It sure was a different version of me this morning than it was Sunday! The ride didn’t start out on a good note, as my Garmin apparently self-discharged overnight, causing it to die just past the driveway. I should have started Strava on the phone right then, but waited until getting to the official start of the ride. And then, instead of using the Strava phone app, I tried using the iWatch app, since it’s easier to get to. But as I got into the ride, I found myself wondering if it was really working. Would have been a shame if it didn’t, because it turned out to be a pretty good day for me on the hill.

Don’t know why, but my legs were there. I was able to push the pace a bit, get up to the park entrance and circle around to wait for K & K. I was worried a bit that I’d blow up and get dropped (it’s happened before), but… not today. At the wide-open clearing I’d gotten a pretty big gap again, literally having to make a large slow circle until younger Kevin caught up. We rode “casual” for a bit until the other Kevin (ex-pilot) caught up, then I’d go off the front again, wait again, etc. It felt like, maybe, I could have gotten under 30 minutes if I wasn’t playing around, although it could be that a sustained effort would have found my lungs going out on me.

Oh, the Strava thing. For some reason the ride didn’t upload until this evening, leaving me to wonder if I had this pretty decent ride, but according to Strava, it didn’t exist. That would have been bad.

A week ago, Thursday, I had a pretty darned good ride. Finished Kings ahead of everyone else, although I don’t think anyone else was going all-out. Then Sunday, just a quick ride out to San Gregorio and back Tunitas, thinking we couldn’t do something longer due to incoming rain. Which, of course, didn’t hit until much later. And worse, we lost out on epic winds blowing from the south, which would have made Stage Road a blast! The shortened ride was OK, but it would be way wrong to suggest I was feeling anywhere near as strong as that Thursday ride just a few days before.

And then Tuesday this week. What. Happened. Maybe it was because it was a bit colder, a bit damp, and maybe also that I’d left my heart monitor off so I didn’t have a good feel for what I was doing vs what I could do. But Tuesday I was as slow as the prior Thursday I’d been (relatively) fast. Temperature has a lot to do with it; when it’s colder, my lungs are that much worse, and I also tend to weigh a bit more.

Definitely looking forward to warmer days ahead. Where are they? Long-range weather report says 84F a week from tomorrow. Works for me.