Oh sure, it would be nice if it were 74 degrees, with just a slight breeze. 60 & windy isn’t quite that, but at least it’s not raining.
But it’s late-April. Is “at least it’s not raining” good enough? Shouldn’t I be breaking free of my dreadfully-slow “winter” body by now? Maybe it is.
Nothing unusual about today’s ride; Kevin & I probably do the Pescadero/Tunitas loop 15 times/year (OK, just checked, 22 times this past year, probably 19 of them with Kevin). There are at least 3 “reference” climbs en route; Old LaHonda, Haskins & Tunitas. You can’t keep secrets from this ride; if you’re not in shape, Strava knows all! But I went into the ride with a small amount of hope because I’m finally seeing my weight come down just a little bit, an indication that winter is on the way out. Yet as we approached Old La Honda I was telling Kevin it might not be a very fast ride up the hill. Just felt a bit like a “high gravity” day. Thankfully that turned out to be a mis-read of my body’s tea leaves.
I got up Old LaHonda in 22:54, my fastest time since last August. Might have been a bit faster if there hadn’t been a spot where Kevin and I almost had to come to a standstill due to a large passing propane truck. This brings up another issue. Local residents on Old LaHonda have been complaining about all the cyclists now that there’s increased car traffic due to issues on 84. Kevin and I counted the cars today; including both directions, 16 cars total, over a period of 23 minutes. This was about 11:45am; maybe it’s a lot busier earlier in the day? I can see where it might be annoying that bikes generally outnumber motorists and in nearly all cases don’t actually live on the road. Tough to come up with any sort of solution though, as Old LaHonda and Kings Mtn are much safer ways to get up to Skyline than 84 (Woodside Road). I do encourage cyclists to consider descending 84 instead of Old LaHonda though, and if someone’s super-timid descending, climbing to Skyline might not be such a great idea in the first place.
