Waxing Crescent / 0

Moss Beach Scamper

Page Mill #1400 with Micah

Some late-ride wildlife saved y'all from a crayon drawing

Waning Crescent / 0

This was a tough weekend. Originally this was supposed to be 2 separate rides, but several delays ended up moving lap 3 far enough back that I would have to choose between recovery or 100k. Not really a choice since I need that 100k. The main obstacle was heat, followed by poor air quality. I can survive heat, but somewhere along the line I need some time to recoup from it. Unfortunately laps 2, 4, and 5 were all rather hot, and I never had enough time to recover even from lap 2. The AQI was around 150 for lap 3, which caught me totally off guard and made me really reluctant to get back outside.

*** Ride report ***

2.8 miles into the ride, I found myself on Stevens Creek Trail without my helmet. Ugh. Well shoot, I need that. This 30-minute delay stung, but it turned out to be inconsequential compared to later delays.

Very early into OLH 2 it was evident that there was going to be ridiculous car traffic on the way up. I think it was because 84 was backed up from construction and so cars were getting sent up OLH instead. I counted 70 cars that passed me before Skyline. At one point the cars disappeared and I got some peace and quiet, but that changed once a slow charter bus caught up to me followed by a long line of cars. That accounted for cars #45-63. I followed a slow car down 84, and eventually another cyclist behind me decided they would rather be between me and the slow car. So then I followed the cyclist instead of the car.

I had originally wanted to start lap 3 close to 5pm, but I was cooked from lap 2. I took an extended break, and when I checked the AQI some hours later the PurpleAir map had turned from orange to red. What the hell? I thought the air quality was supposed to generally improve over the weekend! I tried a few 45-minute naps to see if the air quality would improve, but it did not. After much hand wringing, I faced the choice of either going out in the unhealthy air or dropping 100k from my schedule. Oh, how much easier the rest of the weekend would have been without that 100k! But if I sacrifice 100k every time the air dips into the red, that doesn't bode well for hitting 50,000. My 3M 6502QL was still a day out from arriving, and I learned I can't tolerate the 7502. I inhaled some allergy spray and got back on the bike for a night-time lap 3.

I got back off my bike almost immediately when I caught a glimpse of the state of my front tire. It didn't look worn exactly, but rather old. It looked like it was gradually cracking along the circumference of the tire, as old rubber can do when you bend it. It's probably been like that a while, but best deal with it now. I shuddered to think of what sort of catastrophic failure it could produce!

Now I got back on the bike for real, setting up for lap 3. I didn't make it far (thankfully!) before once again realizing I wasn't wearing my helmet. How does this keep happening?? I fetched my helmet, and this time I started lap 3 for real. No, really! While stopped at a light on Evelyn, a car pulled up to me and its occupants greeted me. A car full of women apparently wanted me to know that they were going to a party. What a waste. I wanted to convince them that they could be chasing RUSA points instead, but I knew that the light wouldn't be nearly long enough for that. Instead I wished them a good time at their party, and we parted ways.

My apartment mate was awake when I arrived from lap 3, so I set him to work swapping out a broken cleat from my right shoe while I prepared for lap 4. I haven't written about this cleat before, but it's been getting pretty bad. I've been accidentally unclipping about once per minute, and it's super annoying on these rides that last hundreds of minutes. I have some new cleats lying around somewhere but I've been unable to find them recently. Instead I dug up my old pair of shoes and had my apartment mate transplant the least-bad cleat from it. The most-bad cleat is essentially unusable.

Lap 4 was another scorcher, and the temperature breached 100°F on Page Mill. Gross. While wrapping up lap 4 I deduced my apartment mate was at the store, so I decided to stick around to help him bring in groceries rather than start lap 5 immediately. This would allow the temperature to drop, and I should summit Page Mill 5 just before sunset. Lap 5's temperatures were similarly gross, and even in the shade on OLH it was in the 90's°F. All of Monday had been somewhat of a death march, and I just slogged through it, keeping a smart low intensity pace so that I wouldn't die.

I was relieved to finish up my remaining lap for the weekend, but I still wouldn't have a full night to recover before my Tuesday morning ride. These holiday weekends are rough, man! Only 4 more of them to survive this year. I expect the riding to get easier once I make it through the September heat.

*** Bird report ***

Black-shouldered Robin on Page 1. I don't recall seeing one of these before.

A miniature plastic chicken was standing in the middle of the Covington bike lane at the end of lap 4. Now it's my miniature plastic chicken! He gives off vibes of my lost friend Dnns Aur. I named him Wyn (pronounced "Wayne") and he'll be my new riding partner.

3 acorn woodpeckers on OLH 4, and all on the same tree! I don't know why, but acorn woodpeckers give me a lot more opportunity to photograph them compared to other birds.

Quail and other usual suspects throughout the ride.

*** Mystery of the Pink Ribbons ***

During my detour on Saturday I noticed more pink ribbons in Woodside! I stopped to inspect them on lap 1. There's 3 of them on Skyline as you head west from the intersection with 84. These ones seem closely related to the ones on OLH, since they're patterned. There's the familiar black polka dot pattern, plus the black diagonal stripe pattern. I don't get the impression that these are indicators for marking trees to be cut/spared, unlike claims I've seen about other pink ribbons.

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Charlie Martin

Waning Crescent / 1

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Waxing Crescent / 0

Moss Beach Scamper

Page Mill #1400 with Micah

Some late-ride wildlife saved y'all from a crayon drawing

Waning Crescent / 0

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