finally got back on the bike today.

you know, the simple truth these days is i'm having a really hard time being consistent riding. it's not like i don't get the opportunity to ride more, i just choose to do other things (and sometimes feel a bit lazy).

today was a pretty nice ride really. started out like last weekend's ride but finished differently. took almaden, blossom hill, camden, hicks, kennedy, shannon and up the shannon fire road. last weekend i turned around near the top at the first super steep section.

today i rode up that first section and, when i made it to the second (much, much longer) steep section, got off. when i'm in this bad of shape (the mid-day summer heat probably didn't help) getting to my limit and pushing through it just feels like total crap. when i'm in good shape i can push through at my limit for quite a while.

but instead of turning back i just walked that last super steep section. i'm not sure i could ever ride it on my cross bike, even with a 34-29. i remember having a hard time most times on my mountain bike even in great shape...

anyway, walked to the top and rode on the ridge a bit. saw the priest rock trail and said fuck it, i'll ride down to lexington and back home down bascom/curtner. it was much, much nicer than riding back down shannon fire road. seems they graded that trail in the last year. not nearly as rocky and loose as it used to be - so descending on the cross bike was just fine.

my hands and forearms were a bit stronger after last weekend's descent of shannon fire road - where they burned like the devil and almost caused me to stop for a rest before i bailed from a lack of brakes or an inability to hold the damn bars :-D

the whole time i was scheming how to get some ice cold water for free in los gatos. decided i'd just walk right in the burger place by the park and add some ice and water from the soda machine. added some ice to my second bottle with cytocrack too.

that water was ice-fucking cold in a minute and tasted so damn good. drank a bit too much too quickly actually.

anyway, pretty good ride considering the size of my belly and the lack of form. my goal this week is to ride to work two days. every other day was my ultimate goal but i'm scaling that goal back a bit :-)