Solo ride, initially, over to Dave's house. I had a slow leak in my rear tire, and I had awoken late, so I couldn't fix it before I started. I took the freeway and BVP route over to his house, pushing the pace to get there early enough to change my back tire. It worked out okay, and I got the new tube in. We then headed out, me, John and Dave, back to Centre City Pkwy, taking Citracado Pkwy over to Felicita Rd. This little hill is really steep but short, and I had to push the pedals hard near the top to get there. Took Felicita over to Via Rancho Pkwy and up this climb. I was able to keep my pace above 9 mph, but it was a pretty big effort. Over to Del Dios Hwy, taking it down to El Camino del Norte. I hit something on the downhill and got a rear flat, which was a bummer. I couldn't pump my back tire up very hard, so I kept my pace a little slower on the rest of the ride to watch out for obstacles. We rode over to Rancho Santa Fe Rd, taking it as it turned right and headed back up and inland. I had a decent climb on this gradual uphill and waited for the others by San Elijo Rd. Dave and John showed up but John kept on going, so we had to chase him down and ended up turning on Melrose Dr to head back to San Elijo Hills. Another decent ride up to this village, then we decided to keep going up. I had only ridden this hill once before. It wasn't as steep as I remembered, but it was longer, particularly the part near the end where the grade lessened. We headed back down into San Marcos, and that is a really steep downhill section. I was keeping an eye on the road and not trying to ride ultra-fast. Back to Barham Dr, we were all riding together, but I saw a rider, Stuart Altman, from HP that I had briefly talked to before, so I rode ahead to catch him and chat a little bit. I waited at Mission Ave for the others to catch up, and we rode back to Centre City Pkwy and then to Dave's house, via Montview Dr to Alexander Dr. I pumped my rear tire up and then headed home the normal way, keeping a pretty good pace to finish off the ride.
Avg speed = 16.8 mph. Total mileage = 45.6 mi
Total elevation gain = 3340'
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/562476350
