Well, this was an interesting ride, with some minor downers. Paula was riding from our house, and she was here early. She brought me a framed picture from our ride on Thursday, which was a sweet thing to do. Don't know where to hang this up, though. Apparently, Catalin has lots of camera and photo printing/framing gear. We were rolling before my usual target of 6:50, taking the route through the neighborhood and then the extended route through the 4S Ranch neighborhood. We got to Target, and Perse was there. Gradually, others showed up, so that at the start we had the following riders: Perse, Jed, Paula, James, Cam, and Arnold. We headed up PdS to Potomac Ridge Rd and took it over to Nicole Ridge Rd to get to CSB. James was out front, and he didn't have the route loaded, which was a little frustrating. We rode over to Deer Ridge Rd, turned right, then took a left on Deer Trail Dr, which got us to 4S Ranch Pkwy. Right turn there and down to Dove Creek Rd, which we stayed on until it teed into Cayenne Ridge Rd, turning right there. In the beginning of this ride Cam was riding well to stay with me in the front. We rode up and then down to Bernardo Center Dr, turning left there and waiting to make sure everybody turned as well. Up this little climb, then a right on Camino Crisalida, which has a nice little descent to an access path to get to an adjacent neighborhood. I waited to make sure that everybody turned onto Camino Crisalida, Jed and James were last, and I'm pretty sure that James saw us turn there. But he's a contrarian. We rode down the hill and into the other neighborhood, and I waited for James to show up. No James. So I rode back to look for him, didn't see him. That made me have to hustle to catch up with the others. We rode up Avenida de los Lobos until turning right onto Paseo Montanoso, which has a little steep stretch that was a workout. Around this turn is where James showed up, having taken a different way to get there. We were all back together, riding up to Corte Raposo and then taking an access road to another neighborhood and Andorra Way. This road turned into Del Diablo Way, which got us to Penasquitos Dr. Cam and I were out front on this stretch, and I again waited at the turn to make sure everybody made it, then pushed to get back to the front of the group. We rode down to CMR and turned right there. James took off and gapped us, but I knew we would catch him on the climb. I went pretty hard, not full gas, up this climb, and Cam was right there with me, Arnold wasn't too far back. The descent to the turn to stay on CMR was fun, then it was more climbing to get to the high school. Around here I missed a turn that was designated on the route, and that got me really screwed up. We - Arnold, Cam, and I - ended up turning on Black Mountain Rd, and that's when I knew I had missed the turn. But I wasn't done messing up. I had forgotten I'd shortened the route in this area, so the three of us missed the turn onto the 56 bike path that would have gotten us back on course. Instead, I took us down to Park Village Rd, sent the others a text to meet us up ahead, then guided us back to the meet-up spot. We rode over to CdS and then climbed back to the intersection with the 56 bike path, where the others were waiting for us. I should know better by now not to rely on my recollection of the route from putting it together the previous day or two, have to review it in the morning before the ride to be sure. I had burned a couple of matches to get us all back together, and it was getting warm by this time as well. We headed down the bike path, and again James pushed ahead, not knowing where we were going to turn. So I had to ride fast enough to keep him from missing the turn. We rode until turning right onto Carmel Country Rd, which is actually a pretty useful road for getting around in this area. It took us to Del Mar Heights Dr, where it turns into Hartfield Ave. I was out front with James, making sure we didn't get off-course again. A left turn on Half Mile Dr got us over to ECR, where we turned right and rode down the hill. I still wasn't sure at this point how my route was going to get us into RSF village, so I had to push hard to keep up with James out front. We turned right on San Dieguito Rd. He was in time trial mode, and another rider got out in front with him, while those of us in the back formed up a pace line, which allowed us to track the riders ahead of us down. Some SDBC riders passed us on the flats, not giving us much leeway to maneuver as they flew by. Arnold latched onto that group and rode ahead with them for a bit. We stopped for our break at the corner of El Apajo. It was definitely warm, and approaching hot, by this time. My left shifter battery had quit working in the flats, so I swapped it out while we were waiting, and all was good again. Perse split off from us and headed back directly from there, and the rest of us rode over to Via de Santa Fe and up