Why we ride #19: To drink a bacon shake and not wear it

Jack-In-The-Box's Bacon Shake. Seriously. And it's as bad as it sounds.

The Superbowl- do you watch it for the game, or the commercials? Unfortunately I paid too much attention to one of the Jack-In-The-Box ads, the one promoting their site “Marrythebacon.com” And so, after the day’s ride, after the Superbowl, it was off to Jack-In-The-Box for something I felt funny even asking for, because, after all, you assume that it’s a joke, that there really isn’t such a thing as a bacon-flavored shake. But there is such a thing, and trust me, you don’t want one. My first impression was that it tasted like cigarette-flavored ice cream. Oh Snap! It’s true that “riding to eat” doesn’t work; you’ll inevitably eat more than you should. But eating something like a Bacon Shake without riding would be worse!

Kevin and I did have a great ride today. Strava details below; in a nutshell, a 100k ride starting in Woodside, up Old LaHonda, south on Skyline, descent on West Alpine, over Haskins to Pescadero, Stage Road and then up Tunitas and down Kings.

5 minutes up Old LaHonda I cut Kevin loose; I really thought he was going to get a personal record but he missed it by about 15 seconds. He’s still just over 20 minutes for the climb, but he’s now riding consistently fast for the entire ride. And he’s famous; on our way through Woodside we passed a group of 4 cyclists, one of whom said “You’re the father & son team! I read you blog all the time!” So one more person who knows that Kevin’s speeding up while I’m slowing down.

As long as the grade isn’t too steep, I’m OK. Kevin’s sweet spot seems to be around 7-8%, which pretty much mirrors my weakness on climbs these days. Steeper, and I can gut it out. 3-5% and I’m sucking that fast wheel in front of me like my life depends upon it. And if it’s not too long I can even manage the 7-8% stuff, like the bumps on Stage Road. But on Tunitas, once we get to the Bridge of Death, it’s all over (and so today, climbing Tunitas, that’s where bid Kevin adieu and met him at the top, a couple minutes after he arrived).






2 thoughts on “Why we ride #19: To drink a bacon shake and not wear it

  1. I was heading up Kings at about 2:30 pm today, and I also smiled when I thought I recognized the two famous riders coming down in the other direction. Your blog has been an inspiration, and I feel like I’ve watched Kevin grow up by reading your posts over the last several years.

    1. We saw quite a few people on Kings yesterday afternoon, something that always makes me happy! This has truly been “A Winter to Ride” hasn’t it? Sure, we get one day of rain tomorrow, but at this point, I’m almost looking forward to it. Time to make sure the rain bike is ready.

      We did see quite a few who looked like “first timers” heading up several hills. You can tell from the expression as they near the top. Exactly like what you see in these photos of Kevin some years ago. Nowadays, it’s more likely that look is on my face as Kevin rides away from me up the hill. His improvement the past 6 months has been phenomenal. Once he got onto a regular schedule of doing the Tuesday/Thursday-morning ride, it was all over. I’m glad that he’s been able to inspire people; now we just have to inspire a Neurologist to come up with a solution for his seizures (epilepsy). Maybe they need to see him ride. 🙂 Thanks for the note- –Mike–

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