Well, this was going to be a big riding day, as many of the Bisikleta riders are getting ready for a major-league century in Santa Barbara in October. I slept marginally better, did wake up in the early morning and have a bowl of cereal before going back to bed and reading. Woke up around 5:00 and got out of bed to start the day early. Did a little blog catch-up and got ready for the Bisikleta bike ride at a leisurely pace. left a little bit early, in case the other riders decided to be ready to ride at 7:30. Just Ray was there when I got there, after riding through the neighborhood and taking the extended route through the 4S Ranch neighborhood. Eventually, we had seven riders for the day: Ray, Jed, Arnold, Charlie, Nel, and Fritz. We headed, initially at a measured pace, out CdS all the way to the 56 bike path, and I was keeping my pace dialed back, riding at times in the front, middle, and back of the pack. We took the 56 bike path toward the sea, and I was riding at the back during this stretch. Took it down to Carmel Country Rd, where we turned and rode up to Del Mar Mesa Rd. We've done this before on a ride I mapped out, it's really steep (well over 10%) but just for a short period of time. Here I pushed pretty hard and gapped the others on the steep section, then waited for Arnold and Fritz to catch up after it leveled off a bit. They continued on, and I waited for the others to make it up before continuing. We continued up to Carmel Mountain Rd, where we stopped to regroup and take a bio break just after the turn at a little park there. From there we continued down Carmel Mountain Rd, taking it all the way until we turned left to stay on this road down to Sorrento Valley Rd. Right turn there, taking it over to Carmel Valley Rd and turning left there. Over and up to PCH, turning left and heading down to the shore before climbing the outside route of Torrey Pines (most of us, I think Arnold and Charlie took the inside route). I started the climb near the back and put down a steady (but not scorching) pace. Fritz jumped out ahead of everybody, so my goal was initially to keep him in sight and, after I started to gain on him, to catch him and set a harder pace to the summit. Mission accomplished, he wasn't too far behind me after I got to the top. We waited for the others to show up, then continued on, staying on Torrey Pines Rd through two turns. We turned right onto Dunaway Dr (hadn't ridden on this road before), which turned into Prestwick Dr, curving around into Calle del Oro and dropping down to La Jolla Shores Dr, where we turned left and took it back to Torrey Pines Rd. We rode through that intersection and took Torrey Pines Ln and a sidewalk to get over to Hidden Valley Rd. Then the fun really started. I hadn't ridden up this climb to Mt Soledad in a very long time (according to my blog, it was Dec'09 when I last did this climb, would have been on my Univega with tiny gearing, O to be young again). But I generally knew what was coming. It was steep going up Hidden Valley Rd, then got really steep just before the turn onto Via Capri. Fritz was out in front of me up to and past this turn, then I gradually caught up to him and passed him, working hard on gradients that I later measured out to be nearly 20%. It levels off to the 8% range for a stretch, then kicks back up near the top, when my legs were really feeling the effects. Thankfully, it's not super long, and I was able to make it, climbing out of the saddle for most of the steep parts until I started to run out of gas near the top. Rode up to the Mt Soledad cross, where there was a private ceremony among a bunch of veterans taking place. Fritz wasn't that far behind me, maybe a minute or two. The others trickled in, all except Charlie, who broke his rear derailleur on the climb and had to call and Uber to get home. We gathered at the top, then rode back down the same way into La Jolla Shores, stopping at The Corner to have coffee and pumpkin, banana, and zucchini breads. The coffee helped jazz me up a bit. After the break we rode up La Jolla Shores Dr back to Torrey Pines Rd. Again, I started in the back of the pack and ended up passing everybody on the climb. Fritz held on the longest but couldn't match the pace after the gradient dropped a little bit and I kept my power level high to sprint to the intersection. We headed north, gathered up just after the intersection, then somehow Fritz and I got behind the others by quite a bit. Ray had proposed making a change to the route, so when we got to the turn to stay on Torrey Pines Rd we made it but weren't 100% sure that the others were in front of us. The two of us pushed pretty hard to try and catch up with them, didn't see them until after the Torrey Pines descent and climb back to Carmel Valley Rd, when we saw Nel. We stayed on PCH through Del Mar, Arnold and Jed were way out in front and I couldn't catch up to them. They ended up taking PCH to VdlV, while we took the shortcut on Jimmy Durante Blvd to get to VdlV. That put us in front of them, but Ray didn't want to wait for them, so we took the normal route over to San Dieguito Rd and across the flats to the gas station before the Three Witches climb, where we stopped to wait for the others to show up. Had a decent 4-man pace line going on the flats, Fritz led for about the last third of that segment. Jed and Arnold showed up, and we continued. I didn't have much left in the tank for this last significant climb, so I set a pace I could maintain and started up. Nobody else was strong enough to pass me, and so I ended up pacing Arnold and Fritz up the climb. They kept going after the turn onto CdS while I waited for the others to show up. Ray and Nel made the turn, then I rode with Nel back to the starting point while Ray waited for Jed to show up. Took the foot off the gas for this last stretch, riding at Nel's pace. Legs felt fine, but there was no cause to push the pace hard. The sun had come out just before we started the Three Witches climb, it was in the high 70s and more humid than usual. I waited until the others showed up, then rode home via the RB Rd and W Bernardo Dr route. On the last part of this ride, starting around the turn onto Jimmy Durante Blvd, we had a pretty favorable tailwind helping us along, and I was glad for it, especially closer to the end. Legs were sore the rest of the day, but I was glad they didn't cramp up during the ride, since I hadn't done a lot of high-intensity, long-distance riding recently. I could tell from my heartrate during the ride that my fitness level was reduced from before the Europe trip, so there is work to do to bring it up before the sprint tri on Oct 12.
Avg speed = 15.9 mph (16.0 mph). Total mileage = 63.8 mi
Avg power = 139 W. Weighted avg power = 179 W
Total elevation gain = 4270' (4650')
Avg heartrate = 130 bpm (Coospo)
Relative Effort = 153 (184)
Training Load = 301
Intensity = 81%
Ann was home when I got home, finishing up the spreadsheet of Europe expenses to split with Pat. I wasn't super hungry, ended up having a fairly light lunch and still not feeling hungry in the afternoon. Watched a little NCAA football and caught up on blogging, tried to avoid having a nap and was successful. Ann slept through the late afternoon, so I made a light dinner and ate while watching some TV. Read in the evening and was planning on going to sleep early, but had to text with Paula and Rob to align on logistics for the next morning's ride.
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