All posts by Mike

106F Yesterday to 48F This morning. I’m back.

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Frédéric Silva, the Paranormal Magic guy, did a completely-free, nothing to buy meet-and-Greer after the show. Very cool!

And nobody knew I was gone. No Sunday ride on Strava; what’s with that? Had something to do with my 40th wedding anniversary and a quick trip to Las Vegas. Original plan was to leave Sunday afternoon so I could get in a quick ride, but that didn’t seem too romantic and hopefully I could score a few points (which, in relationships, always seem to expire before they can be redeemed… what’s up with that?).

Karen pointing to our upgraded hotel room

So Saturday 10:30pm were on a plane from SFO to Vegas. Arrive at The LINQ about 1am and find that our room “reservation” was actually just a “request” and all the Kings were gone, leaving only a “full size” for the same low (NOT!) price. But gee they gave us a $25 food credit (think 2 large bottles of water at Vegas hotel pricing) and a promise to do better the next night.

A really excellent breakfast on the LINQ Promenade.

They DID do better the next night, upgrading us to a two-room suite with two TVs (neither used) and two bathrooms (both used). Nice view of the giant Ferris wheel too!

Sunday afternoon we saw two shows, a 4pm “Paranormal Magic Show” with Frédéric Silva (pretty amazing stuff; somehow he really does know what you’re thinking) and a 7pm magic show with Mat Franco, a bigger scale and glitzier but possibly less-impressive affair.

Karen outside Hell’s Kitchen

But the real magic for my wife was yesterday (Sunday) when we went to Hell’s Kitchen for dinner. She’s a big Gordon Ramsey fan. It actually was a lot of fun.

Gives new meaning to Dinner Theater?

And yes, they have a red team and a blue team. Then it was time to fly home and breathe real air and go on a real bike ride this morning.

Waiting for nobody to show

But 100% solo; Kevin (kid) felt sick and nobody else out there either. I had no choice; just two days in Las Vegas had added 5 pounds to the scale!!! Sometimes it’s nice to ride alone but this morning I could have used some company. Think most looked up at the clouds and fog and figured they’d ride later! Hopefully Thursday will be back to normal.

Still some fight left in this old dog

Tues/Thurs 7:45am ride

So yesterday’s ride was unexpected in more ways than one. First, it wasn’t just the two of us (myself and Kevin). My brother Steve came along on an e-bike. And Kevin (pilot) was there. And George. And half a mile into the ride, Kevin (pilot) gets a text from a friend of his who was going to ride with us too, so we waited at the turn from Kings onto Greer. And waited. And waited. Over 5 minutes we waited, but nobody showed. Highly unusual for anything to change the pacing or timing of this ride!

Kevin (pilot), George & Steve hung back a bit while I tested my legs to see what’s there, pushing myself to keep up with Kevin (kid). There was no point to riding for time since that had been screwed up while we waited for the guy who never showed up. Still, there was that feeling of being a rabbit, with dogs chasing us from behind, and at each straight section I was always looking back to make sure they weren’t gaining on us. George would certainly be capable of bridging up, no issue for Steve either on an e-bike, but Kevin (pilot) is still recovering from his battle with lyme disease. We finished a few minutes ahead of them.

Note about Kings Mountain- they’re doing HEAVY tree and shoulder work, starting at 8am. So head up early and plan a different way down. Some signs had been posted but no activity on our way up. Which leads us to the next issue, West Old LaHonda still being closed while they’re doing repairs. So we rode Native Sons again, with Kevin, Kevin and George flying down while I hung back a bit to make sure Steve didn’t take any wrong turns. Hey, his ebike has disc brakes; why’s he off the back? Yeah, whatever, obviously he had no issues coming back up. Nor, surprisingly, did I. Not exactly surprisingly though, as I’ve been feeling quite a bit better lately. Better enough that I was able to get a PR for a couple of the segments climbing back up. George was doing a really good job of pacing me.

Overall another nice ride with my new & improved body. Don’t know how long it will last, and, of course, winter *is* coming. But when it’s as hot as it’s been lately, that seems a long way off.