Romulus and I were scheduled to do a ride at Skeggs today, but it rained all night last night and most of the day today, so we decided to postpone until Sunday. With the Sea Otter only a week out though, neither of us could let the day escape without some pedaling. Rom threw the Black Mamba up on his trainer and cranked out a few miles indoors, while I saddled up the Hoo-E and headed for the pavement.

A silent audience	Bonzai?	Green men

I had intended to do a nice, leisurely spin through the neighborhood, but it quickly mutated into a 30-mile time trial. Two minutes into the ride, it started to rain, so I put on my rain shell. This was great for the next eight miles, but the sun came out while I was climbing the Grapevine, and I immediately start to perspire heavily. Not wanting to stop, I was able to take off and stow my rain shell while pedaling up the Grapevine in the middle ring -- a nifty little trick if I do say so myself.

For the fourth consecutive ride on the Hoo-E, I did not have to use the granny ring. This is good progress, but I should have no illusions about doing the same on Blue Sugar. The gearing ratio must be different, because I can crank out RPMs on hills in the middle ring of the Hoo-E, but I usually have to go granny for long climbs on Blue.

A few weeks ago, Romulus asked me if I would consider racing the Hoo-E in the Lemurian, if Blue had mechanicals in the Sea Otter and the Napa Valley Dirt Classic. At the time, I said no, I'd go down swinging with my number one ride. I have since changed my mind. I greatly improved the Hoo-E's rear braking capacity with some new brake pads, and with some new tires and new front brake pads, it will be ready for its role as understudy for the next three weeks.

Other than the rain and not stopping for 30 miles, the only other distinguishing feature of this ride was the wind. It was blowing like a banshee, about 15-20 miles out of the NW. It practically lifted me into the air when it was behind me, and it was a wall of resistance pushing down on me when I turned into it.

Out on Higgins-Purissima, I was very nearly run over by a 1975 Ford F-150 pickup with a massive lift kit and three-foot tall tires. The teenager driving it was goofing around and he and his buddy both looked back and laughed at me as they purposely and recklessly weaved close around me as they sped past at about 75 MPH. Fucks.

Earlier in the ride, I was thinking that I had not yet seen a bobcat this year, whereas last year at this time I had already seen at least four. Sure enough, on the way home, I spotted a male juvenile or female bobcat padding down the coastal bikepath near the Roosevelt Beach entrance kiosk. Later on the way out to Mavericks, I came across a duck with eight or nine tiny ducklings waddling across the road. Soooo cute. Good thing there were no cars coming.