Category Archives: cycling

Windy Weekend

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Charmaine is in Arizona this weekend, which meant I slept in and missed the optimal window to start a bike ride (which just happens to coincide with the hours you can get a Sausage McMuffin with Egg). It’s actually a miracle I was able to get myself out there without a visit to McDonald’s. I fired up the stove and fried a few eggs, made some toast, sliced some cheese, and poured myself a tall glass of orange juice. It wasn’t the perfect pre-ride meal, but it wasn’t bad.

It felt warm and windy outside. Weather Underground said it was a 14 mph wind from the west. I thought it might be fun to ride up through Oceanside and take advantage of that wind to push me along the bike trail. My legs were still feeling a bit sore from my long run on Thursday, so I thought I would just take it easy today, get some time in the saddle, and call it a recovery ride. But as soon as I started heading toward the beach I knew it wasn’t going to be a recovery ride. It was serious work to go west and my legs were not happy about it.

I decided I would ride the Torrey Pines hill and see how I felt after that. The hill itself wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be. There are quite a few people that get off and walk their bikes up, but I was never tempted to stop, even with the worn-out condition of my legs. It seemed a lot easier and shorter than the ride up Sun Crest, for example. I rode a bit at the top before turning around and heading back down. The way back down is fast and rough. I don’t like roads like that; they make my bike shake and wobble. I’m always worried that I have a flat tire. Today was no exception. I stopped in the middle of the hill on the way down to make sure I still had air in my tires. I really expected to find my back tire flat, but it wasn’t, so I got back on and went the rest of the way down.

At the bottom I caught up with some skinny guys that had flown past me when I was stopped. I was worried that if I passed them on the flat, they would have to pass me again when we climbed up into Del Mar. That turned out to be a mistake. I was way faster than them, even on the climb. It seemed like it might be tricky to pass them with the construction, so I turned back up Carmel Valley Road instead. I thought about just riding back home, but that would have made this my shortest ride in years. I wasn’t going to have that, so I cruised over to the 56 bike trail.

I went back to my original plan to take it easy and just get some time in the saddle. I coasted to the bottom of the bike trail and ran into a couple guys getting ready to sprint up the trail. I wondered if I could stay with them. They continued getting ready and I didn’t want to just sit and wait for them, so I headed up on my own. I was pushing it, but my legs were screaming at me, so I probably wasn’t going all that fast.

At some point one of the guys caught up to me. I don’t know when, but he was content to just draft behind me for a while. I pushed hard down one of the hills and pulled away from him, but he caught up and passed me during the final climb up to Camino Del Sur. The light was red and he didn’t want to wait. I only had to wait about 10 seconds before it turned green and I decided I would try to keep him in my sights. He was pretty far ahead, but I thought I might catch up again. I did, but then he pulled away again during the final climb to Black Mountain Road. We both coasted down to the light at Rancho Peñasquitos. I decided to turn around and head back at that point. My legs were fried.

I cut off the bike path at Rancho Santa Fe Farms Road, which is where Carmel Valley Road and the 56 are the closest together. As soon as I turned onto Carmel Valley Road I knew I had made a mistake. The wind was directly in my face and made it tough to ride down the slight hill to Del Mar Heights Road. The wind continued to be in my face the rest of the way home.

Lots of Rest

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I didn’t swim, bike, or run yesterday. Charmaine was going to meet me for a swim at lunch, but got caught in long lines while shopping and didn’t make it back in time. We thought about going for a short bike ride after I was done with work, but instead we did a little more shopping and then went for a walk on the beach at La Jolla Shores. It was really windy and the tide was high, so it wasn’t great and we didn’t walk too long.

Today we went for a bike ride, but it was filled with rest stops and taking it easy. There was a strong wind from SSW that built throughout the day and made things a little interesting as we rode home along the beaches.

We headed north up El Camino Real. I decided to push hard through the descent on El Camino from Linea del Cielo to La Orilla. I managed to land 7th overall for the segment (out of 337). I almost didn’t make the tight right turn at the end and had to slam on my brakes. I think if I had been paying more attention there I may have shaved off a few more seconds and been in the top 5. I guess that will have to be a goal for the future.

I was really strong today as we headed up Rancho Santa Fe. I felt like I could have gone a whole lot faster, but I didn’t want to leave Charmaine behind. We seemed to hit every single light just as it was turning red, so there was a lot of rest on that climb… and it really didn’t even feel like climbing.

