All posts by Mike

Still a little fight left in me (best time up Haskins in 3 years)

Ride reports (not Tu/Th)

Descending Kings we pass Jan climbing up the hill. Jan’s a former regular on the Tuesday/Thursday rides who doesn’t think he’s fast enough for us. Think again! We’re looking forward to seeing him return.
It was a very long day. Not that it started any earlier than any other Sunday, but the way it started was a bit… tiring might be the right word? As in, inflating what seemed like an endless supply of bikes needing air at the Foster City Community Bike Ride, an event we’ve provided support for a good many years. There’s something about pumping up tires that seems to twist you around a bit, and afterward, arriving how around noon, getting out on a bike ride feels like the last thing you want to do.

But, of course, it’s what you MUST do. Well, me, anyway. Kevin didn’t feel up to it, after pumping up all those tires, so I headed out solo for the usual Old LaHonda/Pescadero/Tunitas loop. Except, it wasn’t. First, I had two extended stops, trying to get my Garmin and iPhone to play well together. Seems that IOS13 might have broken something. When I gave up, not sure why, but Old LaHonda didn’t seem quite so appealing, so I headed up 84 instead, with all the traffic, all the fumes, everything that gives reason for going down 84, never up. Well, sometimes you just have to remember why it’s never up, always down. Today I remembered! Played with the Garmin and iPhone again up on top, still no luck. Headed down towards LaHonda, not really knowing how it was going to go.

Well, it went better than expected, for the run up Haskins and out to the coast. Recorded my 5th best Strava time (past 11 years) for Haskins, and best time in three years. I wasn’t sure if I could keep my string of fast (ok, fast for the 63 year old version of me) going. It’s almost begun to take some of the fun out of looking forward to the next ride, due to the pressure of trying to get another good time. Well, as they said on Game of Thrones, Winter is Coming. That will put an end to all that!

Going solo was interesting. You have time to think about things, figure things out. You also have too much time to think about things that rattle you. Got to do both today, with most of the rattling coming on Stage Road and some of Tunitas.

Solo? Not completely. I did convince Kevin to get out and meet me at the top of Kings. Unfortunately, I mis-timed things and had him waiting up there for 25 minutes. At least that’s what he says; I’ll check Strava to be sure.

I finished the ride feeling like there was nothing left to give. Legs tired, stomach growling a bit, and even slightly light-headed. I was riding on fumes. Oh. Wait. I *was* riding on fumes. Kevin and I descended Kings behind a seriously-smoking, get this, Prius! What the heck?

In the end, another one of those rides that I easily could have talked myself out of, and very glad I didn’t.

A few things missing plus a technical glitch… yes, I’m still alive!

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

Catching up, lots of that to do. Last Sunday’s big ride didn’t post for some reason; ended up as a draft. Just took care of that. Not sure I should keep riding anymore, because it’s going to be tough top the times I got up OLH and especially West Alpine! Just one second, ONE SECOND off my best Strava time ever for that climb. Back in 2010. Been up that climb 96 times since March 23, 2008 (the beginning of my Strava entries). Best time ever, during that past 11 years was November 28, 2010. 41 minutes, 39 seconds. Last Sunday was… 41 minutes, 40 seconds. Where did those two seconds go??? How could I have shaved off a bit more time on those scary slightly-downhill corners in that last mile? But when I look at the numbers, I was only one second off my best time for that stretch. Looks like I lost it on the “second” climb, from that section where the road ends in a “T” and to the right you go down into Portola State Park, and to the left, up to Skyline. The second from there to the top of the grade, I lost 7 seconds off my best time. The reality is that each of the four sections (bottom flat, first climb, second climb & descent to Skyline) were within seconds of my fastest ride. Sunday, I truly left nothing in the tank. I can’t look back at that ride and think this or that is where I lost it.

Tuesday’s ride got shortened even more than expected, because they shut off the road well below the Huddart entrance. No fair! Yesterday we rode up through the park and, while they had sign about halfway up that the road was closed, we had no issues riding all the way up to the park entrance, which was un-manned (because, obviously, they were manning the closure further down Kings).

So, Burt & Jenny, thanks for writing to see if I was still alive. I am. I don’t think it likely I’m going to keep up the fast times I’ve been having lately though. One of the advantages I had on Sunday was that I was riding solo; Kevin had a date. If I’m riding with Kevin, there will be sections on roads like West Alpine, or even Tunitas, where for some reason, I still have an advantage on him. I’ll drop him for a while, then wait for him to catch up. I had wondered if I lose much time doing that. Now, I know.