Getting ready for my ride, I went out to the garage and saw that my front tire was flat, after having changed out the inner tube on the previous day. Rats! Put another patched tube on and had difficulty setting the tire into the bead, but I finally got it to go. Then I headed through the neighborhood, taking Capilla Rd route and up to RB Rd. Over to Dove Canyon Rd, taking it down to Carmel Valley Rd. I was measured on the two little climbs here, not really sure why. Then I rode down to Camino del Sur and used it to get to the 56 bike path. Down to El Camino Real, again not really pushing the pace. Then took Carmel Valley Rd to the coast highway and headed toward Torrey Pines. I stopped before the inside route climb and took a picture and some video, then started up. On the first steep section, I saw a rider ahead of me and tried to catch up. It was Jed (of course), so we rode to the top kinda together. He was riding slowly, on the 9th of his 12 planned loops. I decided to ride the rest of the way with him, so I ended up doing 4 loops and feeling okay. The climb on the last loop was a little more difficult, I could feel it more in my lower back. But I kept my pace down from its maximum, and that helped. He finished and went to his car in the parking lot, while I kept going north on the coast highway to get back to Carmel Valley Rd. Retraced my route back to the 56 bike path and up to Carmel Valley Rd, where I turned left and took it to Camino del Sur. Was slow on that last little climb but otherwise felt okay. On the return home, I felt a little undernourished and had tired legs, so no speed records on this day. Back to RB Rd and then down to W Bernardo Dr, where I took it down to Aguamiel Rd and then up to Aguacate Way, climbing to the cul-de-sac and then up Creciente Way to drop down to Azucar Way. I wanted to be over 4000' of elevation gain, so I rode back up Azucar Way to Duenda Rd and then up to Aguamiel Rd. That did it, so I cruised home from there. Felt good on this ride, legs held out, not a high average pace but a good ride to finish up a successful year. For the year, my calculations showed that I rode 5353 miles and climbed 300,000'. Most miles in a year for me.
Avg speed = 15.2 mph. Total mileage = 52.1 mi
Avg power = 146 W. Weighted avg power = 184 W
Total elevation gain = 4010'
Avg heartrate = 133 bpm
I also finished reading the book Quantum Supremacy, about quantum computing, by Michio Kaku. It was more focused on potential areas where quantum computing could be utilized than about how quantum computers work, which was rather disappointing. I also started The Fund: Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates, and the Unraveling of a Wall Street Legend, by Rob Copeland. Don't know much about this guy, and it will be interesting to see how deeply the author goes into Dalio's investing strategies. In the late afternoon, we went over to the Landreth's house to have drinks and dinner, along with after-dinner games. The food was good and the conversation was fun. The after-dinner games weren't so fun. Ann seemed really out of it, not so able to focus or come up with answers in a "what would you do?" questions game. It was unnerving for me and somewhat upsetting.
