All posts by Mike

Not Kevin’s day

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The guy ahead? Never caught him. He wasn’t trying to stay ahead of us; Kevin just couldn’t put anything into the pedals today.

I was feeling surprisingly good, after a night of not-enough sleep. Kevin, not so much. And we had witnesses, which makes being off your game not much fun.

Hitting the base of Kings, I was riding with George & Karen. Actually I wasn’t that much aware of anyone around me but George; I was in the zone. George was moving around a bit, sometimes in front of me, sometimes to the side, sometimes behind as I found a pace I was comfortable with and played it out. Karen was just behind, probably trying to average out the changes in speed.

Somewhere behind was Kevin and Kevin. When I’m in the zone, I’m looking ahead, not behind. But finally, as we neared the park entrance, there’s a section where you can see 30 or so seconds behind, and Kevin (pilot) was just coming into view but no sign of younger Kevin. I backed off at the park, waited for pilot and asked if he’d seen Kevin, but no, he didn’t know where he’d lost him.

So I put any ideas of a fast time up Kings to rest and circled back to find him. After all he could have had a seizure. Nope. He was just riding really slow, nursing a sore knee. How slow? So slow that, when we almost caught up to another rider, the guy very gradually and unintentionally rode away from us. Hate that. 40 minutes up Kings. I texted Kevin (pilot) not to wait for us at the top.

Hopefully Thursday will go better!

Looks like a sign for a feedzone!

Back to Pescadero… but there’s a change in routine!

Ride reports (not Tu/Th)

Check out the line, well out the door, for sandwiches.
It was time to get back to the usual, back to Pescadero, and do a full ride for a change. Actually, this is the first year in… decades?… that Kevin and I haven’t done at least one century by now! But neither of us were in shape for a century today.

Old LaHonda was a bit of a slog, over 25 minutes, with Kevin feeling not on his game. Maybe too warm? 84 degrees climbing that hill today! Of course, would have been cooler if we’d gotten out before 11:30. The duck pond in LaHonda was notable for a nearly complete lack of ducks and only a single large turtle on the log at the end. And Haskins? Oh my. 13 minutes up Haskins. That’s not happened in ages! Once we got to the flatter parts I pulled Kevin out to Pescadero, but, once again, no sandwich because of a long line out the door. Remember to bring cash because the alternative, the gas station taco place, doesn’t take credit cards.

Two fish tacos for me, two carnitas for Kevin, and we were fueled for the return home. Not too bad a headwind on Stage, but a bit cold as the fog moved in. Kevin mentioned how rarely we’d see a 30 degree swing in temps on a ride. Tunitas? Well, yeah, no respect there either, hitting the top at 1 hour, 44 seconds. But, we made it, it was a pretty nice day, and saw lots of others out enjoying their bikes.