Well, this was an unexpectedly long and hard day in the saddle. Woke up a little before 6:00, had a brief rest before getting up and getting ready for the ride. I rode my Fuji, intending to get more practice riding in aero position. Through the neighborhood and then the short route through the 4S Ranch neighborhood to get to Target. It was 55 deg at the start, a little cool but easy to manage since I was climbing from the start. And it was noticeably warmer once I got up to RB Rd, due to the lake effect. My bike was shifting very smoothly after I swapped the direction of the chain to have the links with the openings in them on the inside rather than on the outside. I wonder if this also might explain why my chain has been coming off when I push hard on the pedals. That didn't happen on this day. At the start of the ride, we had the following riders: Ray, Jed, Rob, Fritz, Arnold, Andy, and Jhonar. We started off fairly slow, and I got out in front on the CdS bump, making the turn solo and riding about halfway down Three Witches before Rob caught up and passed me. We rode together to the turn onto El Apajo and waited for the others. Andy was riding pretty well on this day, he was behind us but not by a lot, and he hung in there all the way to the end. Up to VdlV, turning right and riding up to Paseo Delicias. I was near the back at the start but finished in front of the others, Arnold and Fritz weren't too far back. Then we rode to El Montevideo and took it over to Lago Lindo. I was out front again, trying to stay in aero position as much as possible. Made the turn onto El Camino del Norte in front and stayed there, without pushing too hard, all the way to the turn onto Ranch Santa Fe Rd. Others weren't too far back, I'm guessing they were in a group trying to catch up to me. Fritz and I got out in front on the stretch over to Olivenhain Rd. We made the turn, and the others started showing up but not Rob and Jed. Also, Romeo came in from the other direction to meet us and ride with us back to Oceanside. Rob's shifter battery had failed, and he didn't have a coin to open the compartment. Eventually he showed up, and a group of the riders helped him fix it while Romeo and I talked about his three weeks in Australia, visiting his wife's family in and around Sydney. Then we were off, riding down to El Camino Real and turning right, then left onto La Costa Ave, where I mostly rode behind the others and stayed in aero position. It's not easy for me to ride aero when I'm in the bunch, better when I'm in front or at the tail end. Pace picked up with Romeo showed up, I don't think he got the memo that this was supposed to be a chill ride. We rode down to PCH and headed north, through Carlsbad at quite a fast pace. I set a PR on the stretch between La Costa Ave and the Palomar Airport Rd underpass (7:57, 193 W), then we stopped at the Starbuck's, which has closed and may reopen as a new coffee shop. Waited for Andy to catch up, which took a while, then we rode into Oceanside and took the normal roads to get to Jed's house. Jed hadn't been at this house since the summer party (!), his brother Francis has been staying there. We relaxed for a while, had some snacks and drinks, then we were off again. At this point, Rob and Jhonar turned around and started heading back, while the rest of us stayed on Pacific St until we turned right onto Harbor Dr and followed it all the way around the marina to the cul-de-sac. I was lagging behind the others here, who were moving pretty fast, again finding time to be in aero position. Romeo led us back into town to Surfrider Way, where some people in a pickup truck yelled at us to stop at the stop signs. Left turn there and then another left on Cleveland St to get to Neptune Way, where we turned and got onto the San Luis Rey Bike Path at its terminus. A little weaving through the winding parts of the path until it straightened out, and this is when it got really fast. I think I was initially in the lead, in aero position, and Fritz passed me and gapped me. For a long time, I was trying to catch up to him, was gradually making progress, but I was going pretty much full gas. At some point, Arnold and Jed passed me, caught up to Fritz, and passed him. I eventually also caught up to Fritz and passed him, but he hung on my wheel and eventually helped me catch up to Arnold and Jed. The four of us were riding together when Romeo passed us easily and got in the lead, then really dropped the hammer. At this point, I couldn't keep up with the others, it was all I could do not to fall way back. So I kept them in sight until we got into the neighborhood, where I caught up. Once back on the path, I was a little better at staying with them, but the path was so winding that we had to watch our speed due to other riders around. Got to the beginning of the path at its intersection with the 76, where we waited for Ray and Andy to show up. My legs weren't cramping, but I was starting to get worried about the ride back, which was going to be painful if it was at this pace. We started back all together, at a slower pace, and Romeo split off by the park, since he lives near there. I got into aero position and was in the lead for much of the return back into north Oceanside, not sure if I led the whole way or not but it felt that way. On the return, we took the path section that got us back directly onto Pacific St, stopped there