Christmas Weekend Ride Recap....Ranchos

Went out and did the Ranchos ride on Saturday. I've been going on their rides for the last three Saturdays and getting pretty comfortable with the group. Lots of riders, lots of energy and pretty agressive riding. When I say aggresive, I'm talking about their tactics, not their physical riding style. I have really grown to appreciate the aggresiveness, as it really pushes me. I have been hesitant to committ to this ride as my "regular" ride, but I'm ready to commit now.

I told myself that I would take it easy on this ride and stay midpack, just to see how it works out. On most rides, especially Saturday rides, I've used quite a bit of energy making this ride my "one day/week hammerfest". I've tried to start many a ride with this group and others and tried to stay in the back, but it never seems to work out. I was determined on Saturday.

I stuck with my plan at the beginning of the ride. We headed out of NCF and North up to Champagne and onto Little Gopher Canyon. I saw there was a split occuring, but purposly didn't want to be in the front of the group. The hill was pretty short, but pretty steep also. I found myself about mid pack at the bottom and started getting into a good rhythm as this was the first climb. I passed a couple guys on the way up and had about a 50' gap to the front guys at the top. There was one guy that I was closing in on just before the crest, but I thought he would soft pedal over the top, wrong! He bridged the gap to the front group. I had one guy beside me at the top and we attempted to bridge to the front group. It was about a 3 mile shallow descent. It's one of those things thats hard to explain to a non-cyclist. This group was about 300' in front of us. I was working my ass off to catch them and just couldn't do it. I split some of the work with Dave, the guy with me. He didn't have much left in his legs, so I ended up doing most of the work and never caught them until a turnoff, where there was an unofficial regroup. As it turns out, there were two guys off the front of the group in front of me that were being chased down, thus the pace of 42mph at one point. That's what I get for being mid-pack I guess. I could've easily been up in this front group coming over the top and been with them all the way to the turnoff. Point taken, if you want to be mid pack, stay there, don't try to bridge a gap without sufficient help. It was a good lesson for me. Those gaps can be insurmountable. I used so much energy trying to catch the group that it hindered my performance for the next climb, which was up in the Fallbrook area.

I don't know the name of the street, but it looked like a short, steep pitch of a half mile or so. I actually accelerated off the front only to see around the next corner a long ways to go and backed off completely to conserve, as the previous effort had taken something out of me. As it turns out, the hill was about 3 miles long and in the 10-12% range during shorter sections, with most being in the 8% range. I made it over the top, but in no mans land between the first and second group. So much for knowing the route. I had never seen this hill before. Not knowing the route has always been a big challenge on the Ranchos ride. You really need to know where to conserve and where to go.

I ended up in good shape at the end of 60 or so miles. On the way back up Champagne, I actually felt pretty good and was up in the front at the top with a couple other guys.

This ride was the day after Christmas, so you'd think I would've been fueled, but I wasn't. Our family ate Christmas dinner at 1:00PM and had a light sandwich in the evening. So, I wasn't feeling great during this ride. That was one of the reasons for trying to stick midpack. Oh well.