHonda, but surprisingly, nobody passed us. Also interesting to get out earlier and actually see lots of others climbing at the same time. But West Alpine got to me; nothing in the legs or lungs. But at least we did get to see the Flanders flag flying from the usual place on the way up West Alpine, fitting as this was race day for the Tour of Flanders.

I eventually got to the top, with Kevin raring to go, not being confident I had the required ride time dialed in. But there were a couple women stopped at the other side of the road, looking over a bike, and I know a thing or two about bikes. Kevin was in no mood to wait for anything though; he didn’t want to miss the date with his girlfriend, so he rode on. Good thing I stopped for the bike issue. A rear tire was lifting off the rim due to an improper installation (tube not fully contained inside the tire). Apparently this had been an issue before as well. Yikes. Pretty dangerous descending with a tire that’s trying to blow itself off the rim! It took maybe 10 minutes to get everything going and then I rode solo the rest of the way home. I knew there’d be no chance of catching Kevin, but I was surprised that I got home just 10 minutes after he did, implying I wasn’t riding all that slow.

Which version of me shows up tomorrow?

Tues/Thurs 7:45am ride

A week ago, Thursday, I had a pretty darned good ride. Finished Kings ahead of everyone else, although I don’t think anyone else was going all-out. Then Sunday, just a quick ride out to San Gregorio and back Tunitas, thinking we couldn’t do something longer due to incoming rain. Which, of course, didn’t hit until much later. And worse, we lost out on epic winds blowing from the south, which would have made Stage Road a blast! The shortened ride was OK, but it would be way wrong to suggest I was feeling anywhere near as strong as that Thursday ride just a few days before.

And then Tuesday this week. What. Happened. Maybe it was because it was a bit colder, a bit damp, and maybe also that I’d left my heart monitor off so I didn’t have a good feel for what I was doing vs what I could do. But Tuesday I was as slow as the prior Thursday I’d been (relatively) fast. Temperature has a lot to do with it; when it’s colder, my lungs are that much worse, and I also tend to weigh a bit more.

Definitely looking forward to warmer days ahead. Where are they? Long-range weather report says 84F a week from tomorrow. Works for me.