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Despite the weather, I'm slowly improving



Late May? Really? Winter was less wet!
Just a couple weeks ago I was wondering if my under-30-minute times up Kings were a thing of the past. That would be really sad; it was just a few years ago I was climbing in 26-something. Thankfully I saw some signs of hope this morning, despite the cold & wet morning. Just myself and Kevin; this weather is definitely keeping a lot of people off their bikes, at least in the hills.

I felt OK up to the Huddart entrance, and didn't die in the steep corners, where I usually get to watch everyone ride away. Not that Kevin was going to do that to me anyway (but more on that later). At the all-important 2/3rds point, the 1.41 mile marker, I was at 20 minutes, 24 seconds. Well darn, there are constants and variables in the world, and the 1/3rd time remaining from that point is pretty solidly constant. I finished at 30 minutes 30 seconds, with a feeling that better times are ahead.

Better weather, certainly. You can see from the photo how mucky it was. And cold. Down to 40 degrees, cold enough that Kevin was thinking, but didn't voice, that we ought to skip the West Old LaHonda section and head back down 84. I was thinking he might be thinking that, but he was riding just ahead of me and made the right hand turn heading west on 84, down to West Old LaHonda. Once we got there he made it clear he wasn't really happy about riding in such muck and how he couldn't ride afterward to his favorite coffee shop because he was wet & cold. But, no time for conversation about such things because he simply took off, hard, and I just watched in amazement at the smooth delivery of power he was putting down. I didn't even try to keep up; he was out of sight very, very quickly. In fact, he nailed two PRs, including the overall from bottom to top of West Old LaHonda! Moral to the story- if he gets mad, he get fast. Very fast.

I wasn't feeling too badly myself either, finding legs to push pretty hard through Woodside on the return. Overall, despite the muck, a pretty good ride.

 

 


Post date: 2018-05-23 01:41:15
Post date GMT: 2018-05-23 08:41:15
Post modified date: 2018-05-23 01:41:15
Post modified date GMT: 2018-05-23 08:41:15

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