I just realized that I usually stop riding after Daylight Savings Time ends, so there's just a few more weeks of cycling. Then what will I blog about?!! Hopefully something more interesting, but I'm not gonna hold my breath. I've gone on some pretty unusual rides this year, but I think today was the first time this year that I went as far as 40 miles and had some leg-busting climbs. Other 40+ milers didn't have any serious hills, and I don't think I've done a single ride over 50 miles. Pretty sad. Especially since I was floating on such an endorphin cloud for hours afterwards, and I only get that on the rides where I'm thinking beforehand, "Eh, do I really want to do that?" And all this year I've been chickening out and doing shorter rides.

Even last week, I climbed to Mt. Hamilton's 4000' peak in San Jose, oh, which I did do earlier this year, but it was at the beginning of the season and I wasn't up to form yet, so it wasn't very fun. Anyway, it was pretty hard that first time, so last week I truncated the ride by about half, and it was just not worth it. The grade isn't that steep, so the ride has to be longer to make it worth it, although the only way to make it longer is to add a completely separate, more challenging 1500' climb.

Today I did that Tunitas Creek Road course in the Santa Cruz Mountains that I abandoned several weeks ago because the road was so bad, and did it the reverse way so I'd be going up the bumpy road. It was just great, hard, the course goes all the way out to the ocean where it was sunny, but cold and windy, and I was struggling for a while out there waiting for a second wind. Most rides in the Santa Cruz Mountains have at least two major climbs, one going up to Skyline Boulevard from the east, and then after going down the mountains on the west side, coming back up. My second wind usually comes on the second climb, where either it has to come or I bonk.

On top of that, I was reminded a few weeks ago that cyclists call the third front chain-reel the "granny gear", implying even your grandmother can make it up hills in that low gear. I'm not serious enough of a cyclist to not have one, but pride demands that I make all effort not to go down to the granny gear. Passing people on climbs is not really anything if you're doing it granny-style.

My endorphin high may have been helped by the perfect weather. Sunny and 70s, except right by the coast. That was weird. It was very sudden that the temperature just plunged between 5 and 10 degrees. I stopped for a rest out there and it was too cold in the shade and to stop for too long. Then riding back inland, same thing, the temperature jumped right back up to summer-like, with attendant smell and feel.