Solo ride initially, getting some miles in before meeting up with John and Dave at his house. My cyclocomputer was broken, so I had to keep my time using the elapsed time feature on my heartrate monitor. I rode through the neighborhood and up RB Rd to Via del Campo, crossing over to W Bernardo Dr and taking it to Bernardo Center Dr. Then I took Camino del Norte over to Pomerado Rd, headed north and turned right on Stone Canyon Rd. This road has steep little sections at the beginning and end, and it's flat to slightly uphill in between. Left on Martincoit Rd and down (pretty steep) to RB Rd, riding over to Dave's house. John, Dave, and I took Pomerado Rd north down the freeway, then W Bernardo Dr up to RB Rd, continuing up and over to Dove Canyon Rd. We took this road over to Carmel Valley Rd, up the little hills (I didn't really push the pace here) and staying on it to the 56 bike trail. I started out at a moderate pace here, and John was hanging with me for most of the first little climbing section. There was a rider ahead of us, and I picked up the pace to try and catch him. He was going pretty good, so that although I was able to close the gap a fair amount by riding hard across the downhill section and up the second slight uphill, he was still ahead of me when we got to Camino del Sur, where he turned. We kept on the 56 bike trail all the way to Sabre Springs Pkwy. I dropped my pace and rode essentially at the same speed as John, getting out a little bit on the climb up to Black Mountain Rd and again on the little climb before the freeway. By this time, Dave was slowing down. I slowed down as well but still got out ahead of him. We went down Sabre Springs Pkwy to Poway Rd, then up to Midland Rd, which we took to get over to Twin Peaks Rd. Over to Espola Rd, and up this gradual climb (this one seems steeper going down than it does riding up). After we all got back together at the top, we rode pretty fast back to Dave's house, with each person taking a turn out in front and keeping it fast. I headed home via RB Rd to W Bernardo Dr and the normal route from there, feeling good at the end and throughout the day.
Avg speed = 17.5 mph. Total mileage = 48.7 mi
Avg heartrate = 140 bpm
Total elevation gain = 3150'
