Old LaHonda Encounter
Jun 26,2004 PM/Old LaHonda Road
I snuck out this afternoon with my riding buddy for a quick run up Old LaHonda Road. Our routine lately has been to do a Wednesday early morning climb up Old LaHonda with some of my old racing buddies and then squeeze in a climb on either Saturday or Sunday to round things out. As well as doing flatter rides during the week. Old LaHonda is an old logging road with little to no traffic and about 1200' of climbing in and amongst the redwoods. Its a really nice ride. But 1200' is still painful, no matter what kind of shape you're in.
When we were about halfway up we caught up to another rider on a brand spankin' new Litespeed bicycle. A Litespeed is a titanium beauty that probably goes for about $3000 or so, more if its fully decked out with the best of the best components. He was feeling a little sheepish about being passed while on such a nice bike. As we came by he looked at me and said,
"This is my first ride on a road bike."
"Woah! Your first ride, and you're going up Old LaHonda?" "You must have done it on a mountain bike before."
"Yeah, but not at a very fast pace."
"Pace isn't important. Getting your ass off the couch, THAT's important."
We kept going. It was pretty hot out, so on the way home we picked up a couple slurpees at the 7-11. They tasted damn good.