Category Archives: Ride reports (not Tu/Th)

Ride reports for everything *but* the Tuesday-Thursday morning ride

98.6F? That’s outside temp. I was likely running a bit hotter!

Ride reports (not Tu/Th)

I was on my own Sunday; Kevin was off with his girlfriend, so I got to do my own thing. On Tuesday & Thursday mornings, that thing always includes a climb up Kings; on Sundays it seems to always be Old LaHonda. I’d thought about doing the Pescadero/Tunitas loop, but my bike needed a bit of work, I was a bit lazy, and there was this strange part of me that wanted to wait until it got pretty warm, hot even, before heading out. Why? Good question.

I took it easy up Old LaHonda and felt a lot better than last week, when I broke into such a heavy sweat… on a day that was a bit cooler! Even took a slight detour on the way up; I’ve always wondered what Orchard Hill was all about; now I know. I’d tell you but I’d have to kill you. Descending West Old LaHonda I was a bit disappointed that there were no snakes out; it’s been quite a while and I figured, at 88 degrees, there might finally be a snake or two. Where are they all hiding?

Interesting experience at the LaHonda duck pond; a turtle and Heron were both at the “wrong” end of the pond! Never seen a turtle near the east side, but there it was, sitting on a branch coming out of the water. None in the usual place, or at least none that I could see.

Last chance to rethink things and head out to Pescadero anyway. Nope. Instead I did something unexpected; I tried to drill the lower section of West Alpine (where it’s rolling/flat) and see if I could maintain something close to my PR (my Garmin interfaces with Strava to, usually depressingly, display my current pace vs my best recorded pace). I managed to keep it so close that I just kept on moving and was really surprised to see, at age 65, I got my best-time ever for that segment. I should say, my best Strava-era time, which goes back to 2008. I don’t want to think about how much faster I was, back in the day.

West Alpine was its usual nasty self, and while I wasn’t seeing the power readings I would have liked, the time didn’t seem too bad. In the end, best time in just over a year, so the broken ribs, now 4 weeks in the past, don’t seem an issue anymore.

Heat? Up on Skyline I saw it get as high as 99F, quite a bit warmer than down below. “Just” 86 down below. Overall a pretty nice, although short (43 miles) ride.

It’s been a while!

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

I was doing a really good job keeping up with things in France, but once back, things kind of slid. So just a little recent catching up here. Sunday… not a good day for me! The plan was the usual Pescadero/Tunitas loop, but I felt so bad going up Old LaHonda it was quickly clear “the plan” was in need of alteration. For reasons unknown I was sweating so much on that first climb that Kevin said the back of my jersey was white. Of course he didn’t see it until quite a few minutes after he finished the climb. So we bypassed Pescadero and headed straight out to San Gregorio, allowing me to draft off Kevin pretty much the entire way, and even drafting it was still tough to hang on. But I made it, stopped at San Gregorio for a coke and poor imitation of a large cookie, and then climbed Tunitas at a leisurely pace.

Tuesday. I was not looking forward to what might await me; I assumed it wouldn’t be anything good. When I got up, it didn’t feel like it was going to be anything good. Starting up Kings, it felt like maybe I’d turn around at the park even! But somehow I climbed OK, keeping ahead of Kevin & Colin, without feeling like that was something I could do. I was really surprised, to say the least. Maybe whatever got to me on Sunday is out of my system, although I never felt ill, just not very strong.

The ribs? They’re doing fine, mostly. I discovered while test-riding a bike today that an upright position (as found on commute bikes with flat bars) is not good for me. Lots and lots of pain! Weird thing, how these ribs do and don’t work. Guess I’m just made for a road bike.