Category Archives: Ride reports (not Tu/Th)

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

Did I encounter the dikironium cloud creature from Star Trek on Sunday’s ride?

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

By now Kevin was supposed to be riding with me again, knee recovered from his platelet procedure, quickly going out-of-shape to leaving Dad in the dust. That was the plan. But Sunday morning he texts that it isn’t happening, he’s not going to ride because he’s not feeling well (cold). And then this morning (Tuesday), he texts me at 5am that his knee is hurting really bad so, no ride. Again. On the one hand, it’s giving me time to slowly come up to speed as the weather warms up. On the other, what’s it gonna take to get him fixed up?

OK, Sunday’s ride first. Yet another loop through the foothills, over Pierce and back, with a coffee & food stop at Peets, adjacent to our former shop location. It’s become such a normal thing for me that one of the barristas remembers my name. That’s way too regular, way too many Sunday rides I haven’t made it over the hill, way too long since I’ve had one of the oversized cookies in Pescadero. It. Will. Come.

And speaking of fantasies (which I really haven’t been), there’s this part of me that really, REALLY wants to push myself, ride myself into the ground, and do the Santa Cruz loop. How bad can 114 miles with 8900ft of climbing be? I *think* I can do it. It wouldn’t be pretty, but it would certainly clean out the cylinders and purge whatever’s in my system that’s got to go. I haven’t had a good post-ride after-sweat in way too long a time!

That’s the dream. But for Sunday, I put in a good effort, didn’t allow myself much time to slack off, and enjoyed the new normal. Oh, and that cloud I mentioned? While riding past the golf course in Los Altos, a slight breeze hit and a couple of massive trees unleashed a massive cloud of pollen. Way too big for me to hold my breath through. And no, my camera wasn’t on at the time. Darn.

This morning, wasn’t sure if I’d be riding solo, even though I knew younger Kevin wouldn’t be riding. Maybe ex-pilot Kevin would show up? I saw on Strava that he’d gotten back from New Zealand. But no, just me this morning. I did what I could, and amused myself, while climbing Kings, with the idea of doing a video showing each of the “turn back” places I’ve thought about turning back. Think there have only been two or three rides where I actually did decide enough is enough, it just wasn’t working that day.

It was under 38 minutes to the top; I remember when an “easy” ride was just under 28. Hate that. That was then, this is now. Today, I take some solace in Strava telling me I’m “trending faster” on the Tuesday/Thursday ride.

Felt so good to ride hard enough it hurts to walk down stairs

Ride reports (not Tu/Th)

Back in the day, which is, oh, a year ago now? Back in the day I’d ride every Tuesday, every Thursday, every Sunday.. no matter what. Which meant sometimes in the rain. Sometimes in really nasty rain. Sometimes in really nasty rain and cold. And, sometimes, although far more rarely, in the snow.

Something happened this year. Somehow the appeal of riding in really nasty stuff, or even just damp, went away. Some of it came with the increased responsibilities making sure my wife is getting the best-possible care with her cancer, some of it from my Raynauds (circulation issue to my hands) worsening, and some because, as I get older and lose power, I can’t generate the same amount of heat to stay warm. That last part is likely overlooked by many; when you can do 280 watts for an extended period of time, you’re burning alot of calories and generating a lot of heat. At 200 watts, not so much!

The problem is that I lose a lot of strength when I skip those wet days and ride a trainer instead. I’m good for far fewer watts on a trainer, maybe 155 watts average, vs 180 in the real world. After a number of wet days, that deficit starts adding up.

So Sunday (yesterday) I was determined to get in a longer-distance albeit slower ride in the real world. Texted ex-pilot who was good for the same. What I didn’t expect was 4 other guys showing up, all much stronger, and I was quickly in a very bad way heading up Kings. For that matter, I do Kings too much as it is, so I wasn’t in a good mindset for a Sunday ride up Kings as well! They nicely waited at the top, and I had didn’t have much trouble hanging onto wheels on Skyline. Should mention we were doing a coastal loop, heading out to the coast via 84 and back Tunitas.

Heading out 84 to the coast, it was all about following wheels. Bruce M is a powerhouse, but I was determined to hold that wheel and not get dropped. Did fine until one of the final small rises maybe 4 miles from San Gregorio, when I just couldn’t get up the small hill without losing speed (and the wheel).

No stop for coffee in San Gregorio!!! This train wasn’t stopping for anything, and I didn’t want to be left behind. So right up Stage Road to Highway 1, again, me behind, maybe 30 seconds or so, at the top. Followed by the descent to Tunitas on a beautifully-clear day.

Kevin and Bruce (forgot to mention Bruce, who was providing the “muscle” on the flats and downhills) stopped at the Bike Hut for relief, while I headed straight up, hoping to not get passed by them too quickly. Turns out they spent a LONG time stopped; Bruce caught me just before the end of the steep part, and Kevin finished a minute or two behind me.

It was really nice to finally get in some real climbing and have my legs hurt when walking down steps afterward. That’s my test. If the legs hurt walking down stairs, I done good.