Cross Country Starts and Death on Double Peak

It's fun to start a run with a group of 12 and 13 year olds. There is no easing into it. No vision of what lies ahead. The sign said 2.7 miles at the start. To them 2.7 miles is an easy one, why not just go hard. And hard is what they did at the start. Straight up hill as hard as they could. By the time we got to the top all you could hear was this gasping for air. Marco the deep thinker that he is tried to tell me a story of when he and Papi tried to cross the damn but he could barely get, "Me "breath, breath, breath "and Papi," breath breath breath "were right" breath breath breath.... They never settled down. They just ran hard the entire way. Kids and their sense of nothing in the future. It's just right now.

Later in the afternoon, I took a spin up Double Peak. It was my first road ride in three weeks. This was going to be a test. Although the marine layer has socked the coast in with very little sun the last couple weeks (or so I've heard), the sun was blazing on the slopes of DP. With the breeze at my back and the hot sun beating down I started climbing. The early part of the climb is not easy but the energy level is always there. 20 minutes later and the pitch goes to some estimated pitch of 18%. By the time I got to that point, I couldn't hold the handlebars with much grip. There was so much sweat pouring off my head, my arms and everywhere else on my body, that the handlebars were now ultra slick. This created a problem because I could barely turn the pedals. In fact there was a point when I though walking would be the best option. Luckily nobody was with me so speech was not part of the climb. If I had to talk it would have been much like the story from Marco. One word lots of breaths. I dug deep and continued on. Just 3 more minutes and I'd be at the top. The view from the top of DP is worth the ride up. Deep valleys, the grand Pacific Ocean and everything between the two. When you are at the highest point along the costal range you have the advantage. Then it was time of the ride down and that's where the 3 week break showed up the most. My down hill bravado just wasn't there. Luckily within 30 seconds all the sweat was gone.

It's good to be home.

It's a good life...
Dave