Well, this ride turned out to be more than I expected. It was under 40 when I started. I headed downhill to the lake, and the descent was cold. Riding across the freeway was even colder, and my fingers were numb, even with double long-finger gloves. Rest of my body was okay, chilled but bearable. I rode over to Beethoven Dr and then took the back way through Kit Carson Park to get over to Escondido Blvd and then to Centre City Pkwy. Took it all the way through town and out to Iris Ln, where I turned right and rode to Village Dr, a left turn there to get to Roundtree Glen by Joe's place, where I stopped and waited for Mike Law to show up. He was about 5 minutes late in arriving, and so we got started riding together about 8:10. I had mapped out a route but didn't really pay much attention to how Strava had routed me. We ended up taking Village Dr to Broadway, turning right and riding up to El Norte Pkwy. Mike and I were riding alongside each other, and he was telling me about all of the difficulties associated with the new place that he and Jen are in the middle of moving into. Remodel of kitchen (they found mold) and bathroom as well as new flooring. We kept talking on the ride up El Norte Pkwy to Valley Pkwy, turning left there and heading up to Valley Center. Mike and I rode together at the beginning of this climb and even when it started to get steeper, but I pulled ahead as the climb continued. Waited for him at the top, and he told me then that the route I had sent him had us turning around and riding back down and up again, at least partway. We didn't do that, but it was critical to a future ride decision. Kept going out Valley Center Rd to Lilac Rd, turning there. Initially, the road was a little crowded with cars, but the traffic thinned out as we went further northwest. Turned onto W Lilac Rd, and the traffic was even less. This is a really pretty section of road to ride, with little winding climbs and descents. Very enjoyable. I had also forgotten about the nice gradual 2-mile descent on Lilac Rd. More nice winding roads to come until we dropped down to cross the arch bridge over I-15. Stopped on the other side for a food break and short rest before continuing on the 395. It was here that Mike suggested riding up Mountain Meadow, and I said okay. We took the descent (wasn't as scary as I thought it would be) and then the gradual climb toward Lawrence Welk Resort. Climbing up Champagne Blvd, it was the same thing. Mike and I rode together for about 2/3 of the climb, then I got a little ahead and finished just in front. Another short break at the intersection, then we turned left onto Mountain Meadow Rd. This climb was brutal, a real leg-breaker, about a mile at over 9%. It was also on tired legs for me. Mike got out ahead and just powered up, and it wasn't until near the top of the climb, when the gradient lessened a little bit, that I was able to close the gap and pass him. That's the toughest climbing I've done since going up Refugio Rd. We turned onto Hidden Meadows Rd and took it until it turned into Mountain Meadows Rd. There were a couple of minor uphill sections, and my legs felt like they were going to start cramping. Thankfully, the rest from the following descent helped out, and they ended up feeling tired but functional. A right onto Meadow Glen Way, where we started to descend, then onto Cougar Pass Rd, which was unpaved and unimproved. Lots of sand and washboard, and it was steep too, so I rode the brakes pretty much all the way down, about 2 miles of jarring, slippery riding that wore me out. It connected onto Broadway, and I was thinking we were almost done, but Mike had us turn onto Jesmond Dene Rd and ride back up to Centre City Pkwy. I would have shortened the ride by this point, but I went along with his suggestion. I powered up Jesmond Dene, that last short steep part was really painful, and I was glad to be done with it. The ride back to Joe's place from there was straightforward and mostly downhill, thankfully. We chatted a little bit at the end, Mike took a pic of us, then I was on my way home, back the way I came. At Citracado Pkwy, I stopped and pushed the button for the Walk sign but couldn't unclip fast enough, and I lost my balance and fell. Nothing serious, just a scraped knee and some embarrassment. When the Walk signal came on, I started across, and a lady in an SUV cut right in front of me. I was still a little distracted from having fallen, and this really amped me up. Was truly grateful that I didn't get hit because it could easily have happened. Back over to behind the mall and then to BVP, taking it to Del Lago Blvd, where I turned right and rode up to the light before taking a U-turn and heading back to the freeway onramp. Legs were definitely feeling tired by this point, so I just churned across the freeway and up, slowly, the climb to the park. I was also in my lowest gear on the last little climb to the house, was really glad to finish this ride of unexpected distance and elevation. But I was happy to log a metric century for the month, would be nice to have at least one of this each month for the entire year.
Avg speed = 15.3 mph. Total mileage = 62.5 mi
Avg power = 136 W. Weighted avg power = 166 W
Total elevation gain = 3830'
Avg heartrate = 127 bpm (Coospo)
Relative Effort = 121
Training Load = 236
Intensity = 72%
https://www.strava.com/activities/13275805996
I had some spaghetti for lunch and felt calorie-deprived from the ride. Kept eating throughout the afternoon. I pulled the camping gear down from storage and stacked it in the garage, and later on, after Ann got back from shopping, we went through the list. In the afternoon, I pulled the rear cassette off my new bike and took a close look at it. I couldn't see any obvious evidence of wear. When I looked at the derailleur, I noticed that the cage has a lot of play in it, so I'm worried that I may need to buy a new one. Will take it into Poway Bicycle and let them diagnose what could be going wrong before I make that purchase. I watched the first half of the Vikings-Lions game, then finished consolidating all of the different work file backups that I had saved on several drives. Next step there is to go through the consolidated file folders and clean them up, but that's not a high priority, since I think I can fit all of the data onto a 500 GB HDD.
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