All posts by Mike

Didn’t think 50% would come so soon

Tues/Thurs 7:45am ride

First ride up to Skyline since… a week ago Tuesday? Solo again too. And slow. Really slow. Some of it I’ll blame on a lung thing I picked up about a week ago, very bronchitis-like, the sort of thing I used to get most summers and would last way too long, maybe six weeks. I hope not this time! No fever, no congestion, just can’t get my breath. Thought last night, maybe not head out in the morning? Maybe use a trainer? Nah. Did a sucky solo flat loop last Thursday that I thought was going to be 29-something miles and miscalculated… just 25. Sunday rode with Kevin and stayed out of the hills, again. So this morning, I really, really, really had to make it up to Skyline.

And yes it was slow. My fastest recorded time, back in the day, was 21:15 up Kings. It’s possible there might have been a couple faster times, but we didn’t have bike computers back then, just stopwatches mounted to our handlebar. At 41:56, I’m getting perilously-close to doubling that 21:15 time, although to be fair, today was up through the park, which adds about a minute to the climb. Whatever, it’s not going to be too much longer before my fastest times in the past are literally 50% of what I’m able to do now.

Hopefully Kevin’s knee will be happy on Sunday and we can head into the hills again!

Another Sunday Solo

Ride reports (not Tu/Th), Tues/Thurs 7:45am ride

Plenty of rides by myself lately; last time I rode with “a” Kevin was a week ago Tuesday, and that was ex-pilot, a very slow slog up Kings, but at least the full ride including West Old LaHonda.

Thursday, on my own, got to admit it didn’t feel much like a day to be on my bike, having to put on leg warmers and base layer, heading up the hill alone through the park. A number of times I actually thought about heading back down to the flats and looping around Portola Valley, but it’s really not that hard to just keep going. Up on Skyline I was thinking maybe skip West Old LaHonda and do the Swett Road/Upper Tunitas loop, but no, you just put one foot in front of the other, and keep on going. Who knows what you’re going to see after all? Keep looking for that Bobcat that occasionally shows up on West Old LaHonda.

Sunday was again on the cool side, so I stayed on the bay side of the hill, trying to find things I haven’t noticed in the prior 50 years of riding the same roads. That gets tough! But there was an oddly-placed Lemonade stand (on Summerhill) and the horse atop Arastradero, in the photo above. Seen that horse many times, but never stopped to take a photo. This time I did, only afterward, seeing the potential of the phone, wishing I’d actually gotten off the bike and walked up to the fence to get a better picture. Maybe next time.

Except that next time I’ll be riding with others, and most aren’t quite so excited about things like horses up on a hillside, or out-of-place Lemonade stands. Oh, right, why was it out-of-place? It was sitting right past the very top of that short steep pitch off El Monte, just as you’re getting ready for that nice little descent (that wasn’t, back in the day, interrupted by two badly-placed stop signs). You’re just not thinking about stopping at that point, and you’re in a little bit of disbelief that that’s where they chose to put a Lemonade stand.

Tomorrow morning, don’t know if I’ll be on my own or not. Kevin (not pilot) is back from Disneyland but his knee is still an issue. Curiously it hurt just as much from walking at Disneyland as it does from riding. Maybe he’ll be out on his e-bike to give his knee a rest. And just now, as I’m typing this, I get a text from the “other” Kevin, ex-pilot, making sure I’ll be out there.

Summer just went by way too fast this year.