Ride over to Joe's house, taking the shorter freeway route to get to Centre City Pkwy and taking it to Iris Ln, from there over to his place. We then went back down Village Rd and onto Iris Ln to connect to Country Club Rd and then to Broadway. Over to Centre City Pkwy via Jesmond Dene Rd, pushing it and feeling pretty good at the last little climb. We rode down to Gopher Canyon Rd and turned there, enduring a short steep climb just past the freeway. After this, it's basically downhill until we turned on Little Gopher Canyon Rd, which is a nice slight downhill winding route to get to Old River Rd. Rode over, through some Bonsall subdivision to connect to El Camino Rey and then onto W Lilac Rd. I felt pretty good on this part, keeping it above 11 mph for all but the last little climb to the old 395. We headed down this hill, and the bike lane is kinda sketchy for the speed we were carrying. Headed east on the 76 for a couple of miles and then turned right on Couser Canyon, which I had never been on. It was pretty, but there were a couple of pretty steep sections, and my back was giving me some grief. I also had to fix a rear flat not too long after beginning the climb. This road, after the climb, drops down and connects with Lilac Rd, where we turned right and rode by the Yellow Deli. Stayed on Lilac Rd, which is pretty windy but a nice ride, until we got back to Valley Center Rd, where we turned left. The road was okay to begin with, but after a time the bike lane turned really bumpy and was a chore to ride on. Joe was slowing down here too. We took Lake Wohlford Rd, which has a small climb past the casino that turned out to be the last significant climb we had to negotiate. We headed around the lake and then dropped down the grade, where I felt pretty good on the turns, only feathering the brakes in a couple of places including the last sharper left turn before the initial steep climbing section. Back to Valley Center Rd, turning right on El Norte Pkwy and dialing the pace back for a bit to give both of us a rest. We were riding into the wind on this section, but I was able to handle it okay even though it slowed me down. Right on Broadway and back to Joe's house, where I had a brief break before heading home. Back to Centre City Pkwy via Village Rd and Iris Ln. Thankfully, I didn't have to deal with a headwind through Escondido, it only became noticeable to me as I was crossing the freeway. I was pretty tired by this point, so I slowed down and didn't fight it. Felt decent on the last two little climbs, there was a rider pretty far ahead of me that I tried to chase down and almost caught before he turned right on Aguacate. I pushed it to the stops on the last climb and ran out of gas, having to slow down to a crawl at the very end. Good to be done.
Avg speed = 16.6 mph. Total mileage =74.5 mi
Avg heartrate = 140 bpm
Total elevation gain = 4690'
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/356009617
