Another solo ride today, since it’s going to be a bit before Kevin’s back on the bike after his accident. He’s actually healing up fairly well, except that an issue has shown up in his right hand that could be a small fracture but it won’t show up on x-ray for a while. It was a bit frustrating, seeing kids out riding with their dads, but Kevin will be back riding soon. Just as it was a bit frustrating yesterday that I couldn’t attend the memorial service for Jobst Brandt, the guy who introduced me to the Santa Cruz Mountains, so many years ago. In fact, it was a Jobst ride that first brought me to the lake in LaHonda. So now we have two of the four photos above explained. 🙂

A bit different ride than normal; no loop out to Pescadero this time. Instead I went up 84 (not Old LaHonda) to check out the site where the car hit Kevin last Tuesday, so I could take some photos and gain some clarity in my mind for how it happened. Pretty much nothing to see here, move along. Doesn’t make sense that anybody thought they could thread the needle and squeeze between Kevin and an oncoming car. From there I continued up & over the hill, and in LaHonda spent some time at the duck pond, noticing some very large frogs for the first time.

And then it was time for West Alpine. I was a little bit concerned about taking on a “big” climb, after feeling a bit of pain in my left knee after Thursday morning’s ride, pain which persisted and only very gradually diminished with time. Fortunately, riding seemed to make it better, and my time up West Alpine was my second-best since 2009. I can live with that. Seems that I can climb a bit faster on my own than with Kevin, because I do much better at a steady speed, and Kevin’s pacing is all over the map.

Now those last two photos. Photo #3 is easy; a guy out on Arastradero Road riding in Chain Reaction colors! The last photo is a bit more cryptic. My bike over one of those “stop your bike here to trigger the green light” things… only the light wouldn’t change. It’s a real problem with my current bike because it has too much carbon fiber (including the rims) and not enough aluminum, so the sensing coils don’t pick it up. Hate that. But not enough to want to ride a bike that’s not as light & fast though! 🙂