Then we headed north across Vista and the wind was starting to blow into our face. It only got worse as we got to Oceanside. We stopped at a Walgreens for about 20 minutes to do a fluid exchange break. I picked up a Red Bull and a XXX Vitamin Water, as per usual. Then we got on the bike path to the ocean. The headwind was amazing. It was blowing straight at us. Charmaine had to tuck in behind me and it felt like I was climbing Sun Crest. I’m estimating the wind at about 15 to 20 mph and very steady.

When we got out of the canyon and headed south along the beach we were still facing a monster head wind. It wasn’t quite as bad as it had been along the river trail, because it wasn’t directly in our faces, but it was still pretty harsh.

I was feeling great from my Sausage McMuffin with Egg this morning and I was a bit hopped up on Red Bull from our stop at Walgreens. I wanted to pass everyone and push hard going south, but Charmaine was having a rough time. She didn’t fuel up with McDonald’s this morning and it was coming back to haunt her… You really do need to start off the ride with a good mix of carbs, protein, and fat. The carbs burn fastest, then the protein kicks in, and finally the fat. I was feeling great, but Charmaine needed some real food and we didn’t have any. So we wound up stopping a couple more times so she could rest. I also think the massive winds were causing her to play mental games… making her think it was a tougher ride than it was. I didn’t care too much, I was just happy to be outside in the sun with her.

When we climbed up through Del Mar the wind seemed like it had died down, but it hadn’t. We were just shielded from it along the 101. This became obvious when we made the turn and headed east along Carmel Valley Road. The wind was really strong and steady, still coming from SSW. It practically pushed us the whole way up El Camino Real on the way home. I know we were climbing, but I didn’t even need to pedal to go up the hill.

I feel like I have to comment on one more thing. I didn’t crash today. It’s about time I finish a ride without crashing. Let’s hope this trend continues.

Dana Point (108 miles)

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This whole week I have been looking forward to doing a big ride today. We didn’t really have anything planned other than “doing a big ride” until last night. We decided we were going to ride up along the coast through Camp Pendleton and up to Dana Point. We figured it would give us about 100 miles, which would be our longest self-supported ride ever. It sounded awesome, so we called Ryan to see if he wanted to ride with us.

I haven’t been sleeping very well this whole week, so I was fairly anxious about how ready for this ride I would really be in the morning. I slept really well last night and woke up ready to rumble. Charmaine picked up our usual breakfast before a big ride… McDonald’s. I swear there’s nothing better than a Sausage McMuffin with Egg before a big ride. It has the perfect mix of carbs (32g), protein (21g), and fat (27g). I also loaded up one of my water bottles with a mixture of Red Bull and XXX Vitamin Water.

Ryan got here at six and we headed out by about 6:30. I was a little worried that it would be cold in the morning, but it wasn’t bad at all. In fact, the weather for the entire ride was perfect. I would guess it was about 60 degrees when we started and probably didn’t get above about 65 the whole way, except when we stopped to have “lunch” (banana pancakes, bacon, and more eggs) at RJ’s Cafe in Dana Point. It was really warm and sunny at lunch, but almost as soon as we got back on our bikes, the sun went back behind the clouds and we had an amazing ride home.

I did manage to crash my bike again. I’m getting pretty good at it. This was definitely my best crash yet. They have been doing a lot of construction along the west side of the 101 through Solana Beach, so we took the back roads on our way home. As we were heading down the hill from the back roads to get back on the 101 and head home through Del Mar, I decided to cut up onto the sidewalk where another biker was already waiting for the light. It looked like the sidewalk was all graded down to street level, but I quickly realized I was mistaken. The curb was graded down to street level on both the left and right of where I rode my bike, but between those two sections it was a full curb. I’m still shocked that I didn’t see it at all. I slammed my front wheel directly into the curb, stopping my bike immediately and sending me flying through the air over my bike and onto the sidewalk. Ryan said I looked quite acrobatic in the air. I wish someone had recorded it so I could see it. I rode away with only a few scrapes on two of my fingers and a bruise on the front of my leg. That’s amazing considering the violence level of the crash. I think it may have killed my crappy ($20) bike computer too. I’ll have to see if I can fix it.

