I thought, up until the morning of this ride, that it would be a solo one. But Jim came through. Because I was pretty sure he didn't want to ride 50 mi, I put in 16.6 mi beforehand, using the modified short loop from my house. I had a sore groin from softball on Monday that I had aggravated at practice on Friday. Combine that with sore quads and hamstrings from a Kettle Kore class on Thursday, and my legs were not in good shape. Still, I managed an 18 mph average for the first part before meeting up with Jim at his house, working pretty hard to get there. We headed through the neighborhood over to RB Rd, taking it to Dove Canyon Rd and getting over to Bernardo Center Dr/Carmel Valley Rd. Other than the little climb up Matinal Rd, we rode together, as I matched my pace to his. Same thing on the first part of the climb up Carmel Valley Rd, then I increased my pace a little on the latter part of the first section and the second section. We rode down to Camino del Sur and over to San Dieguito Rd together and stayed together down into Fairbanks Ranch. I had originally intended to cross over on Camino del Bosque, but I didn't know it doesn't connect with San Dieguito Rd (I do now), so we ended up going all the way to El Camino Real. We rode over to Via de la Valle, then through lower Rancho Santa Fe. It was a really nice ride here, with cool weather and nice scenery. The climb back to Del Dios Hwy is not as long as I remembered, but I was still ready for a break at the top. We connected back up, then headed back into Escondido. I did okay, for the most part, on Del Dios Hwy, only losing steam as I approached the light at Via Rancho Pkwy. The sun had come out, and it was pretty warm (not hot). My cardio was just fine, but my legs wouldn't respond to the command to put out. Our pace up Via Rancho Pkwy was slower, but I made a decent run across the I-15 bridge, given the condition of my legs. After that, it was the normal slog back to Jim's house, with a very slow climb up Aguamiel to finish it off. Jim made us these huge smoothies, and that helped me re-hydrate and cool down. My legs didn't cramp up (surprise!), but they were definitely sore throughout the rest of the day.
Avg speed = 16.9 mph. Total mileage = 50.5 mi
Avg heartrate = 138 bpm
Total elevation gain = 2160'
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/105954637
