Ride over to Carmel Mountain Ranch, where I got my bike and stuff ready and headed over to John's house, following the normal route. It was really foggy in spots, only clearing to an overcast sky when I rode up to John's. There, I met up with him, Dave, and Jim for a Tour de Labor ride. We headed up to the top of Pomerado Rd. On this and all of the other climbs, I kept my effort to a moderate level, knowing that it was going to get warm and I hadn't ridden 50+ miles in quite some time. We headed down Pomerado Rd to Miramar Rd, where we got a decent pace line going. Our pace was fast, and I was working pretty hard on this section. We took it all the way to Expedition Way, the road that takes you by Birch Aquarium. Following this road, with a couple of turns, got us onto La Jolla Shores Rd. Near a stop sign on this downhill section, I had too much speed going into the stop and turn and locked up my rear wheel. Luckily, I kept it under control and didn't spill. I think I need new brake pads. We rode over to Torrey Pines Rd and took this little uphill over to La Jolla, dropping down to Coast Blvd via Prospect Pl. This section of road is pretty rough, bad pavement and lots of traffic. To be avoided. Back out of La Jolla, John lost track of how to get to Nautilus St, so we did a couple of jaunts through the city streets until we finally found it. On Nautilus, I climbed at a slow pace, and this climb wasn't as tough as I remembered it. It's got a somewhat difficult finish, as the grade steepens and you have to deal with an uphill ride all the way to the circle at the top of Mt Soledad. We gathered back together here and took a rest. The general energy level of the group was flagging by this time, myself included. We headed back down via Soledad Mountain Rd, and again I was skittish on the turning sections of this downhill. I made it through okay. Balboa Ave is not a great road to ride on. There is a lot of traffic, the road quality is sketchy, and it has a couple of gradual uphills, the first one being reasonably long. We got onto Kearny Villa Rd and took it back to Pomerado Rd. Jim was tiring, so Dave was riding with him. John and I rode together until the little uphill section by one of the overpasses, where I put a little separation on him. However, my energy level wasn't high enough for me to put any significant distance on him or the others. Back to John's house via the normal route. I rode with the others at the start, then put some separation between us. Around this time, John developed a slow leak and they stopped to fix it without me knowing. So I rode to the top of Pomerado and waited for them until I realized something was up. I started riding back down and saw them coming up the last little climb, so I turned around and rode with them. We headed back to John's house, and I was getting tired, so I didn't stay long. The ride back to where the car was parked was very slow. My legs weren't tight, but there was no drive left in my quads, so I just gutted it out and was glad to be done.
Avg speed = 16.0 mph. Total mileage = 52.0 mi
Avg heartrate = 150 bpm
Total elevation gain = 2470'
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/132302369
