Tuesday, November 17, 2015

LKHC Old La Honda

I felt like Cinderella going to the ball, in this case, Low Key Hill Climbs Old La Honda; to be included and dazzled by princes and princesses who climb this classic hill far faster than me.  Of course no one, as far as I know, was particularly entranced by my presence.... I was placed in group six, along with Adam Tow and others, a great bunch, with lots of camaraderie and jokes to my delight.

I didn't want my bicycle to turn into a pumpkin so I scrambled as much as possible to meet the deadline of beating my LKHC 2009 score of 34.02. Alas my knight in shining spandex was not there (aka The Boyfriend) and I did need to wear bike shoes not glass slippers ... still I shot off, armed with an assortment of classical music to keep me inspired.  OLH is full of shadows, greens, blues, browns, with the occasional stream of sunshine.  I mostly stared at the asphalt and pretended to be somewhere else, a lovely ballroom in 19th century Vienna meeting dashing princes. 

Well, my bike did not turn into a pumpkin because I finished with a time of 32.33!  Of course this is laughable compared to others (results page) but I remain pleased.   Afterwards, I descended Hwy 84 and stopped in front of the Woodside fire department, waiting and waiting for the firemen to notice me.  Didn't happen.   Of course I've butchered the Brothers Grimm fairy tale.  No one was wicked, there weren't any evil stepsisters or stepmother either.  A delightful note to my tale though is the lovely 8 year old girl who rode OLH.  We see our LKHC tradition continuing with a new generation.  And that is a happy ending.