All posts by Mike

No rattlesnakes! Or bee or yellow jacket stings.

Ride reports (not Tu/Th)

Kevin heading up Tunitas on his e-bike which did give him a workout!
It’s funny; you’d think Kevin riding his e-bike would make for an easy ride for him, but that’s actually not the case; he’s been off his regular bike for a couple of months due to his knee issue, and that’s taken away a lot of his steam. Sure, he could put it in “Turbo” mode and leave me in the dust, but that might not give enough battery life for the whole ride.

And what was the ride? Nothing too challenging; just up Old LaHonda, down the other side to the coast, and back via Tunitas. Curiously it was hottest as we were just 4 or 5 miles from the coast, where it hit 91. It never got terribly cool though; 84 at the coast, and I saw 77 for a bit on Tunitas. Air quality not too bad.

It’s interesting, when climbing and passing others, when one of you is on an e-bike. For some reason I think it a good idea that I lead at that point. Not quite sure why, maybe just want to make sure they don’t think we’re both on e-bikes.

I noticed Kevin got a ton of Strava accomplishments, including some “overall” placings, while I got just one. So it turns out that you have an entirely different set of “accomplishments” for e-bikes vs regular (which makes sense) but for the most part, the fastest times remain in the domain of regular bikes. I was somewhat surprised by this, thinking that there might be some aggressive e-bike riders wanting to “own” KOMs, but it appears that’s not really the case. Interesting.

Tuesday it was a Bee. Today a Yellow Jacket. Sunday? I’m watching out for Rattlesnakes!

Tues/Thurs 7:45am ride

On the left you’ve got Karen, following behind Kevin (on his e-bike) and Jeff Z.
Interesting morning! For starters, Kevin (not the pilot) braved coming out and testing his knee. On his e-bike, of course, but that’s better than not riding at all. We get to the start, and it’s just us. Kevin’s thinking that’s it, nobody else. And there wasn’t, until shortly after getting underway we come across Karen. Two against one; two of us on regular road bikes, Kevin on his e-bike. For a little while, up through the Park, I was able to hold the two of them off, but once we got to Kings, it was game over. Had to slow down and try to breathe.

I kept pace, mostly, the rest of the way up the hill. At least until I hear Kevin, who’s a bit behind me at this point, yelling that JeffZ is behind us and closing fast. Kevin kicks his e-bike into a higher gear (probably went from Tour to Sport mode) and jumps on JeffZ’s wheel… until JeffZ drops him. Seriously. Kevin can’t keep up with JeffZ, when Kevin’s on an e-bike? Yeah, well, JeffZ is that fast and Kevin’s knee must be that bad.

It was a beautiful day up on Skyline, just under 60 degrees, no smoke, just a tough of fog creating rays through the trees in a place or two. West Old LaHonda was clear & dry and apparently also a haven for yellow jackets. Got stung or bit, not sure which, stopped to make sure it wasn’t a bee (no stinger) and basically just got mad. I mean, seriously? Thankfully it apparently didn’t get much venom into me because there was never much swelling, just a bit of pain and a tingling that went away after an hour or two.

Like the title says, I’m expecting rattlesnakes Sunday!