Into The Wind

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Normally I would have been in the pool today, soaking up the sun. But there was no sun today. Instead, it was cold and dark outside. I decided to skip the swim and spend a little time riding my bike. I need to be riding more than a hundred miles a week if I’m going to ride the double-century STP in a reasonable amount of time this summer. So I was happy to put in a couple hours on the bike.

It rained last night and the remnants of the storm were everywhere. I was getting blasted with wind in my face coming off the ocean almost from the very start. I was dodging the occasional puddle. There was little chance I would overheat today, even on the big climbs. In fact, my knees got pretty cold several times throughout the ride.

But it was still a great day to ride.

https://app.strava.com/activities/49003196

I did the ultimate out-and-back today. I headed down El Camino Real to Carmel Valley Road, then up to the 101 and straight north through Del Mar, Solana Beach, Cardiff, Encinitas, Leucadia, and most of Carlsbad. When I got to Carlsbad Village Drive, I headed east for a bit. I was looking for a good way to loop back to the 101. I didn’t find anything great, but that’s what I get for not having a plan. I did loop around and find my way back to the 101 at Carlsbad Village Drive.

Heading south I took a few minor detours off the 101. I stayed on the 101 through Carlsbad, but then moved over to Vulcan Ave through Encinitas. I dropped back down to the 101 along the strand and up into Solana Beach, but then headed quickly west to avoid all the construction they have going on that side of the street. I cam back to the 101 for the climb up through Del Mar, then headed east on Carmel Valley Road and right back up El Camino Real.

I was pretty tired by the end. I noticed that my handlebars are not aligned perfectly with my front tire. That probably happened when I crashed on the big ride last week. I’ll have to fix it. I also had my hamstrings tighten up a few times and I wondered if my seat was slightly too low.

Technical Difficulties

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It was another amazing day today. The weather was perfect. The pool was open, but I decided not to swim. What?!? It was a tough decision, but I need time in the saddle if I’m going to have any chance of completing Seattle to Portland in one day. So I decided to ride instead.

https://app.strava.com/activities/48240365

My legs were feeling a little shaky from the 10k run I did yesterday, so I figured I wouldn’t go too far or too fast… just get some time in the seat. I didn’t have a real plan for where to ride, but I thought I would go ride up Torrey Pines and then come back. On the way down El Camino Real, I was feeling really slow. I was pedaling pretty hard, but it felt like I wasn’t able to go very fast. I wondered if I had a break pad rubbing. No, my legs were just jello from the run yesterday (really from taking so much time off and then doing that run). So I decided not to do the Torrey Pines hill climb and just turned north into Del Mar along the 101.

I started feeling stronger as I made my way through Del Mar and up into Solana Beach. I was still taking it easy, but I really enjoyed the salty sea air. When I hit Cardiff, I turned off the 101 and rode along Vulcan. I always ride Vulcan south, but this was my first time riding it north. It’s a whole different animal going north. The road is really rough and I kept thinking I may lose a tire or two. I’ll stick to the 101 going north through Encinitas from now on.

Somewhere around the power plant in Carlsbad a guy on a bike with a small gas motor passed me. I wasn’t happy about it. He wasn’t pedaling at all, except going up hills. I decided I was going to pass him back. He wouldn’t expect it. I pushed hard and made up a lot of distance on the flats, but he was able to keep me at bay on the climbs. I made a big run on one of the climbs and caught up to him as we approached a light that was turning yellow then red. The other side of the light was a descent. I knew I would blow right past him on that descent. But then he ran the red light. I wasn’t stupid enough to follow that lead, so I waited a full minute before I started trying to catch up to him again. I did finally catch up and draft behind him for a while before passing him. He turned east shortly after that, so I don’t know how long I would have stayed in front, but it didn’t matter. I won. I wound up setting a bunch of PRs on the segments where I was chasing him down.

When I got to Oceanside there was a strong wind coming in from the ocean. I thought I could use it to my advantage and head up the bike trail along the river. Unfortunately, I couldn’t figure out how to get to the bike trail. The road I was on either got on the freeway or turned into a bridge over the river. I tried a bunch of ways to get down to the river trail, eventually turning around and giving up, only to find a sign with directions on how to get there. I was right about being able to use the wind. I flew up the river trail averaging well over 20 mph. That was really fun. But then I was at the top faced with a decision about how to get back home. Should I fight the wind and head back to the ocean? That didn’t sound fun. Should I head up through Vista and San Marcos? That sounded like a lot of work too, but that’s what I decided to do.

