All posts by Mike

Jeff showed up. I did my best. Kevin was eaten by bears.

Tues/Thurs 7:45am ride

Over just a couple days, things can change rather dramatically. Sunday I had a pretty tough time making it up Redwood Gulch; the bottom section killed me, although I got better as it went. Overall a nice ride though. Kevin rode very strongly Sunday, as did Colin.

So what would happen today? Well for starters, Jeff showed up. THE Jeff. I had a choice. You always have a choice. I could try, see how long I could go, or just let him ride off into the distance. I assumed it would be he and Kevin riding off into the distance. Surprisingly, I was doing a pretty good job hanging onto Jeff’s wheel, while trying to keep an eye on Kevin and make sure he wasn’t in too much trouble. Jeff and I circled at the park entrance for a minute or so for him to catch up, then at the halfway point I let Jeff go on ahead while I watched for Kevin. But darn, I can’t stand watching people ride away from me if I can do something about it, so I took off and caught back up to Jeff again. Not an easy thing to do, but the point is, for some reason, I was able to do it. I did let Jeff go on, permanently, before we got to the wide-open clearing section where I waited up for Kevin and we rode the rest of the way up Kings together.

It was a bit wet, a bit cold up on top, but we were dressed for it. Kevin was still having trouble holding wheels though, so we bid adieu to Jeff, letting him complete the full ride (via West Old LaHonda) while we headed back down 84 into Woodside.

I’ve felt it in my legs this morning; I was truly “Jeff’d” today.

My first thought was, uh-oh, Interstellar Bypass?

Ride reports (not Tu/Th)

What to do for a different Sunday ride. Sometimes that can be tough; it’s not like the “reference ride” (Old LaHonda/Pescadero/Tunitas) ever gets old, but what else is out there? What else can you do that’s similarly challenging and doesn’t eat up the entire day? Especially when you’re kind of responsible for others on the ride having a good time. Today was one of those days, with Kevin, Kevin and Colin. And doing the usual just kind of seemed lame/dull/unchallenging.

What’s challenging? Toss Redwood Gulch into the right. Add a bunch of looping around in the Foothills discovering some new (to me, which is tough) roads care of Kevin (Pilot).

I thought I was doing fine until we got to the start of Redwood Gulch. The first third of that climb killed me. I mean really sucked the life out of me. I’m looking at my power readings and wondering, if my power levels are so low, why is this so hard? It really doesn’t matter how steep it is, 230 watts is just 230 watts. Eventually I found my rhythm and picked up speed and even managed to pass up Colin on the climb. Kevin (younger) was just out of reach and Kevin (pilot) was on another level, at least on the steepest stuff.

Thankfully I recovered completely on the continuing climb to Skyline via Highway 9, and felt pretty good the rest of the way home. Got a bit cold and dark up on Skyline but thankfully cleared as we headed north.

A much nicer ride than I expected. Just surviving Redwood Gulch at all may be reason to be happy.