All posts by Mike

Why more lonely on a trainer in my family room than out on my own on West Old LaHonda?

Tuesday morning just me, on a warmer-than-normal day heralding that spring was just around the corner. I thought I was riding more slowly than normal up Kings but in the end, not so bad, and I was able to keep it going for the whole ride. Making it a bit more fun than usual was a good tailwind heading west on 84, towards Old LaHonda. Fighting headwinds while descending has never been my idea of a good time! Got home about 8 minutes ahead of the “new normal.”

This morning I woke up to wet roads and decided no, I’ll stay inside and ride the trainer. And funny thing about that. You can be in your own house, in control of everything around you, dog outside the door (closed door because the dog would sit there barking at me as I rode), wife asleep in our bedroom maybe 50 feet away, and yet I felt far more alone at home than I did Tuesday, 15 miles from home, nobody around, not even many cars.

What’s the difference? Sitting on a trainer in my family room, using Zwift on a big-screen projection TV, should be semi-realistic and possibly even fun. But it’s not. I don’t have the control I have outdoors. I feel like I’m in drone mode on Zwift, where trying to get the watts up for a bit doesn’t really accomplish anything. You get a bit more tired for a short time and then you’re back to finding that power level where you can continue your droning.

In the real world, things change when you pick up speed. You feel more wind against your face, your tires sound different, you encounter obstacles with less time to get around them. Maybe a lot of it is not being able to steer. Maybe even more of it is that I don’t have one of those gadgets on my bars that allows me to change direction on Zwift, instead of droning along on the route I picked at the start.

But the main thing is that it’s a really different feeling to being alone. But the one thing I don’t miss on Zwift is black ice (which we’re way past worrying about now) or slippery oil spots brought up by the rain. One thing I never want to go through again is six weeks off the bike like when I broke my pelvis in two places 6 years ago this past February. And yet… I would love to get out in a really nasty storm again. I miss the fun and silliness of being out there, on a bike, when even the cars have deserted the roads. Maybe if we get a warm storm I’ll get out there again.

I miss riding to the coast- been a long time since a BIG cookie came my way!

By this time of year, I ought to be doing a lot of Sunday rides to the coast. Real rides, up Old LaHonda, over Haskins, lunch at Arcangeli Bakery in Pescadero (splitting a chicken club sandwich with Kevin, plus a mountain dew and monster cookie), then back over the three Stage Road climbs, descend to Tunitas with that beautiful view of the Pacific, and then up Tunitas & down Kings.

A real, “honest” ride. From my house, about 57.5 miles, 6400ft of climbing, perfectly-placed food stop and, if you do it right (meaning: full effort!) you get legs that let you know you’re there when descending stairs. A special type of pain that only comes from a really tough, longer climb.

I’m also, for reasons unknown, wishing I could really run myself into the ground doing the full Santa Cruz loop. Head out to Pescadero, Gazos Creek to the coast, lunch at Davenport, turn up Highway 9 in Santa Cruz, quick food/coke stop at the last gas station in Boulder Creek, then the long run up 9 to Skyline. But without Mr Mustard at the top, whatever you picked up in Boulder Creek has to last all the way north on Skyline, down into Woodside and home. Why am I missing that?

The issue is Kevin’s knee. He’s as much out of commission, after his expensive and painful knee procedure (platelet-rich plasma reinjection) as he was before. With no end to the pain in sight. So I’m pretty much solo riding these days, or riding with ex-Pilot Kevin, if our schedules work out (meaning he didn’t ride himself into the ground the day prior).

My usual Sunday ride is far from flat, although darned if I can tell where the 3,163ft of climbing come from.

At least I’m still doing the regular Tuesday/Thursday morning ride, same as it ever was, only slower. May need to move it forward 15 minutes so I can get back in time, although hoping that I’ll speed up a bit as it gets warmer.

But I really do miss riding with Kevin.