Somewhere along the way I thought I had missed the turn I wanted to take. It was my first time riding the loop this direction, and I didn’t remember the names of the roads or the distances between them. Eventually I saw a road that looked pretty big, so I turned. It wasn’t the right choice. I got lost. I turned to Google Maps for help. It wanted me to climb a huge hill. I decided to try something else. I got lost some more. I found my way to several dead-end streets where I had to turn around to get out. Eventually I worked my way through some really nice sections of Carlsbad and found El Camino again. I rode that south to La Costa and stopped at a gas station for a refill.

I checked my phone. It was already 5:00! I had wasted a lot of time climbing, getting lost, etc. I texted Charmaine to see if she wanted to ride home with me. I figured I was far enough south of Oceanside now that she would be passing by sooner or later (unless she took the train). I didn’t hear back, so I rode La Costa out to Vulcan and texted again. Still nothing. I called and left a voicemail. No response. I took that as a sign she was not on the train and was actually riding. I decided to head south along Vulcan going slow. She would eventually catch up to me.

I stopped when I got the train station in Encinitas. I had a bunch of texts and missed calls from Charmaine. She left work a little early and had already ridden all the way to Solana Beach where she was waiting for me. I tried to hurry, but I was wasted. I had already ridden almost 60 miles on nothing but water and shot blocks. We rode slowly through the back roads of Solana Beach and then down through Del Mar.

We tried a new way home that was sort of interesting. Instead of going all the way through Del Mar and then up Carmel Valley the way we normally did, we turned east on Del Mar Heights road and then cut into the neighborhood to the south. It was still a steep climb, and I was still wasted. At one point I was trying to start climbing and get clipped in, but my left foot would not clip in. I was pushing pretty hard and managed to tip myself over to the left. I successfully unclipped my right shoe as I went down, but I still went down. The crank rolled over my right calf, then scraped it and stuck in a second time. That was fun. I think it’s the first time I’ve crashed while moving. I wasn’t going very fast, but it still wasn’t great. I had to realign some pieces of my handlebar and check everything before finishing the ride.

I was quick to point out that despite riding way more miles than I originally planned, and despite the crash, it was still a great ride and much better than spending the afternoon sitting in front of a computer working.

Injured Reserve

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We spent the weekend in St. George, Utah with some friends. We road our bikes out along Old Highway 91 over Utah Pass and back. That’s a great ride. The climb isn’t too steep and it has a lot of flat spots that let your legs recharge before the next piece of hill is ready for climbing.

https://app.strava.com/activities/46477303

We swam in the pool and played pool games like 500, etc. We went hiking in a couple slot canyons. We even did an easter egg hunt for the kids up in Snow Canyon. But I let them talk me into doing something stupid: Mountain Biking.

I don’t really enjoy mountain biking, but I wanted to spend more time with the group, so I agreed to borrow a bike and ride the very easy Bearclaw Poppy trail. I borrowed a bike, since I don’t own a mountain bike. This is where things went wrong. Not owning a mountain bike means the bike is not my size and not close to being fit to me. The shocks were tuned for someone much smaller than me. But the worst part is that I do not have any mountain biking shoes. I didn’t have any shoes at all and chose to ride the 10 miles wearing only my flip-flops. Sure, I could have spent 20 minutes to trade out the pedals from my real bike with the pedals on the mountain bike and then I would have been able to use my real biking shoes… but I’m far too lazy for that. Instead, I decided it would be OK to ride the trail in my flip-flops.

Several people stopped me along the way (it’s a very popular trail) to tell me what a big mistake I was making. Sometimes just to make a point of calling out my stupidity to their children, but other times out of genuine concern for my well being. These people were not wrong. It really was a mistake.

As I rode along, the seat of the bike kept getting shorter and shorter until I almost couldn’t make the pedals go around because of the angle of my legs. My feet routinely slipped off the tiny clip-in pedals and hit the ground, sometimes getting run-over by the crank shaft in the process. By the end of the ride I had a few nice slices removed from the backs of my ankles and heels. The experience in no way helped convince me that mountain biking is fun or worth doing.

So now I can’t run or bike for a while. I probably can’t do much swimming (especially nothing that involves wearing fins). I can’t even put on a pair of socks without feeling pain. So I wear my flip-flops around the house, to work, to the store, etc. Hopefully my ankles and heels will feel better soon so I can do something again.

