I’m really hoping that warmer weather will see me pick up at least a little bit of speed on the climbs! This thing of being relieved to have made it to the top of Kings in under 40 minutes is getting a little old. As Kevin and I got to the wide open clearing section this morning, his computer beeped to let him know when his fastest ride up Kings had finished. He was pretty depressed by that, but I’m thinking, ok, we’re about 2/3rds of the way up, so despite feeling like we’ve got nothing in our legs, just trying to get to the top, we’re actually just 33% off a super-fast pace. It only feels like 50% or more.

No coyotes out this morning, but we did see the new running lady on Skyline, exactly where I thought she’d be, based on her schedule and our speed. Seems to be much less variability in her speed than ours.

It will be nice when we can commit again to the full ride, including the entire West Old LaHonda loop, instead of just riding from the top down to the section where the road has largely given way. But we have to get back in time to shower and eat before the shop opens, and we’re still not close to the 8:43am cut-off time at Sky L’onda (if we get there by 8:43, we can do the full loop and get back in time. Later than that, we might have to skip coffee!!!).

It’s hard to say why I would look forward to a ride where the low temp hit 28 degrees. With my hand issues, you’d think that would be the last thing I’d consider a challenge worth facing. Thankfully, the heated gloves work beyond my most hopeful expectations (providing it’s not raining), and allowed me to join Kevin on the coldest morning we’ve seen in a couple of years.

How did we dress? Thermal tights, two base layers, one jersey jacket and a lightweight rain jacket on top of that.

It was not fast, but do I even have to mention that anymore? I was really surprised to see a time under 38 minutes. Noteworthy sightings included a couple of coyotes off Manuella, another cyclist descending Kings when we were about halfway up (meaning he’d gotten out considerably earlier, when it was likely even colder, than us!), the new “running lady” we frequently see on Skyline near Skeggs (she has a schedule too!), and a few patches of iced-over puddles.

Thankfully, no ice in “the corner” on Jefferson, where I fell nearly four years ago and broke my hip in two places, but you would be correct to assume we went through the corner very cautiously.