Ride, starting in the dark, over to John's house. I had the front and back lights on and kept the front light on for about half of the ride over there. It worked okay. I kept my pace down, knowing I was going to be putting in a lot of miles. Standard way over there, decent effort up the last little hill to his place. At his house, I met up with him, Dave, and Jim, and we headed over to Scripps-Poway Pkwy. I set a fairly good pace on the initial climbs and waited for the others to gather before heading down and back up for the last climb. I kept my pace above 9 mph for the entire climb up, which I don't remember being able to do anytime in the past. It was an all-out effort toward the end. Then we headed up the 67 into Ramona, with John and me riding ahead and waiting for the others at the tops of the little climbs. We basically stayed together after Mt Woodson down into Ramona, going through town and turning onto the 78. I got some separation from the others on the little climbs before the long downhill. I kept it dialed back on the downhill section, as there's generally not a lot of road to work with. We were riding into a little bit of a headwind, which slowed me down some. We regrouped at the base by the turn onto Bandy Canyon Rd and took it over to Highland Valley Rd. The climb there went okay, but I slowed down on the latter portion as the effort and heat started to take their toll. From the top, we basically rode together to Pomerado Rd, with me and John getting out in front toward the end. My cycle computer lost about 10 minutes of riding time during this section. We took Pomerado Rd back up to Poway Rd. I was riding with a dialed back pace when a fit looking guy passed me, so he and I traded leads for awhile until he dropped back when the road inclined before Bernardo Heights Pkwy. The others had slowed down quite a bit, so I waited by the hospital for several minutes for them. Then we generally rode together, with Jim lagging a bit, until the turn onto Poway Rd. Jim fell back, so the three of us rode to Springhurst Dr. On this last climb, John kept up a very good pace for about 2/3 of the way up, and I was wondering if he was going to crack before the top. He did slow down, and I finished at a decent pace but put in a significant effort to do so. I had a soda at his house and refilled one water bottle for the ride home. This last section was slow, as the temperature was in the 90s and I was worn out. I took Poway Rd down to Sabre Springs Pkwy and back via Carmel Mountain Rd and Camino del Norte. Nothing of note in the last part, other than it felt good riding when I had a tailwind or was going downhill, not so good otherwise. Definitely glad to be done when I got home. My legs held out well, but I was really tired out by the effort.
Avg speed = 16.9 mph. Total mileage = 64.2 mi
Avg heartrate = 141 bpm
Total elevation gain = 3080'
