Back to West Old LaHonda being fully-closed again

On yesterday’s ride, we were running quite late because Kevin wasn’t feeling particularly frisky (not to say I was…), so we skipped out on the West Old LaHonda loop. Turned out to be a good thing because the road closure (where the slide took out about half of the road’s width) is finally being repaired and, as of yesterday apparently, it’s now completely fenced off. They’ve had “closed road” signs up for some time, so likely nothing to tell you it’s any different from before, so we would have ridden 3/4 of the way back up towards Skyline before being turned around. We would have been REALLY late had we done that!

So going forward, guess we’re back to what we had to do previously when the road was completely closed. Add in some loops that involve the dead-end roads to the west of Skyline. But first, tomorrow morning, we’ll ride as far as the fenced-off road closure to get some photos, so we can send out an email letting people know about it. Pictures tend to get more attention than words. 🙂

Sunday’s ride- A repeat of the ride I did two weeks ago, looping down through Los Altos and then Mt Eden, returning through Los Gatos and stopping at the usual Peet’s in Los Altos for coffee and food. I felt like crap at the start but after 15 miles or so began to loosen up and feel better. By the end I was doing pretty well. Got to figure out how to feel that way at the start! What’s the secret? Really long warm ups?

Back to the new normal?

Same mileage, just normal. After weeks, months of shorter rides than normal, fewer trips over the hill than normal, this past week was finally looking a bit like… normal. Just slower than normal.

A weeks ago, Thursday, Kevin and I rode the regular Tuesday/Thursday morning route, nothing cut off due to either weather or running out of time because I’m making it up Kings in 37 minutes instead of 30. We get back to the start of the ride, Olive Hill & Canada, at 9:32 instead of 9:18-9:22. This is apparently what being 68 looks like. And have to admit, getting up the hill, it doesn’t feel great. As the miles go by, it does get better; over 50 or so and Kevin starts to tire but I’m still going. Not fast, but going.

Tuesday (a couple days ago), again, the full ride. Again, pretty slow up Kings, but OK past that. It’s getting a little bit warmer; I can get by with a light baselayer, just two layers, not three. No more temps in the 30s, no more concern about ice on the roads, but still the possibility of rain for the next two months. As if that’s something to complain about; how quickly we forget (if we ever knew) that it’s normal, in most of the world, to have quite a bit of rain in the summer. Here, it might rain between November and mid-May, and that’s it. Not even sure why I’m bringing up rain in the first place as I think I’ve only had one real rain ride this season, using an indoor trainer instead. First year I’ve ever done that and pretty sure it’s tied into the issues with my wife’s health, creating a stronger-than-usual rationalization for caution.

But I’m hoping to at least keep the miles back up where they should be, and absolutely positively need to do at least one 100+ miler this year, something that didn’t happen last year.