Borrego Springs - Mt Laguna and back

Today was a great day on the bike. Rolled out @ 7:30am on our way to Mt Laguna. The ride was supposed to go to Salton City and back, but since I missed yesterday's ride due to weather, I thought I would go with a small group up to the mts. It was a spectacular ride. It was probably in the mid 40s when we left borrego, with the temps expected to be in the 30's at Laguna. I've never ridden with any of the other 5, so I was pretty cautious. Also, I know that there is another 80 or 100 coming tomorrow. I tried to keep the hr down around 80%max, as the whole idea here is to build base miles. With 8300 feet of climbing on the 100 mile route, there were times that the hr was above 80%, but I tried to minimize it. Lots of ice on the road up towards Laguna. The last 10 or so miles. Not bad on the way up, but had to be very careful on the way down. People in cars would stay behind us for long periods of time, for the most part giving us plenty of room. More than one car was taking pictures of us. Probably wondering what nuts would be out riding with ice on the road and these temps. Great experience!

I took along a couple bananas, 4 gels, two bottles of Heed, with a baggie full of powder for the refills. I felt good all day, other than after the break @ Laguna. It was a little hard to get back in the saddle after a thirty minute rest. I kept high energy all day and finished off the ride with a great climb up Yaqui pass and a great paceline back down into Borrego.

It's nice to be able to measure my fitness with some other riders. No egos today, everyone was great. Everyone that I was riding with today races (pro & amateur), so I felt good with being able to keep up and have some left at the end of the day. Also, got to do some pretty quick descending coming out of Julian back down to the desert. Picking lines is pretty easy after the car racing stuff, so I'm pretty comfortable keeping up with everyone.

Was quick to get back to the rv and get some food in my system. A bottle of water and heed, bowl of pasta with meat sauce, and a pizza for dinner. Lots of water too. Not too often do I do that. I got a Pepporoni and Pinneaple pizza from Carlees in town. Great food. I haven't ate the whole thing yet, but I'm sure I will.

Don't know what to expect tomorrow, as I've never done back to back 100 mile rides. Tomorrow's ride should be a little less climbing, so a little relief there.