Tom Kunich
2024-05-15 16:25:13 UTC
I did my normal ride over to pleasanton (40 miles and 2,000 feet of climbing) after spending all day Sunday cutting down the jungle that the fron yard has become from all of the winter rains.
This occurred largely bacause the debris bag on the lawn mower destroyed itself and a new one actually (no joke) costs more than a new mower. There used to be a local place that sold used lawn mowers but they wen't out of business like all things California under the Democrats. Normally I would take the rather good lawn mower and the destroyed bag into them and donate it to them and buy a new one. This time with more of an eye to a better bag attachment system. But until I could get rid of the lawn mower I don't have space for another.
In any case the load I cut down with the trimmer completely filled the large "greens" gaebage can so before I can proceed I have to have the can emptied which occurs Friday.
The yard work completely exhausted me and that was obvious when I started out on the Pleasanton ride. On the way up Dublin grade from the west I kept tearing up and having to stop and wipe my eyes clear so that I could see. The big Tuesday/Thursday group that I used to be a member of came flying by and as I started riding again, I was very slow as I have been telling you. Now I take the hard way to Pleasanton which means riding down Foothill which has three steep climbs that are short but difficult. And then I come into Pleasanton from the southern side while the group rides in on the flats and returns on the flats. I don't like this route because it is busy and confused with the road widening and narrowing over and over again confusing the drivers with right of way. My way is slower but safer from my point of view.
I really felt bad after that heavy labor and it felt like I was riding much slower than usual. When I got to the coffee shop the group was there. I got a cup of coffee and a small pastry and sat away from them since there was no room and they didn't look about to make any.
I left as soon as I was done. I didn't feel any faster but I returned more or less in my previous tire tracks. I guess they took the long way back which is a 6 mile longer way that has minimal climbing. In the meantime I got to and was climbing Dublin Canyon Rd from the east side which becomes a 2 mile climb to the top (the western side is 6 miles long and shallower). I was surprised that I wasn't passed by the group before I hit the top but I wasn't. I also wasn't passed on the 6 mile shallow descent where I was descending rather slowly because of my exhaustion. But the following climb of perhaps 8% and a mile long climb I did in the 50 ring snd 25 cog. This didn't feel particularly hard since I was going slowly. I was too tired to do the additional 250 feet of climbing to get back home but I did go back the same way I went in so I had to do a 12% climb that was perhaps 50 yards long. I was controlling my pedalling so that section which is normally pretty difficult wasn't that hard at all.
The rest of the way home is either descending or flat so the next 4 miles home came easy. But then putting the Garmin into the desktop connection I was surprised to see that my ride had a higher average than week before. Considering how tired I felt and this even slowed my descending I'm not sure where I gained the time. I hit all of the normal red lights or perhaps even more, and I was accelerating off of the lights pretty slowly. The traffic was light so perhaps the helped but I am still surprised that I didn't have the Tuesday/Thursday group come by me.
Perhaps I am losing weight slowly but surely with the longer rided but they are nowhere near as difficult at the Moraga ride. where I used to do 3,300 feet of climbing with severral 12% sections. And it would take 3 months of that to wear off the winter weight gain. Thursday I would like to do Norris Canyon again but I probably won't until I am sure that the one lane section around a bling curve is repaired. The cars simply go too fast on that road and that is the final farming area where beef is raised. Breaking that road away would greatly inconvenience the rancher and Gavin Loathsome isn't repairing any roads - he is buying cars for illegals instead. While homeless Veterans are being ignored.
This occurred largely bacause the debris bag on the lawn mower destroyed itself and a new one actually (no joke) costs more than a new mower. There used to be a local place that sold used lawn mowers but they wen't out of business like all things California under the Democrats. Normally I would take the rather good lawn mower and the destroyed bag into them and donate it to them and buy a new one. This time with more of an eye to a better bag attachment system. But until I could get rid of the lawn mower I don't have space for another.
In any case the load I cut down with the trimmer completely filled the large "greens" gaebage can so before I can proceed I have to have the can emptied which occurs Friday.
The yard work completely exhausted me and that was obvious when I started out on the Pleasanton ride. On the way up Dublin grade from the west I kept tearing up and having to stop and wipe my eyes clear so that I could see. The big Tuesday/Thursday group that I used to be a member of came flying by and as I started riding again, I was very slow as I have been telling you. Now I take the hard way to Pleasanton which means riding down Foothill which has three steep climbs that are short but difficult. And then I come into Pleasanton from the southern side while the group rides in on the flats and returns on the flats. I don't like this route because it is busy and confused with the road widening and narrowing over and over again confusing the drivers with right of way. My way is slower but safer from my point of view.
I really felt bad after that heavy labor and it felt like I was riding much slower than usual. When I got to the coffee shop the group was there. I got a cup of coffee and a small pastry and sat away from them since there was no room and they didn't look about to make any.
I left as soon as I was done. I didn't feel any faster but I returned more or less in my previous tire tracks. I guess they took the long way back which is a 6 mile longer way that has minimal climbing. In the meantime I got to and was climbing Dublin Canyon Rd from the east side which becomes a 2 mile climb to the top (the western side is 6 miles long and shallower). I was surprised that I wasn't passed by the group before I hit the top but I wasn't. I also wasn't passed on the 6 mile shallow descent where I was descending rather slowly because of my exhaustion. But the following climb of perhaps 8% and a mile long climb I did in the 50 ring snd 25 cog. This didn't feel particularly hard since I was going slowly. I was too tired to do the additional 250 feet of climbing to get back home but I did go back the same way I went in so I had to do a 12% climb that was perhaps 50 yards long. I was controlling my pedalling so that section which is normally pretty difficult wasn't that hard at all.
The rest of the way home is either descending or flat so the next 4 miles home came easy. But then putting the Garmin into the desktop connection I was surprised to see that my ride had a higher average than week before. Considering how tired I felt and this even slowed my descending I'm not sure where I gained the time. I hit all of the normal red lights or perhaps even more, and I was accelerating off of the lights pretty slowly. The traffic was light so perhaps the helped but I am still surprised that I didn't have the Tuesday/Thursday group come by me.
Perhaps I am losing weight slowly but surely with the longer rided but they are nowhere near as difficult at the Moraga ride. where I used to do 3,300 feet of climbing with severral 12% sections. And it would take 3 months of that to wear off the winter weight gain. Thursday I would like to do Norris Canyon again but I probably won't until I am sure that the one lane section around a bling curve is repaired. The cars simply go too fast on that road and that is the final farming area where beef is raised. Breaking that road away would greatly inconvenience the rancher and Gavin Loathsome isn't repairing any roads - he is buying cars for illegals instead. While homeless Veterans are being ignored.
