Category Archives: Ride reports (not Tu/Th)

Ride reports for everything *but* the Tuesday-Thursday morning ride

There’s still something in the legs

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

Consistency isn’t a thing anymore. From one week to the next, I don’t know if I’m going to be riding solo, with one Kevin, two Kevins, or even three. In general, one of the two Tuesday/Thursday-morning rides has been pushing the limits (when I’ve ridden solo) while the other, riding with others, tends to be a bit easier.

The solo rides have been a bit of a surprise. On my own, can I get motivated? Why not take it easy? It doesn’t turn out that way anymore. I can feel a bit “off” heading over Jefferson to the start, but once I get to Kings, I find a rhythm and keep a consistent effort all the way up and, on Skyline, no rest, just keep on going. By the time I get to Sky Londa, I’m thinking hey, I’ve pushed this far, why not just keep it up and try to get a decent average wattage for the whole ride. And that’s how the last few solo rides have been. 189 average weighted power, 192, then 194 last Tuesday. Pretty much 100% effort all the way through.

Sunday, solo again (younger Kevin’s at Disneyland with his sister), and tried to do a strong “local” ride, my all-too-common-lately loop to Los Altos and then up over Mt Eden, but it’s tougher to stay motivated, keep pushing, all the way through. In Garmin terms, the Tuesday right last week was a “540” effort, while Sunday’s “420.” Interesting to think a 31 mile ride can be so much tougher than 54.

Tomorrow looks like Kevin (ex-pilot) will show up, which normally would mean a bit easier but… the guy’s riding like 5 days/week now, maybe 6. At some point something’s going to really kick in and I’m going to have a tough time holding his wheel again. I really shouldn’t make predictions though. Things rarely turn out as expected.

Little goes according to play anymore

Personal stuff, Ride reports (not Tu/Th), Tdf trip planning

My usual saying was, there’s always a plan. Stick to the plan. It will work.

There’s a bit of a feeling of, that was then, this is now. Sunday was supposed to be a ride with Kevin (younger Kevin, not ex-pilot), ahead of Easter dinner. But Kevin’s knee is still giving him issues, so once again, another solo ride for me. I did learn something; looking at Strava shows I’d done this exact ride 16 times, 53 miles, about 3300ft of climbing, and the relative effort solo, for the same ride speed/time, is about twice what it is when riding with Kevin. Trading off really does make a difference.

After I got back I found that my wife’s semi-elaborate dinner plans (at home) had been called off because she was having a really bad day. Really low energy. Some of which undoubtedly was because the day before (Saturday) she woke up at 5am, couldn’t sleep, so she decided to go to the grocery store at 6am and do her heavy-duty shopping (instead of waiting until after work at the shop and going with me). Combine that we several hours at the shop, and that was just way too much for her to handle. Which of course I’d told her at the time, but between her chemo brain (that doesn’t always allow rational thought) and just not wanting to give in to things, she went and “did it all” anyway.

That kind of describes what life feels like for me lately. Something has to change. It’s probably why I cling so desperately to that trip in July to France, something I can plan and execute and almost by sheer force make happen.