Today's almost-daily diary entry (www.ChainReaction.com/diary.htm)
01/09/07- 13- 29- 37-. IT'S ALL IN THE NUMBERS.
13? That would be the number of feet climbed on Skyline, at the end of the
flat/slightly-downhill section before the descent into Sky L'Onda (coming
from King's Mtn). That dreadful nasty little rise that causes you to suffer
like a dog 'cuz you're trying to hang onto someone's wheel. 13 lousy feet.
That's it. Pitiful.
29? That would be about the time it took to claw my way up King's Mtn this
morning, a fair amount longer than it took Kevin & George. I started up
pretty strongly, despite having some issues breathing in the cold (more on
that shortly), but on the steeper sections, I felt like I died a thousand
deaths. I finished about 28:52 (about?), but it felt like so much more... or
less. Unquestionably I could be doing better if I hit up a few Alto Velo "A"
rides on Sundays, but right now priority #1 is to get my 14-year-old out on
his bike, and it's going to be a couple years before he's ready for
something like that. But y'know, it wasn't that long ago I might have
thought he'd never be up to that, but he's progressing nicely. It still
takes him almost exactly twice the amount of time it would take me to get up
the hill (whether that hill be Kings or Old LaHonda), but his confidence is
improving, his cornering is much better, and he doesn't actually enjoy
climbing, but accepts it as a requirement for the reward (descending). In
that way he's quite different from his Dad, who always preferred the climb
to the descent.
37? That would be the temperature at the start of the climb. And that would
also be about 8 degrees colder than my lungs find workable. 45 degrees & up
and there's no wheezing, none of that raspy sick steam-engine sound, like
someone needs to drain the gunk from the bottom of the tank. Above 45 my
breathing is just as loud, but it's more of a healthy steam-engine sound.
--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA