I started the month off by sleeping through my alarm. That meant missing the train to ARTIC and a ride to the posh bakery with the Flat Earth Homies. That would have been a fun ride with a nice breeze at my back for the homeward leg. To pay penance I suppose, I rode my sort of usual metric. I didn’t go too hard anywhere because I managed to nearly always have the wind in my face. That was until I got to the last southbound leg along the water to home. We have hot weather moving in again for what we’re being told will be a couple of weeks or even more. But, unlike in September the nights are cooling.
The Saturday club ride was hot. Hottest of the year. I rode at the back of the no drop group to make sure nobody was dropped or left behind. I pushed the last third of the backbay into the breeze, to get my legs and lungs working. With schedule issues my wife had to drop me off for the ride and I would ride to where I was to meet the family. That proved to be very hot indeed. 109.4°F, or 43°C on my Wahoo in the shade by the time I got there.
We could feel the heat in the early morning from home as the eastern sky lightened.
At the halfway point in the club ride we had a rest stop at a park. Plenty of shade and a little bit of welcome breeze.
After resting in the air conditioned house with family, downing several pints of iced water and some pizza I was cooled down. Loading the bike into the car for the ride home, I found the rear tire deflated. I couldn’t find any sign of a puncture but, it was too hot to be messing around. I’ll deal with it on Monday.
That flat tube showed no signs of any puncture and even submerging in water revealed nothing amiss, yet it doesn’t hold air for long with a very slow leak. I checked the valve and found nothing. I’ve had this before with another Challenge Latex tube. I’m going to switch back to Vittoria tubes. The rear wheel was slightly out of true so I rigged the thru axel wheel into my old truing stand using an adapter for my trainer. It worked well enough.
I should order a set of tires since I’m down to no spares. I’m sort of holding off for indoor training because it’s so wet outside, Godzilla El Niño. Not having spares makes me nervous. Tires and tubes have been ordered. I’m going back to 28mm tubed tires. This time Pirelli P Zero Road.
Terry and I did a cafe ride on Saturday up around the harbor after skipping the debris, piled wet sand across the path at the south end of the beach parking lot. Then up the river trail to San Juan Capistrano to Hidden House Coffee.
Saturday was the front end of the tropical storm Rachel hammering the coast.
Quite a week of stuff, though not a lot of riding. My MS ride didn’t happen with family friends coming into town at the same time. It is always no contest, family over cycling. Those years of work over family didn’t pay any dividends, lead to anything good in the end. In my retirement, time family and friends get top priority. Then there were the fires and the terrible Santa Ana winds and heat. We saw 93°F at the beach. a couple of miles inland it was ten degrees hotter.
The week started off with rain on and off from the weekend. The tail of the tropical storm tore up the beaches more. The beach trail being rebuilt south of DoHo.
The damage has torn up the access to the south parking lot and the sidewalk is gone.
Thursday the fires began around our location as the Santa Ana winds pushed to us. Up around Malibu and LA they already had fires. First fire near us was at the south end of my Thursday ride, east of it popping up on the Marine base after I got back home. That blew smoke toward us then a fire to the northeast on Friday’s epic heat. That starting around noon pushing schools nearby to close early. The hurry and worry begin. This fire was across areas I ride almost daily. But, up above the roads and most homes in the rugged undeveloped country. Unfortunately several large homes at the boundary of developed and open wild space burned. Hundreds of fire fighters held it all as well as possible. The conditions were historic levels of terrible. Heat and winds. Heat well about 100°F, high winds. I think only six homes and no people were lost. I have not heard about pets. We have made it to the weekend with the evacuations lifted but still an active fire area being worked with the abated winds and heat. With an enforced off the bike few days, I worked at repairing my shoes between family fun.
My shoes had the toes worn and torn from two years of wear and most of the worst damage from my crash at the end of last October.
These shoes are two years old and have seen a lot of miles. A combination of Shoe Goo and some laminated rubber is my solution. Not super pretty, but I’m not really after pretty, I’m after function.
I also added a rubber pad at the sole for toe wear. Uppers of my older shoes have never been damaged like these, but none of those slid to a stop from a crash.
This will extend the life of these shoes so I can keep the really bright yellow brand new pair in reserve longer.
The shoe repair is working out well. Not a lot of riding this week, but I managed to get another metric century in before the storm hit. Then the couch got me.
I rode Saturday over lunch, a short ride. Saw the Goodyear blimp.
The rains greened up the hills. The next storm is due in about awhile week.
The week ended with not a whole lot of riding, but feeling OK about it.
Last ride for the month was Halloween. Easy, short ride. I managed to ride the month 64% of that 40 and a half hours in zone one. Pretty good slacker mode.
Totals for the month:
Distance: 972.8 km
Climbing: 5,829 m
Time: 40 hours, 26 minutes.
