Ride with Dave, Jim, John, and David from John's house. Without thinking too much about it, I had parked in Carmel Mountain Ranch and ridden over to John's house. I hadn't ridden since Palm Springs, as Ann and I had gone up to Yosemite the previous weekend to go skiing. That was a really great trip. Also, I had donated blood the previous Wednesday, so it turned out that I didn't have much stamina. To top it off, I couldn't get my front brake to stop rubbing, and the rear brake was rubbing a little as well. We headed over to Scripps-Poway Pkwy, then up to the 67. I led out on the early climbing sections, but the others were right behind. On the main climb, David had a steadier pace that I couldn't keep up with, and John passed me a little over halfway up. It was fairly foggy on this climb, but it cleared up near the top. We gathered together at the intersection with the 67 and headed south. All stayed together to the steeper part of the downhill section, where Dave, John, and Jim were able to coast faster, and David was lagging. At the bottom of the hill, where it flattened out, Jim was close behind Dave, and Dave hit the brakes for some reason. Jim ran into him, got dragged briefly, then went off his bike and bounced and skidded on his butt. Dave dragged his bike for a little, then stopped. Dave got a scrape on his left lower leg where Jim's front wheel had rubbed against him. I was behind the action, and it was scary to see. Jim was bumped and scraped up quite a bit, but thankfully he didn't hit his head. We all waited at the bottom of the hill for Krista to show up and take Jim and Dave back home. David, John, and I decided to cut the ride short, so we rode over to the base of the road up to the San Vicente Dam, then turned around and headed back to John's house. I was able to keep up with David for about 3/4 of the first steep climbing section on the 67, then he rode out ahead and I couldn't maintain the pace. We got to the top, and John wasn't too far behind. On the way back on Scripps-Poway Pkwy, I was lagging John on the downhills. Both of them got a fair way ahead of me on the last little climb after Pomerado Rd, as I just didn't have much push. They slowed down after turning into the neighborhood, so I caught up with them. The ride back to my car was slow on the flats and especially the climbs. I was ready to be done at the end, even though it wasn't that much distance ridden. Time to start looking in earnest for a new bike.
Avg speed = 14.7 mph. Total mileage = 34.3 mi
Total elevation gain = 2380'
www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/74161138/