to VdlV. Some more SDBC riders passed us on this road. By this time I figured that everybody knew how to get up to Paseo Delicias, so I didn't stop at the turn. The riders were slowing down by this point. I pushed to the turn, Cam wasn't too far back, and James was pretty far back by this point. We stopped in the shade, and we waited for him to catch up. Then we were on the way to Del Dios Hwy. He was ahead of us, so I tracked him down again, got ahead of everybody and slowed my pace, intending to ride up the climb with the lead riders, which turned out to be Jed, Arnold, and Cam. The four of us were together on the approach to the climb, I was out front. When the road tilted up, I just kept spinning, benefiting from a tailwind but definitely feeling the heat. I didn't look back as I climbed, and I gapped the others as we all found our paces. I got to the top first, and the others showed up, Arnold was next. I actually rode this climb faster than I had on Thursday, which was surprising. We waited in the shade for Paula and James to make it, which put James out front again. It was certifiably hot by this time, the breeze was nice, but staying in one place out in the sun was uncomfortable. I took off after James, and the others followed. My legs were tiring and sore from the previous day's hard run, so I was slowing down too. I slogged it up to the turn onto Via Rancho Pkwy ahead of the others, and I waved them all on as they passed and kept riding. I waited until Paula showed up and then slotted in behind her to make sure she was holding up okay. We did the gradual climb on this road, passing James, and around this time I increased my effort to track down the riders, Jed and Arnold, out in front. It was around this time that I noticed my power output wasn't showing on my Wahoo. So, no power data for this ride. They got slowed by a light, which allowed me to close the gap a little bit, then I caught up with them on the descent and passed Jed when the light turned at Felicita Rd and I zoomed through. I passed Arnold on the little climb just past the light and got to the gas station ahead of the others. James rode on the freeway, and the rest of us stopped very briefly before continuing on. I was riding with Paula in the back, she wanted a photo of us on the ride, so I snapped one on the bike path, then rode to catch up with the leaders. I stopped on the pedestrian bridge to take another photo with Paula, which put us in the back again. I'd told the others I wasn't planning on riding back to the starting point, so they didn't wait for me as they kept riding. Paula and I rode, slowly, up the climb to the park and stayed together until the turn onto Aguamiel Rd. She looked at her elevation and wanted to get to 3000', so she ended up riding up W Bernardo Dr to Duenda Rd, which got her to her target. She turned there, while I continued up to RB Rd. I saw a rider in the distance, which turned out to be Cam, who had slowed down more than the others. I started closing the gap between us, making the turn onto RB Rd and closing more once the climb began again. I caught him just before Matinal Rd and kept going, stopping at Via del Campo to give him a fist bump before turning around and heading home. Legs were tired and a little sore, but more significantly I was overall tired and hot. It was a fairly slow ride through the neighborhood back home, was glad to get there.
Avg speed = 15.2 mph. Total mileage = 51.3 mi
Avg power = 140 W (estimated)
Total elevation gain = 3440'
Avg heartrate = 126 bpm
Relative Effort = 95 (this isn't an accurate reflection of how hard I worked on this ride)
As usual, I was hungry when I got home, but my appetite was suppressed by the big effort. I ended up eating a little pasta and the rest of the pineapple. The fake Dr Pepper I'd bought the previous day at Von's tasted particularly good on this hot day. It was 96 deg again at the end of the ride, much hotter than I thought it was going to be on this day. I felt bad about subjecting the others to an inland ride with lots of climbing in these weather conditions. I was definitely tired from the ride but felt much better after a little nap in the afternoon. I charged my rear derailleur battery, checked battery connection for my power meter, but that needs more investigation. In the evening we drove to The Landings, a restaurant by Palomar Airport, for dinner and to see Whiskey Heat with some church folks. This was more of a social event than a music enjoyment event. Their music is decent, singing is very uneven, they need to do a better job picking songs that they can sing well enough. Dining area was outside, not as much jet noise as I feared. We met Tom and Cathy, cruise friends of Kay and Earl, they are pleasant to talk to. Got stuck talking to Kara about her girl hood pictures from when she lived in Japan. That was minor torture. I danced a little bit with Ann before we left, drove home with no incident and went to bed.
