To be truthful, I wasn’t feeling it this morning. Those first few pedal strokes past my driveway and I was thinking, this could be a long day. That feeling didn’t change as Kevin, Colin and I started our way up Kings; I told Kevin he might not want to wait for me. But, I had something going for me I didn’t think about. It was a bit warmer than usual this morning. 55-57 degrees, and there’s no question I breathe better when it’s not too cold. Kevin was leading me out on the first part of the climb and, hearing how hard I was breathing, asked if I was ok. Um, yeah, right, like I’m ever ok when the road tilts upward? But our time at the first hairpin was looking pretty good, so I decided what the heck, just keep going. By the park entrance I was seeing indications it was possible, not likely, but possible I could get under 30 minutes. It’s just under a third of the way to the top, so still plenty of time to collapse, but you have to try.

Kevin at this point dropped off to check on Colin, and rode the rest of the way up with him. For the most part I kept them in sight; they’d be on the lower side of one of the hairpins while I’d be on the upper. At the wide-open clearing, with 1.41 miles to go, I was just under 20 minutes. Just. Like 19:58 or so. That 1.41 miles to go sign is exactly 2/3rds of the way up, time-wise, if you don’t crack. Hate it when it’s so close, because it takes so little to lose those few seconds. But the final hairpin, where you need at least 4 minutes, 30 seconds in your pocket to make it up under 30… I had almost exactly 4 minutes, 30 seconds.

Every pedal stroke counts; you can’t waste anything. You become a slave to the power meter, focusing on the watts and not how hard it feels. There will often be times a given gear might feel harder, standing might feel harder than sitting, and you think, incorrectly, that feeling harder means going faster. Don’t believe it; watch the power meter and find a gear and style that gives more watts. Don’t look at speed either. Just watts. There is no escaping physics; more watts = higher speed, and do you really have a clue whether a particular piece of road requires 9.3 or 8.7mph to get the job done?

You get to that final road sign, the yellow warning sign, and know that, if you’re flying, it’s less than 30 seconds to the top. I think I was there with about 40 seconds to go, and finished just 2-5 seconds under 30 (depending which version of the Kings segment on Strava you use). Considering that I thought I’d be fighting for 35 minutes today, I felt pretty good about that, and pretty surprised it was almost two minutes later before Kevin and Colin rolled up.

So maybe I’ll survive in France next month. Maybe Kevin won’t be totally frustrated having to wait for me on the big climbs. Or… not. Fortunately, in the Pyrenees, you don’t get many of the super-long climbs that would likely do me in. The closest to what would be the norm in the Alps might be the Tourmalet, which is “only” 19km (11 miles) on the Lourdes side, 2km shorter on the other. And it’s the Tourmalet that was the scene of one of my biggest failures, a climb from the “shorter” side that had me suffering badly from heat exhaustion, having to make frequent stops in the shade on the way up. It was also the site of one of my best recoveries, as I was flying down the other side, pulling a long line of cyclists behind me, and drilling it on the flat sections, strongly enough that nobody was able to pull around me.

I’ll be ready.

Tuesday’s ride I was just feeling week in general, maybe recovering from Sunday’s ride, and watched as Kevin and Karen rode away from me. This morning was thankfully a bit different. I totally sucked heading up through the park, although once past the entrance station I saw a little bit of power developing. Still, no way to catch up to Kevin, Karen & Colin before hitting Kings. I was pretty sure this was going to be a bad ride up the hill in general, but, as has happened many times before, I rode really strongly on the middle section. Kevin and Colin were very quickly dropping behind, maybe even more quickly than I did on Tuesday.

I did the usual, holding my speed all the way to the 1.41 miles to go sign, where I let Karen pass me and told her I’d be waiting up for Kevin and Colin. I circled for about a minute, saw they were together and doing OK and took off again. No chance to catch up with Karen after giving her a “free” minute, but I did get her in sight again, and put two minutes on Kevin and Colin by the top.

Nice morning, thankfully without fog. Still a bit cool and my lungs definitely appreciate warmer temps!

Heading down 84 into Woodside, just before the bottom, they’ve cleared out a ton of Eucalyptus tress. Two odd things about that. First, it just feels weird, because you position yourself as much by the trees as lines on the road. Second, did you know there’s a ride that runs through Woodside? Who knew? But for the time being, it’s right out there in the open.