Well, this ride was harder than expected. I'd looked at the route the previous evening and saw that it was going to be a 60-mile day for me, which wasn't what I had been hoping for. I had gotten up in the night, had some food, and watched TV for about an hour before getting back to bed and getting some more sleep. Woke up around 5:15 and got up around 5:50. Cleaned the kitchen, did a little blogging, then got ready for the bike ride, which included unpacking my large saddle bag, putting my SPD-SL pedals on my Canyon, and outfitting it as usual. I headed over to the 4S Target through the neighborhood and then took the fast way there, avoiding riding through 4S Ranch. Perse was already there, and we talked a little bit about the trip. Ray showed up, then Cam, Jed A., and Fritz. So we were six fast riders for this route, which also got me a little worried about how hard it would be. I hung out in the back of the pack at the beginning of the ride, and thankfully (at least initially) nobody attacked hard and pulled the group along with them. This was a standard route for us, down CdS to San Dieguito Rd, down Three Witches, then a pace line over to ECR. We took VdlV down to the coast and headed north. No real stopping needed to wait for others, we were all hanging together. On the ride north I was struggling at times to keep up with the others as they begin picking up the pace. As happens fairly frequently, I got dropped on the flat stretch heading into Cardiff and was only able to reconnect with the group because they slowed down for a couple of lights. I generally hung with them into and through Encinitas, then they gapped me again as we rode through Leucadia. Around this point Jed pulled over, had a flat. It was a slow leak, so he pumped up his.tire and we continued on. I was able to basically hang on as we headed toward Carlsbad. On this longer stretch there was a younger couple who were riding faster than us but kept hitting lights, so we basically stayed together all the way into Carlsbad. My legs were starting to loosen up a little bit, so I would occasionally get out in front and lead for a bit. On the way into Carlsbad, Romeo joined us coming from the other direction. But he wasn't riding as fast as he normally does. We got into Carlsbad, there was some discussion about where to stop for coffee, and we ended up going to Shorehouse Kitchen (?), next to Handel's Ice Cream. Perse bought me coffee, and Ray bought some little bread cakes to share. I ended up eating a couple of pieces of cake, a banana, and a chocolate gel along with my coffee. The break was longer than expected because Jed ended up replacing his leaking inner tube after we finished eating. That food perked me up, and my legs felt better on the return trip. It also helped that we had a favoring wind that was starting to pick up. I was able to get out in the lead a couple of times, and we had a good pace. We retraced our route back, with the usual little side trip through Encinitas. We were riding with a loose pack of other riders, including a couple of guys who were a little too free-wheeling with not holding their lines. There was a female rider who was a little edgy about it, and she was commenting to a couple of us. I didn't intend to race up the hill into Solana Beach, but I was around the middle of the pack when we started, and when Perse took off I followed him and was able, with a big effort, to pass him before the top. Then I slowed down, chatted a little bit with the female rider about her expectations for fellow riders she doesn't know, and rode to the turn on VdlV. That's when we heard the Jed had had another flat and had stopped at a bike shop to get a tube and, apparently, another tire. So the four of us - Ray, Cam, Fritz, and I - decided to keep going. We rode together on the flats back to the base of Three Witches. Fritz was nice enough at the start to ask the others to slow down, as they started off pushing the pace harder than I could sustain. Took a break at the gas station, Fritz was cramping and needed electrolytes. Ray and Cam decided to wait for Perse, who was riding solo after Jed headed home to Mira Mesa. Fritz was late for meeting friends, so we rode ahead, he was slow on the return from here, his legs were more cooked than mine. I was glad for the easy pace and had no problems getting back to Target. Didn't stay long there before heading home the new normal way, thankful for the offshore tailwind giving me a push. Home around 12:20, was glad to be done. I did ride to the end of Cora on Pl and back to Duenda Rd at the end to get to 60 miles for the day.
Avg speed = 17.1 mph. Total mileage = 60.3 mi
Avg power = 128 W. Weighted avg power = 155 W
Total elevation gain = 2120'
Avg heartrate = 120 bpm (Coospo)
Relative Effort = 73
Training Load = 196
Intensity = 70
I had some cheese and bread, chips and salsa for lunch, was also pretty thirsty throughout the afternoon. Watched a little football, fell asleep briefly, but I wouldn't call it a nap. I also worked on catching up with blogging from the trip and beyond. I made egg salad for us to take down to Shelter Island for a little night picnic prior to seeing Dana Carvey at Humphrey's. His opening act was forgettable, his show had a lot of impressions, including all the presidents back to Reagan. I thought those bits weren't as funny as his other impressions. There was a lady in the front row who kept suggesting stuff for him to do until it became comical. Not my favorite show of the fall, but I had a couple of good laughs. Ann enjoyed him more. I drove us home, and after sitting in traffic around the venue we got home a little after 10:00. I went right to sleep.
No comments:
New comments are not allowed.