Two weeks in a row confirms it; a tough ride on Sunday, with heat being the “x” factor that pushes things over the edge, means Tuesday’s ride doesn’t go so great. Thinking about it and talking it over with others, I’m pretty sure the solution is to get in an easy ride on Monday, one that doesn’t include nasty climbs or working very hard, just an easy spin. Is that even possible in today’s post-Strava world, where every aspect of your cycling is recorded and compared to prior versions of yourself (and others)?

Karl, Karen, Kevin (pilot), Joe, Marcus, George and I’m trying to remember who cut the ride a bit short and headed back down 84 while the rest of us did the west-side Old LaHonda loop? JR was there at the beginning but he was sticking to his regimen of doing intervals, not riding for time, so we saw him for just a short while.

Nice and warm so I was really hoping my lungs would do well today, but didn’t matter, my legs felt like mud. Got to the top in just under 30 minutes, a good two minutes slower than last week, and felt like twice the effort. I never really felt like I was “there” until almost the end of the ride, when I decided to go for and take the final sprint, and shortly thereafter thought this would be a good day to ride to Santa Cruz if not for that work thing that gets in the way. We’ll see what happens next week when I squeeze in that extra Monday ride to keep things loose.

Later on it was time to refuel, so stopped by Peets on the way to work. They’re not super bicycle friendly; no bike rack outside, and nothing to plug the whole in your coffee cup so it doesn’t splash out on you on your way to work. The barista suggested using a second cap and turning it so the hole didn’t line up, and this did in fact work, but only after taking a couple of minutes working to snap the second cap over the first one without collapsing the cup. Why couldn’t she have volunteered a piece of tape to cover the whole? I’ll ask next time.