Average speed = 15 mph. Total mileage = 58.8 mi
Averarge heartrate = 154 bpm
Total elevation gain = 4370'
Saturday, April 24, 2010
2010 Alpine Challenge Metric Century
Got up early and drove over to John's, then we packed everything into his truck and headed to Viejas Outlet Mall. The night before, we discovered that our water heater was leaking and called out a plumber to replace it. I stayed up to help him with the job, so I didn't get a full night's rest. I did change out my tires and put on new handlebar tape.
It was a little chilly when we got there. Got everything ready and took off with the rest of the riders at the starting time. By that time, it was starting to warm up. Headed up the hill to the overpass, which thinned the pack out. Waited at the top for John, then we headed off back toward Alpine. Turned on S. Grade Rd before getting downtown and eventually made our way over to Harbison Canyon Rd, which had some fairly steep downhill sections. Weather was cooperating, but around this point my right pedal started making a lot of noise. John was riding ahead in a pack, but I decided not to work too hard to catch up. Turned onto Dehesa Rd and started climbing. For most of the climbing section, I intentially kept the pace slower, to make sure I had something left at the end of the ride. Stopped at the first rest stop to regroup, then it was onto Japatul Rd for the longer climb. Overall, the climbing generally lasts from mile 16 to the turnaround at about mile 33. There are a couple of rest stops in there. On Japatul, my pedal was occasionally seizing up and making a fair amount of noise. At the turnaround, I looked at it but couldn't really figure out what was going on. Heading back to Descanso, it seized up a couple of times, then it loosened up and didn't give me any further trouble other than making noise. I kept pedaling for much of the downhill section, fearing that the pedal would lock up if I stopped. Kept it slow on the uphill sections and not too fast on the downhills. John was right there, passing me near the bottom of the overall downhill section. I caught him on the climb back into Alpine but didn't get too far ahead of him. On the initial climb, which was somewhat steep, my left quad was cramped up, which got me a little worried. However, it loosened up and was fine for most of the climb back, although I was slow. There was only one steep section on this portion, just before crossing the freeway. I took it slow, but my quad was cramping. This is where I put a little more distance between me and John. The rest of the ride was pretty easy, either downhill or slightly uphill. Finished in just under 4 hrs.