Kitchen Creek

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After about a year of researching, test-riding, researching, etc. Charmaine pulled the trigger and bought a new bike. She narrowed it down to a Trek Madone or a Specialized Ruby. She had done several test-rides with each, but never at the same time. No cycling shop (that she could find) carries both brands. So she rented the Trek for a day and took it to the Specialized shop. Finally she rode a few loops with each of her favorite bikes and realized right away there was a clear winner for her… the Specialized. After a good fitting, some adjustments to the bike, some adjustments to her shoes, etc. She was ready to ride the Kitchen Creek loop today.

Let me just say that I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. We had originally planned to meet up with Ryan and Julie at their camp site on the shore of Lake Morena and ride from there. But after we arrived in the morning, we decided to adjust the route a little to avoid riding along Buckman Springs road on the south side of I-8. It’s a 55 MPH zone with narrow lanes and no bike lane. Also there was quite a bit of traffic on it and nobody was going below 60. That’s not ideal, so we cut it from the ride.

Instead of leaving from their camp, we parked our car at the rest stop where Buckman Springs Road meets I-8 at Exit 51. From there we took Old highway 80 around to where it meets Kitchen Creek Road where we started our ascent. I didn’t give my legs a day off this week, and I could tell on that ascent. Charmaine was also discovering that the new insoles in her shoes and the new geometry of her new bike were causing her to use her muscles in a slightly different way. Bottom line: we were hurting. Ryan, on the other hand, was a climbing machine, but he was kind enough to wait for us from time to time so we could all stay together.

After about 8 miles there was a sign that said, “Pavement ends 400 feet”. Suddenly I wondered if we were even on the right road. I hadn’t paid any attention whatsoever to our planned route. I had no idea how much climbing there would be or what roads we were supposed to take, etc. Luckily, the pavement didn’t end. The two lane road ended and there was a gate. Beyond the gate was a narrow single-lane road about the width of a golf cart. It seems that it’s only used by cyclists. Suddenly the ride became awesome.

Still showing my lack of understanding for what was in store, I started snapping pictures with my phone of the road leading up to where we were. In my mind the top was just around the next corner. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The golf-cart sized road seemed to go on forever, and almost always up. Every now and then it would flatten out and even descend a few tens of feet before heading right back into another climb. The climb wasn’t steep, but it just kept going. I think we climbed about 14 miles straight before we finally hit the top. But it was awesome in the true meaning of the word. We took our time, stopping often to take more pictures, drink more water, and just rest our weary legs (in my case, at least). It was great.

Then we came to the other gate. We had climbed from 3200 to 5800 feet with almost no flat spots and almost no descents during the climb. The narrow lane of Kitchen Creek Road was in pretty bad shape. It would be dangerous and probably stupid to ride this loop the other direction (descending Kitchen Creek instead of ascending it). But I wondered what the descent would be like on the Sunshine Highway. I didn’t wonder for long.

Within minutes we were down. It took 2 hours to make the ascent and only a few minutes to make our way back down to the car. The Sunshine Highway isn’t in the greatest condition, but it’s a big road and I found myself going faster than 40 MPH on several occasions. That descent was really fun.

We rode back to the rest stop along Old highway 80. I was surprised to see a checkpoint setup by Border Patrol on that road. At first I didn’t know what to make of it, but they didn’t care a bit about me (I was heading towards Mexico and not coming from Mexico). I had made the descent a little faster than everyone else (finally being bigger pays off), so I just made my way to the car and waited for everyone else to get back. That was a great ride.

https://app.strava.com/activities/45549744

After uploading my ride to Strava I noticed that my heart rate monitor crapped out on me about 40 minutes in to the ride. I’m not sure what happened, but I’m not too impressed. I’ve been having a really hard time getting my phone to see the monitor. I have to unpair and repair it via bluetooth almost each time I use it. That doesn’t seem right to me. But still, I had a really good time on the ride today.

Unprepared for Borrego

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Charmaine signed us up to ride the Tour of Borrego this year. Although we didn’t know it at the time, we wound up riding with a man famous for his legislative successes, a man called Murphy.

Our problems started a few days before the Tour when I ate the last of our Shot Blocks and sucked down the last of our Gus on a quick ride along the 56. Both Charmaine and I had great rides, despite only having a little over an hour to ride. As we were leaving the house for that ride on Wednesday, we told ourselves that we would order a bunch through Amazon Prime when we got back, hoping that they would arrive on Friday, in plenty of time for the Tour on Saturday. We were so excited after finishing such a good ride, that we completely forgot to order anything. No problem, we though, we’ll stop by somewhere on Friday and that will be that.

