Gideon's Ride for a Cause, starting from the parking lot of Luchi and Mary in San Marcos. We headed out San Marcos Blvd to Twin Oaks Pkwy, going at a moderate pace with a very large group of riders, almost 50 at the start. On the way out to Champagne Blvd, I got out in front of the peloton, riding with another rider, Carlene, who had ridden with the ride leader, JD, from Mira Mesa. She helped pace me up the beginning of the little climb before the freeway, and I got out ahead of the others to finish in front. Last time for that result. I took pictures of the riders coming up the hill and waited for one of the last riders, Mike. We rode to catch up with the others, and I got out ahead of him but was too far from the peloton to catch them. Fast descent down to Lawrence Welk Resort, then out to Gopher Canyon Rd for that steep little climb past the freeway. We gathered near the top and continued on, missing a turn and keeping going to East Vista Way to get over to the 76. Stayed on this highway until the start of the Santa Fe Bike Trail, where we gathered up again before continuing. First time on a bike on this path, and it's nice. Essentially continuous down to the starting point of the hike we took a couple of weeks ago, with the exception of a short jaunt through a neighborhood. On that stretch, I got out with the leaders and tried to hang on as long as possible, but I eventually lost contact with them. After a bit, I saw Jed and Carlene ahead of me and pushed hard to close the gap so I could trade drafts with them. That helped, and so this was a very fast, slightly downhill segment of the ride into a coastal breeze. It took a fair amount out of me to keep that level of sustained effort. Another gathering at the end, but we missed a turn and had to hunt around for the sag car, which was over by where we had started our hike awhile back. Gatorade and protein bars and a welcome breather before we continued on by getting over to the coast and heading on the coast highway to Palomar Airport Rd. The ride had slowed down by this time, and I was generally able to stay in contact with the leaders, helped by a lot of traffic lights. We turned right onto Melrose Dr to get over to San Elijo Hills, eventually connecting to San Elijo Rd and taking it up, slowly, to the turnoff for Double Peak. I was slow on this segment, too much effort earlier and feeling the temperature's effects. Even slower on the climb up to the top of Double Peak, where I had to stop a couple of times or risk falling over. I made it, but it really torched my legs. Back down to the light, riding the brakes to maintain speed and control. The little climb after turning left to get to the top of the descent into San Marcos was painful and slow, my legs were basically done. Very fast on the descent, some evidence of vibration when my speed was over 40 mph, so I kept feathering the brakes and enjoying the speed. Left on Craven Rd, another very little climb but everybody had slowed down by this time, so it wasn't too bad. Then downhill and flat over to Bent Ave and back to the starting point. Had a Coke and a Pepsi and some vegetarian Filipino food at the end, it was a good way to celebrate Gideon's 50th birthday and test my current cycling fitness. I left it pretty much all on the road on this ride. Forgot to start my Fitbit, but the auto tracking gave me an estimate for average heartrate.
Avg speed = 14.8 mph. Total mileage = 52.7 mi
Total elevation gain = 3290'
Avg heartrate (est) = 132 bpm
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