All posts by Mike

It’s not been easy lately, at least not on the climbs

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

Sunday Kevin and I did a nice ride out to the coast, the direct route over Old LaHonda then 84 all the way to San Gregorio. At least it wasn’t like a few weeks ago, where all I could do was try and hold onto Kevin’s wheel as we motored west; this time I was able to pull up alongside at times and actually talk. Big improvement! But. We had a bit of a tailwind heading up the lower part of Tunitas, and Kevin decided not to waste it. Oh my. We hit the entry to the forest, the beginning of the climb, a full minute under my previous best. We were flying. Once the hill started I lost sight of Kevin pretty quickly, and lost that minute completely pretty much exactly at the bridge of death. From there it was all about limiting my losses, eventually finishing at 48:26, my best time in two years. Kevin would have had a PR if he hadn’t had a seizure on the steep part and lost a few minutes. He still looked quite well rested by the time I caught up to him!

Tuesday morning? As was the case last Thursday, the lungs are telling me no, I don’t want to work that hard, slow down. There’s just not much ability to try and push through. Hopefully I’ll break through soon and feel normal again; maybe it will take some sort of really tough Santa Cruz ride?

EU shuts down US travel; a proposal to get things back on track

Personal stuff

Where the Delta variant stands today, and why US tourists are being restricted

The graphic above shows why; that top chart shows US cases continuing to climb while other countries have seen their rates flatten out or decline. And with the US continuing to deny reciprocity (the US doesn’t allow EU residents to travel here for anything but essential reasons), it feels like the EU has had enough.

I think… my opinion only… I think that if the US proposed bilateral rules that would allow EU citizens to travel to the US and vice versa, under the following conditions-

– Fully vaccinated
– PCR (not rapid antigen) test 72 hours prior to departure

If we proposed that, I think the EU would open back up for US travelers. I believe this is something that should be supported and advocated for. But how?

For those who refuse vaccinations for whatever reason, my proposal on the surface looks hostile. But it’s actually, I believe, the fastest way to return the world back to semi-normal and allow non-vaccinated travel again. We’ve got to get a handle on this.