This week found everyone ready to tackle the 11th week of training and pass the half-way point to the big ride in October. The day started off with a challenge with Jim Crowley distributing a quiz to the Scott&BR Show radio contestants. Scott Bailey (pictured right) had the most answers correct and received the Immunity Pump for this week. Congratulations Scott! Kevin Heil had the pump last week and cleverly added a bicycle water bottle holder with a can of Coors Light. Coors Light is a sponsor of the Scott&BR Show and is a fitting touch to have as part of the Immunity Pump. Nice going Kevin.During the morning introductions, Kristine Entwistle announced one of the riders, David Lee, that we will be riding with in October from San Francisco to San Diego. David is also competing in the handcycling event at the Paralympics in Beijing in a few weeks. We all wish him good luck and look forward to seeing him compete in Beijing.
After the morning introductions were finished, we all split off in our separate groups and then we were off. Today's ride was titled "Oceanside Ranger Lollipop" because that is what the route looks like - a big lollipop. The route takes you up north to Oceanside, then east along the bike path and finally out towards northern Escondido. You then do a large circle and come back to the same bike path towards Oceanside, then back down the coast to Solana Beach. The ride was 85 miles and is the last of our long rides for this build-up phase. Next week will be a recovery week, with a 40 mile ride on Sunday.
The weather promised hot conditions and we were not disappointed. It could have been a lot worse however, because temperatures the day before reached 98 degrees and in several places reached over 100 degrees in Poway and Escondido. It was still hot, but there was a slight breeze and it was a little cooler than the day before. Thank goodness.
After heading north up the coast, the Group 2 riders found ourselves on the San Luis Ray Bike Path heading east. Early in the morning this path is pretty deserted and
we found ourselves pretty much all alone with the exception of a few cyclists. Later on in the day, this path gets a lot of use by other cyclists, runners, joggers, hikers, baby strollers, dogs, and just about anything else that rolls on wheels. The QMDC Group Leaders (Bryon and John) split us up into two groups to keep us safer as we rode along the bike path. We soon found ourselves sailing along smoothly at a comfortable 20 mph and covered the 7+ miles of bike path in no time at all.After exiting the bike path, we soon found ourselves riding up a dirt hill and doing a little bit of cyclocross. I am not sure what the name of the road was, but it was a nice steady hill and soon had us coming down a pretty steep fast descent. Unfortunately (or fortunately), the hill wasn't that long and we had to turn right at the bottom of the hill after stopping at a stop sign. This brought us to Olive Hill Road, a nice winding road through the oak trees. After crossing an intersection, we arrived at our first (and third) SAG stop. This is the start of the lollipop loop and we would end up back here after another 20+ miles of hill work.
Tina Perez was providing the SAG at this stop and what a welcome relief it was to see her again. I first met Tina, a volunteer for the QMDC and CAF, during the Kitchen Creek ride a few weeks ago. She has a great attitude and is really friendly. Today, Tina greeted everyone with a warm smile, lots of food, and a cool H20 sprayer. It is pretty nice eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while getting sprayed with cold water after being in the saddle for 30+ miles. I actually didn't want to leave. But this was only the first stop and we had a lot of riding to do.
After leaving the SAG wagon, we headed up W. Lilac Rd, a grueling 4.5 mile climb that comes out at Old Highway 395. After regrouping at the top, we headed down 395 at about 40 mph. That was fun. It was then pretty flat until we hit another hill, turned left, then rode up more hills, and finally, made it to the top of another hill. This brought us to CR S13 (Reche Rd) and we regrouped again. Then it was left towards Live Oak Park a hundred or so yards to the second SAG wagon where Dan of WOW had the water on tap, the goo handy, and the shade welcome. Thanks Dan.
Our group got much larger because there were some Group 1 riders who I think took some wrong turns here and there and wound up at the SAG stop about the same time we did. We all took off together and rode through the oak tree-lined, winding roads. It was pretty amazing and offered everyone a lot of shade during the hottest part of the day. After being promised no more climbing, we turned right onto Reche road again and proceeded to climb - again. It wasn't too bad though and we soon found ourselves cooking along down Green Canyon Rd which had a lot of riders sprinting for the lead. It was a blast. Everyone was pushing each other to come and take the lead and we all traded off.
We soon found our way back to the SAG wagon (stops 1 and 3) again where Tina was still spraying people down with her H20 sprayer. We were all pretty tired at this point. It was at this SAG stop that a rider suddenly realized what Tina's shirt meant (“Save Second Base”). This got a few chuckles from the riders. All in all, it was a pretty short stay as we had to head back towards Oceanside and then south. This stretch of ride is not too difficult, but when you have already been on the bike for several hours and 50+ miles, it can seem like an eternity. Since our group had grown in size, Bryon and John split us up into three groups on the bike path this time. I was up near the front, so I went along with Bryon, Mike H., and Jeffrey Essakow.Bryon took the lead pull and soon had us sailing along. When it came to be my turn to pull, I suddenly realized how strong the headwind was that Bryon was battling when he was pulling. I was hit in the face with a pretty strong wind and couldn't keep the pace that Bryon had set for very long and soon found my way to the back again. After another few pulls in the front by other riders, I soon found myself in back of Jeffrey and he was pulling. We reached about 22 mph into the headwind and all I could think about was come on Jeffrey, just a little bit farther. Please don't let me pull in this headwind, please. :) Well, Jeffrey did an awesome job pulling us into Oceanside.
By this time, I was really spent and it was a relief to stop and wait for the other two groups of riders. After downing a goo packet, and drinking a lot of water, we were off south and we pretty much stayed together as a group the entire way back. Some of the riders had some trouble with cramps and the group split into two with less than 1 mile to go. After we rolled into the parking lot back in Solana Beach, I took a couple quick self-snap shots of me with
fellow radio contestants and QMDC fundraisers, Mike H. and Scott B. My family was waiting for me back home to start our camping vacation, so I had to get out of there pretty fast and wasn't able to stay for very long.Below is a video I put together of some footage taken on this week’s ride. Enjoy!
