After another 48 hours of jet-setting, this time to beautiful Nashua, NH, and arriving home last night at 1:30 AM, I was not exactly feeling motivated for a ride today. I'm feeling fat, lazy, and unmotivated right now anyway. If not for the ride last week with Romulus, I'd be going on a couple of weeks without a serious ride.

Finally, about 2:30 this afternoon, I motivated for a road ride on the Blade. This was my first road ride since Romulus and I did Pescadero last month (See September 4: 2004: Let's go for a Skyline climb). I was glad I got out there, but deep down, I knew that I could have/should have gotten started earlier and done a few more miles. I consoled myself with the old "at least I'm off the schneid" chestnut.

I was concerned that with the month layoff, I'd be a little wobbly on the Blade. No worries. It felt as comfortable as ever. I really have to hand it to Rich, his selection of components and geometry is a big reason why this bike fits me so well. I am grateful.

The coastal bikepath	Local horticulture	Looking down from the top of the Grapevine

I decided to see if a reverse Lobitos loop was possible, but I got started too late in the afternoon and only had time for a Verde out-and-back. HP was mostly dry, but the shadowed corners were glistening with treacherous moisture. Down in the crotch of HP, near the Purissima parking lot, there was a thin layer of sludge on the road comprising silt, mud, and all forms of organic debris.

I did feel my lack of conditioning on the climbs. I got that pit-of-the-stomach pain like I used to get playing basketball at recess the first week of school or when Frankie T sucker punched me in the stomach on the bus in third grade. But it's the off-season right? Riiiiigght.

It was beautiful and clear when I started the ride -- one the of reasons I was able to get out there today. But on the way back, it started to cloud up and get a little chilly. By the time I got home, my hands were prickly cold and my nose was running faster than a Kennedy Democrat in the Deep South. Surprisingly, the wind was not a factor.

Again, no animals.