Friday came and went without a trip to a bike store, no trip to REI, no trip anywhere that sells Shot Blocks or Gus. It wasn’t that big of a deal, since we would still have our drinks and the Tour is well supported with food and drink stops about every 10 miles. But I did take the opportunity to tease Charmaine about not going out of her way on Friday to get some.

That night we had Massaman Curry, which was delicious, probably a little too delicious. I quickly found myself eating more than I should, which lead to not being able to fall asleep easily, and not being able to stay asleep.

Suddenly morning came. Actually, it wasn’t morning yet, but the alarm clock woke us up. No, it didn’t. Charmaine woke up on her own before the alarm clock went off. I’m betting she wasn’t sleeping all that well either. But there we were, awake, and I said, “We don’t have to do this. It’s not too late.”

But it was too late. Google Maps said it was a 2-hour drive from home to Borrego Springs, much of it on narrow, windy, mountain roads… and this morning it was extremely foggy. We decided to get up and try to get there anyway. We threw stuff into bags and carried things down to the car and started driving. The car had been in the shop just 2 days prior, getting things done like checking the brakes, etc. But instead of being ready for this trip, the car decided today was the day to burn out a headlight. That meant an even slower, more stressful drive through the mountains. We had originally planned on taking the big car, but we didn’t have the right tools to put the rack on the back, so we were stuck in the Subaru, which only has one bike rack on top.

Knowing we were starting late and that we would be driving slower than normal through the fog with only one headlight, I decided we didn’t have enough time to stop for our usual pre-ride breakfast at McDonald’s. Instead, we drove straight there. This proved to be another in a long series of mistakes.

We made much better time than Google Maps had estimated. After we arrive. we had a few minutes to stop at the general store and pick up a few things for breakfast. It was one of the worst breakfasts we have had in years, despite the suggestion from the girl in the store that the sandwich would be “so good”.

We drove to the start, parked the car, and began the process of getting ready for the ride. It was just before 8:00 and already over 70 degrees. We didn’t have sunblock. We didn’t have ibuprofen. We didn’t have any Gus, Shot Blocks, or other energy sources. Charmaine didn’t have sunglasses. We decided we would only be riding the 40 mile loop once, instead of the 80 miles (twice around the loop) like we originally planned.

The ride itself was pretty nice. The roads were rough, but they were mostly flat, which made for a nice warm-up section. As we rode through the first 5 miles, we somehow managed to wind up at the front of all the riders. This was not a good place for me, as I had no idea what the course looked like. We dropped back a little, but were still way up front compared to most the riders.

The 40 mile loop had an out-and-back section that was 6 miles each direction and included most of the climbing for the entire loop. We headed out and climbed one of only two hills on the course. The descent on the other side was steep and fast, but my bike started feeling wrong. I pulled to the side and stopped. My rear tire was flat. It wasn’t a blow-out; it seemed like a leak that had slowly been making my ride worse. My tire had a lot of wear on the side-walls, like I had been riding flat for quite a while. Why do I always manage to get a flat at the place on the course where I’m as far from the start/finish/cars as the course goes? I thank my riding companion Murphy for that.

Charmaine changed my tire as riders streamed past, each asking if we were OK, if we needed anything, etc. Cyclists are an extremely helpful bunch. We told them all to continue on. We were fine. But we were not fine. This is when we realized that we had no way to pressurize the new tube. Sure, we had CO2 cartridges, but both of our tire inflator attachments were broken and didn’t work. Of course, we wasted 2 CO2 cartridge figuring that out. As we were contemplating what to do next, we saw some parts fall out of my bike bag. We used the parts to reconstruct most of one of the inflator attachments and managed to fill my new tube. Unfortunately, the reconstructed inflator attachment wasn’t perfect. It was stuck and wouldn’t release from my tube. I eventually managed to yank it off, but it bent the valve opening in the process, making it impossible to screw down tight… meaning I was slowly losing air again.

