It’s February, so you never know what to expect. That’s about as wrong a statement as you can come up with; it’s February so there is one thing you CAN count on.

It will be cold.

Joining Kevin and I today were both Karen and Todd. First Todd sighting in some time, and for good reason- he’s too fast for us. He’d already climbed Old LaHonda before meeting up arriving, and was putting in a pretty strong pace through the park. Kevin was going strong too; first time he’s put the hurt on me in some time, leaving me in the dust on that final steep pitch before rejoining Kings.

I didn’t give up; I knew I’d start feeling better soon and just a few minutes after getting dropped I was off the front. Kevin was in pretty severe distress though, so I dropped back and rode the rest of the way with him.

Temps had been 35 at the bar and never reaching 40 on top, but sure felt a lot better than last week, probably because it was less damp. Kevin assumed we’d be dropping the West Old LaHonda loop since we were running way behind schedule, but I’ve had way too many shortened rides lately so we rode on. Surprisingly it was Kevin pulling on the descent to West Old LaHonda!

Gorgeous views, as always, but you just can’t easily operate an iPhone in camera mode with thick gloves. Very frustrating! There are still times when a dedicated camera works a lot better.

We didn’t expect to see anyone else out there, yet somehow it wasn’t a surprise, as we began the wet and cool climb up Kings, to see someone descending. Dressed in black. Nothing on his legs.

It was reasonably comfortable, never getting below 42, but the amount of rain was surprising, and made for one of those mornings where you really aren’t enjoying the descent. Intellectually, you marvel at how well disc brakes and 28c tires handle the speed and curves on a wet day; it’s really pretty amazing. But still, you want to get to the bottom, where you aren’t worried about having cars on your tail (none today though) and you can put a few watts into the pedals to stay warm.