Ride from the parking lot by the Olive Garden in CMR over to John's house. I'd originally planned on riding all the way over from home but had a flat I needed to fix. I was concerned I was going to be late, so I kept a pretty fast pace over to his place, riding through fairly heavy fog and mist. Kept a good pace up the last little hill. At his house, met up with him and Dave, who was a little late (he rode over from his house). We headed back downhill, then up Poway Rd all the way to the 67. This climb is somewhat steep at the start but doesn't have any sustained steeper sections after that. I was able to keep my pace above 8 mph the whole way, faster at the beginning when I was riding on fresh legs. Still, I felt pretty good on this climb, considering I hadn't climbed much in quite awhile. We took the 67 into Ramona, trading leads after regrouping at the crest in the road by Mt Woodson. We followed the Tour de Poway route through Ramona, again staying together for the most part, I dialed my effort level back a bit. John was riding strong and generally keeping up on the flats and slight uphills. Over to the 78, where we turned back toward Ramona. As we got there, a couple of riders on tri-bikes passed by, so I hoofed it and caught up with them, passing them on the slight uphill, then riding with them at a fast pace back into town. I waited for John and Dave at the corner by the 67, then we headed back south. We all stayed together until the road started grading up. At this point, I saw another rider a fair distance ahead, so I set out to catch up with him. I did, but it took me until the road grade increased by the Mt Woodson trailhead. I passed him on the climb and led out, but he wasn't too far behind. Stopped at the crest to wait for John and Dave, and we all rode back to Poway Rd and down. This is a sketchy route on a bike, with a couple of sections where there isn't much of a shoulder and close traffic to deal with. Took it down to Pomerado Rd, where Dave split off and headed home. John and I continued back to his house the normal way, and he really set a brisk pace on Poway Rd back to Springhurst Dr. He started up this hill fast but faded pretty quickly. I was able to keep it above 11 mph the whole way, winding it out on the exertion scale. Back to the car the normal way, keeping a pretty good pace and feeling in decent shape. I was a little slow on the small climb on Sabre Springs Pkwy but reasonably fast the rest of the way.
Avg speed = 18.1 mph. Total mileage = 51.0 mi
Avg heartrate = 145 bpm
Total elevation gain = 2780'
