2014 Fiesta Metric bike ride. We go to the starting point, in downtown San Diego by the Star of India, early enough to grab one of the free parking spaces in the underground lot close by. At the start, I was at the very front of the first group along with John, and we took off at a brisk, although not scorching, pace. After awhile, it was just me, him, and another rider out in front, with no others in sight. We all rode together down Harbor Dr and Cleveland Ave to get to the bike trail by the Sweetwater Channel. Then we got onto Plaza Bonita Rd, taking it to Bonita Rd. Here is where the road started to tilt up. By this time, I had introduced myself to the other rider, Mark from La Jolla (he was going in on the following Wednesday to have knee replacement surgery!). This road turns into San Miguel Rd. We were making great time up to this point, probably aided by the onshore breeze at our backs. When we turned onto Proctor Valley Rd, it started to get steeper. On these climbs, I couldn't keep up with Mark, but I was able to hang on well enough for him not to get out of sight. He was nice enough to wait for me when the incline decreased, so we ended up riding together much of the time. Left turn on San Miguel Rd, turning into Miguel Mountain Rd, where it got pretty steep. We turned onto Proctor Valley Rd again, then right onto Hunte Pkwy to get over to Otay Lakes Rd and up to Wueste Rd, which we took all the way to its end and back. This route took us by the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista. The second rest stop was near the end of the road, but we saw it too late to make the turn and thus kept riding. We passed John on the way back, so I ended up waiting for him by the stoplight. All three of us then rode back to Otay Lakes Rd together, then turned right for another out and back. This one was generally uphill but not painfully so, and Mark and I kept up a fairly fast pace. At the turnaround point was the rest stop, so we took a break and waited for John to catch up, fueling up on energy drink, power block shots, fruit, and cookies. I was off the bike long enough that it took awhile for my legs to start working well. Then we generally rode together, with John lagging behind somewhat. We waited for him to catch up, then rode back to Proctor Valley Rd, taking a right and riding for a bit before turning right onto Northwoods Dr for another short turnaround to the end of the street and back. I'm guessing this section was added into the ride to get it out to the metric century distance. Bakc onto Proctor Valley Rd, where we just retraced the route we took coming out. Around mile 45 or so, I felt tightness in just about all of my leg muscles, but thankfully I had the downhill section of the ride to recover, and we had dialed the pace back a bit. We stopped at the rest stop by mile 52 to wait for John to catch up and have some food and fluids. When I got off my bike, I could really tell that my legs were sketchy, so it was good that we didn't stay too long. On the sections back by Cleveland Ave and Harbor Dr, Mark and I ran into another rider who wasn't on the route and was still relatively fresh. He and Mark rode away, and I initially let them but decided after awhile to try and catch up. I closed the distance and had the benefit of a stoplight to reconnect with them, and after that we all rode together back to the finish line. I only remember one other rider passing us on the route, so it was a little surprising when we got back to hear that we were riders 5 and 6 to finish the metric distance. I'm guessing the others took a shortcut somewhere. In all, I finished the ride in much better shape that I would have predicted at mile 45, with tired and somewhat balky legs but ones that held up after all. John finished in the top 10 riders, and we stowed our bikes and grabbed an early lunch catered by El Indio. Neither he nor I were too hungry, so we just picked at our food and enjoyed the shade and live music. It was a real thrill for me to do so well overall in this kind of ride. Granted, there weren't many real stud riders in the field, but it was definitely cool to ride at or near the lead for the entire ride.
Avg speed = 18.3 mph. Total mileage = 61.6 mi
Avg heartrate = 155 bpm (est)
Total elevation gain = 2770'
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/437561034