for a break to wait for Andy and Fritz to show up. From there, we retraced our path through Oceanside and into Carlsbad. I was regularly in the lead but others took turns as well, including Fritz, Arnold, and Ray. At some point along the coast I got out significantly ahead, the others must have hit a light or something. Again, we pushed the pace down the coast to the 7-Eleven, where Fritz was running out of water and wanted to stop. This stop turned into an extended stop as we waited for Jed and Andy to show up. They eventually did, had to fix Jed's chain that had come off and jammed between his frame and crank. We were off after that, still riding pretty fast but a little slower than before. Typically detour through downtown Encinitas. On the flats by Cardiff, Arnold, Fritz, and I were moving pretty good, and Ray came by us on the little climb back into Solana Beach. Arnold matched his pace, but eventually I was able to pass him. That took a fair amount out of me to do it, Arnold and I rode together to the turn onto VdlV and waited there for the others, who weren't too far back. To ECR from there, I led as usual on the stretch past the freeway to the turn, Fritz and Ray were close, and Ray passed us both after the turn to lead us to San Dieguito Rd. We had a ragged pace line here, and Andy pretty much stayed with us while Ray dropped back. At one point Fritz got out of the line and rode to the front but ultimately didn't break the line. I started the pace line and ended it with a long pull. By the gas station, where we didn't stop, Arnold started riding ahead, and I found I couldn't match his pace. I got fairly close in the early stages of the Three Witches climb, but my legs were done for the day. No cramping, just no power left. I'm sure I didn't fuel up enough during this long ride, a regular problem for me. He rode away, and I was in my lower gears trying to survive the climb. Ray passed me at some point, and I watched him get some distance before he slowed down and I caught him just before the summit. Jed was close as well. At the turn onto CdS, I decided to keep going, so Jed, Ray, and I were riding kinda together, with Jed leading. Down the hill and onto the last climb, and I passed the others for a time until the gradient lessened. They both passed me again, Ray also had some gas left in the tank. Jed and I were riding together, him in front and me trying to stay on his wheel, when I hit something in the road that made it sound like I had gotten a flat. I was frustrated, but it turned out no damage, so we continued on, almost catching Ray before the parking lot. Of course, Arnold was long gone, he really gapped us at the end, pretty remarkable after the day we all had had. I hung around by the cars, pretty wiped out, until Andy showed up, then I made my slow trek home, taking the normal Camino San Bernardo route. Was quite slow on this return, I had burned all my matches on the Bisikleta ride. But I made it home without any cramping. For some reason, my Wahoo had disconnected from my Assioma pedals, so I lost power data about 65 miles into the ride. I guess I never checked whether my heartrate monitor synced because I didn't have those data for the entire ride. Not great. Also, my Wahoo was still recording for some reason at least part of the time while we were at Jed's house, so there are a lot of spurious data points that dropped my actual average speed to the one stored in Strava.
Avg speed = 17.7 mph (My analysis). Total mileage = 89.0 mi
Bisikleta route avg speed = 18.2 mph
Avg power = 143 W (Excel, first ~65 miles). Weighted avg power = 169 W (Excel, first ~65 miles)
Total elevation gain = 2990'
Training Load = 275 (Probably inaccurate)
Intensity = 70% (Probably inaccurate)
Was pretty wiped out when I got home, had to sit in the garage for about five minutes to recover before going into the house. I was actually hungry, which is not common for me after longer bike rides. Watched a little NCAA football while I ate a fairly light lunch, had a short nap on the couch but woke up quickly. I went upstairs, thinking I'd lie down and take a longer nap, but it didn't happen. Ann came in later and told me about the cycling accident in Reno where Sue Goodenow was killed and Rew was injured, and it hit me hard. I had ridden solo on this stretch of US 395 Alt while visiting David and Christine. Just devastating news for that family and their friends. Did a little blogging after that, to take my mind off the tragedy, then I helped just a little bit with the pasta salad to take to the church potluck and game night. Saw Mary Mussatti there, was the first time I'd seen and talked to her in quite a while. The food was sparse for vegetarians, I didn't see a main dish and ended up having several different kinds of salads. Somebody brought out Costco pizzas later, and I had a slice of cheese pizza that helped a little bit. Ate a fair amount of the desserts to try and replenish my calories. We sat at a table with the Collings and Mary and got caught up with them. After dinner, Ann played Rummikub with several others, including Dave Peterson, while I watched. We didn't stay until the end, I was pretty tired by this point. Drove home and read for a while, finishing The Bourne Supremacy. Not a great read, although the action did pick up near the end. Questionable whether I'll read the last book in the trilogy, it won't be right away.
