Back Home Again

The final two spins in California went pretty well. On Saturday my brother and I headed from San Francisco up Mount Tam. To get there though, 4 punctures were had (not me :)) at the start but after that all was good apart from me. I felt pretty bad – thought I was going hard and I would like down and my heart rate was 118... Kieran's (who is usually 7-10 beats less then me) was way higher then mine so I knew something was up. I felt a lot better from about 1:40 into the ride, basically when we started climbing up Mount Tam. Originally, I thought it was just tiredness from the week of long rides but I'm thinking now it was due to the lousy food I ate the day before...

Proof that I did have nice weather (at times)

The obligatory Golden Gate picture (I think the lens made it look so foggy)

The Mount Tam route

Profile for the ride - my HR just does not look right... Light blue is Zone 1...

The next day was my first (full) A-Ride. The route took us up Kings Mountain and West Old la Honda, both climbs I know well and enjoy. From the start of the days ride I felt much better then yesterday and could ride reasonably strong claiming both KOMs for the day. (My brother and I crested the last together) To be fair though, no one (including me) was actually trying – it is December after all.

Now I'm back in Ireland again – I went on a tootle recovery mountain bike ride today on almost dry trails, it was sweet. Felt pretty squirrelly though – I guess that's what riding a road bike for two weeks does to you...