Woke up just before my alarm went off, got ready for the Great Western Loop ride and cleaned the kitchen in preparation for Ann, Emily, and Caleb decorating cookies. I drove down to Charlie's house, got there right at 7:30, then others started trickling in. Not as big a turnout as previous times, I was surprised that we ended up with 7 riders: Charlie, Aaron, Zac, Jed, Rob, and Eric. We headed down the hills on Avocado Blvd and Fury Ln, it didn't seem as cold as in March. I was at the back, kept the bike under control the whole time. Then we rode through the shopping center and got onto Willow Glen Dr and the beginning of the GWL. We kept up a pretty good, well-formed pace line for quite a while, all the way to the first break at the gas station by Sycuan Casino. This was after the turn onto Dehesa Rd but before it started to climb. After the fairly short break, we continued. It stayed relatively flat until the Strava segment started just past a bridge. Aaron took off and I tried to stay with him but couldn't keep matching his pace without blowing up, so I backed off. After a while, Zac passed me, and I didn't even try to ride with him, I was already riding about as fast as I could. Ended up setting a PR on this segment up to the turn toward Japatul Rd (15:29, 248 W, 163 bpm), but I was probably 2 minutes slower than Aaron and a minute behind Zac. We all gathered at the turn, had a short break, then continued with a little more climbing before a long descent, 1.2 miles. Shortly after that descent, the Japatul Rd climb began. I was out in front when the climb started, and I fully expected to get passed by Aaron and Zac. I kept my pace steady and gapped the others, who were talking with each other. This climb is only steep by The Wall, and then not for a long distance. But it does seem to go on for quite a while. I ended up setting another PR on this section as well (25:04, 213 W, 158 bpm), and I got to the top just before Aaron, who caught up with me on the easier stretch just after The Wall. We waited for the others to show up. Zac came next and was dealing with a loose pedal on his left crank. Another break at the top, it was windy and I zipped up to get ready for the cool downhill after the sweaty climb. Zac figured out that his crank arm was stripped, so he couldn't get his pedal to fix onto the crank arm very well. We had a lot of downhill to go, so he decided to try and keep riding. Just before we were ready to take off, Jed fell onto his side, banged his knee, and got shaken up. He took about 5 minutes to recover, and he led us out of the break, with Charlie, then me, watching him to see if he was okay. Down the Lyons Valley Rd descent, which was pretty thrilling and interspersed with a couple of nasty little climbs. I was out in front with Jed, who got an adrenaline boost I guess, and Aaron wasn't too far back. We rode to the intersection with Skyline Truck Trail, then Aaron kept going to try and get home sooner. I waited for the others to show up, including Zac, who was in the back with Charlie. On the little stretch from there to the country store, Zac's pedal just gave out, and he was reduced to pedaling with only his right leg. Wow! We got to the next break stop, and he decided to keep going, thinking that we had mostly downhill to go back to Charlie's house. Carefully through the tight downhill turns after the country store for most of us. Zac had ridden ahead, and we caught him on a short steep uphill section of abou 1.3 miles. I rode ahead of the others and told them to keep riding as they passed, then I waited for Zac to show up walking his bike. He and I rode the rest of the GWL together, except for one more little climb up to a stop sign, where both of us got off and walked our bikes up. It was descents from there on, with some flattish sections. I was impressed that Zac was able to keep going. I stayed behind him watching to make sure he was okay. We completed the GWL circuit and headed back toward Charlie's house on Willow Glen Dr. Thankfully, it wasn't as far as I thought, and we were able to make it to the shopping center at Jamacha Rd. Zac stopped there and waited for somebody to come pick him up, while I finished off the ride with the last two climbs, up Fury Ln and then up Avocado Blvd. I was pretty wiped out, so I didn't set any PRs on this last portion of the ride. I caught Rob just at the turn onto Puebla Dr, he had a tough day as well, battling an aching shoulder. Am thankful that everybody made it back okay (Jed gave Zac a ride back to his car). Not as great a day on the bike as when I rode the GWL in March, but certainly a more eventful one.
Avg speed = 14.7 mph. Total mileage = 48.5 mi
Avg speed (calculated by my analysis program) = 14.9 mph
Avg power = 146 W. Weighted avg power = 186 W
Total elevation gain = 4340'
Avg heartrate = 134 bpm (Coospo)
Relative Effort = 152
Training Load = 241
Intensity = 81%
After we got back to Charlie's house, he made hot dogs and we relaxed in his back yard. I had a couple of beers that were quite refreshing. Rob left early, needed to get home sooner. No vegetarian options, so it was chips, nuts, crackers, and cheese for me and Eric. Emily and Caleb were over at the house when I got home after 2:00. They had decorated the tree and helped Ann decorate gingerbread cookies. I had a shower and then chatted with them awhile. There was a little time to relax before driving down to Mom's Pizza for Blair's farewell (for now) dinner. Ann went with me, I was really happy she came along. Got the chance to talk with Blair a little bit, also Josep, Kyle, and his girlfriend, along with Shannon, Rob's new EA. Later, I talked some with Amanda and Justin, it was a nice, low-energy sendoff for Blair.
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