We decided to cut our losses and try to go directly back to the cars. My rear tire was damaged and could blow-out at any point, plus I was slowly losing air. I knew I couldn’t finish the 40 mile loop. I wasn’t even confident I would make it back to the cars if we rode their directly, but if we didn’t make it all the way, at least we would be closer and Charmaine could ride back to the car alone and come pick me up. We must have lost Murphy somewhere on the way back, because nothing else bad happened. We both made it all the way to the car, packed it up, and went home. It was only 11:00 and already over 90 degrees.

Despite everything that did and did not happen, it was still a good experience. Coming over the pass and looking out over the Salton Sea as sunrise was painting the entire sky red and orange was really amazing. The drive out and back was long, but through some really beautiful country. If we sign up again next year, we’ll be better prepared.

https://app.strava.com/activities/44642457

Great Western Loop

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The Great Western Loop has been described as a rite of passage for all San Diego area cyclists. Someone mentioned to Charmaine that it was one of their favorite rides, so we decided to try it. At 45 miles, it’s not a particularly long ride, but it has a decent amount of climbing… especially for someone as out of shape as I have apparently become.

We parked along the park/middle school on Brabham Street where it meets Fury Lane in Rancho San Diego to being the ride. It started out flat and fast as we headed out of Rancho San Diego along Willow Glen Drive and turned right onto Dehesa Road. There were quite a few casino party buses on the road with us. After a few flat miles we had to turn right to stay on Dehesa Road. Soon it turned into a climb of about 6% for about 4 miles. We came to the end of Dehesa Road at the ‘T’ at the top of the hill. An easy right turn onto Japatul Road dropped us into a fast downhill section that didn’t end until we crossed the Sweetwater River. It was fun, but I knew we were going to pay for it. After a short flat section we hit “the wall”. It’s both steeper and longer than the climb on Dehesa Road, and I was feeling it. Somewhere along this section I started questioning why this is anyone’s favorite ride. It hadn’t been anything extraordinary yet, and we were almost half way through.

Japatul Road changes to Japatul Valley Road at the top of the hill so we made another right turn onto Lyon’s Valley Road and started heading down into the canyon. Lyon’s Valley Road is the reason this ride is special. The first descent on Lyon’s Valley Road was really fun. There was a small section of climbing as we headed back up the next canyon and crossed the Skyline Truck Trail. We were tempted to turn and take the straight road back, but I’m so glad we didn’t. We stayed on Lyon’s Valley Road, and I’m glad we did. The next descent was steep and windy, but it was amazing. I wish we hadn’t started so late in the day so we could have stopped to take more pictures, but we were out of time and had to push on.

After climbing out of another valley on Lyon’s Valley Road, we came to a spot where it would have been easy to jump over to Skyline Truck Trail, which is a big straight road. At first we decided to do it. We turned right onto Lawson Valley Road, which is a short spur that links Lyon’s Valley Road with the Skyline Truck Trail. As soon as we saw where the Skyline Truck Trail went, we knew we had made the wrong choice and we turned around immediately. Taking the Skyline Truck Trail would have meant a lot more climbing and our legs just couldn’t take it. We thought there was going to be an equal amount of climbing on the Lyon’s Valley Road, but we figured it would be more gradual. We were so wrong. There was no more climbing, it was all down hill from there. We definitely made the right decision. Lyon’s Valley Road is a small road through this section. It’s really steep and really windy, but it’s also really beautiful.

Lyon’s Valley Road is eventually joined by the Skyline Truck Trail anyway. As we descended I stopped at Jamul Road and thought about turning there. That would have been a mistake. We stayed on Lyon’s Valley Road until it ended and we turned right (again) onto Compo Road, which is a big fast road without much of a bike lane in some parts. I didn’t like being so close to fast traffic so late in the day, but it didn’t take long to complete the descent and get back to our car parked across the street from the college in Rancho San Diego.

https://app.strava.com/activities/43806867

Short Bike Ride

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It was easy to talk myself out of running today… maybe a little too easy. The weather was great and Charmaine wanted to go for a bike ride. How could I say no to that?

We rode our usual route up through Alpine, past the camels, back down to Westfield Road, across to Sun Crest Drive, and back home. The last time we tried to ride it, Charmaine got a flat tire, but we didn’t have any trouble today. I forgot to turn on the GPS on my phone (RunKeeper), so I only have the data from my crappy bike “computer”. It took us a little over an hour to go about 16 miles. We took the flat sections nice and easy and really tried to focus on climbing the hills fast (or at least keeping our minimum speed higher than normal). I think it worked out really well.