All posts by Mike

39 degrees was the average

First things first. We’ve had FAR colder winters than this. The coldest Tuesday/Thursday morning ride ever was December 1997 I think? 21 years ago. Snow on Kings, 23 or 25 degrees, don’t remember exactly. So a day like today, when the average temp is 39, well, it’s really not that cold. Certainly something you can dress comfortably for.

Just me this morning; Kevin had a nasty cold (actually, same cold I’ve got, but he’s got this different idea that involves resting when sick instead of trying to burn it out). I took it pretty easy, keeping a steady pace, seeing things I’ve not seen before, like trails zig-zagging along the sides of Kings Mtn Road. Even took time to take a selfie on West Old LaHonda.

Looking forward to Tuesday, when we’ll be doing the annual climb up Mt. Hamilton. More details on that later, but in a nutshell Kevin and I will be taking the train that leaves Redwood City just after 9am and ride from the San Jose train station to the top. A good way to start the new year!

Normal people get up early on a Sunday? Who knew!

A suitably-nice final pre-Christmas ride image, I think?
It’s Sunday, my first Sunday back since the 2-week-long no-cycling trip to Morocco. Would have been nice to do the “regular” Sunday ride to Pescadero and back Tunitas, but the last Sunday before Christmas the shop is open, so had to get back early. Which meant not only a shorter ride, but earlier too. We’ve had a habit lately of leaving around 11am; today, we had to be back by that time. Ouch!

The Alto Velo “A” ride on Skyline
The main issue with leaving early is allowing Kevin to get enough rest after coming home late from his Bethlehem AD gig, where he and his sister are in charge of taking care of the era-authentic pigs. Never mind that you wonder who, in Bethlehem, would be eating pork? Whatever, he and sister Becky are in charge of the pigs, which keeps them up pretty late. So I set my alarm for 7:05am, get the oven pre-warming and wake him up 20 minutes later. It still took a bit longer to get out the door than planned though; it was 8:10 before we were out on the road. Still, almost three hours earlier than the norm.

Funny thing we noticed- a lot more people out on the road than later in the day. Except on Old LaHonda. Nobody on Old LaHonda this morning, maybe because it was cold? Nobody to try and catch, but thankfully, it also meant nobody to pass me.

The original plan was to head out to the coast and back via Tunitas, but I couldn’t pencil the timing out well enough in my mind to be certain we’d make it back by 11, so we headed up West Alpine instead. Nobody on West Alpine either, but met up with the Alto Velo “A” ride on Skyline. They escorted us as far as Sky Londa, where we headed back down into Woodside, while they headed out towards Pescadero.

Not a long ride at just 42 miles, but a good way to start a busy day.