Saturday Ranchos Ride

These Saturday rides have been my salvation lately, as I just haven't been able to put the miles in during the week that I used to. Ranchos was planning a southern route this day, so I would just ride from the house up to the starting point, then the ride would take us up into Ramona and down through Poway, where I would peel off and be done early with the same miles as the group. No dice, plans changed when I got to the start. We all agreed that the 78 going up to Ramona was going to be really wet and busy due to the traffic going up to Julian to see the snow. Lots of debris on the road and such. They decided the Northern route would be better, Jesmond Dean, Circle R, 395, etc. This wouldn't be a problem but I had to be at the airport by 1:00 so time was of the essence.

The ride started off as it usually does, nice warm up pace. The roads were really wet, so I had my fender on. Not sure of the advantage of this after looking at my rear brakes pads and drivetrain. It appears that the fender may keep the splatter off of your back, but it just constantly drips onto the rear brakes and cogset in the back. We headed out Jesmond Dean, which usually gets everyone's attention since the pace picks up pretty quickly towards the top. Gary is usually one of the instigators on this ride and today was no different. I was feeling really good and stayed with the few front guys. I decided to make a psuedo sprint over the top and was able to make it there first.

Next hill was Circle R or Castle Creek. I have been down this a couple times, but never up it, so I was a little gun shy on taking the lead on this. Gary was up front when someone yelled "flat". Gary kept going, but we all slowed for a moment, then decided to wait at the top. I was able to keep a good pace up this, but never caught up with Gary after the hesitation. Once we got to the top we headed back over towards 395. I was doing some different tactical things just to test my legs and went off the front for awhile. I know that it sounds feable, but these guys don't just let you go off the front so, it is worth the effort for the practice. They caught me at the top and we headed back down 395 for a break at the campground.

Next was Champagne, I hate this hill, ugh! I always try to conserve energy when going at this thing. It's not all that steep, which really keeps the pace up, but it is a couple miles long atleast. Three of us were off the front from about mid-way up the hill. I stayed back in 3rd until the 2nd guy started backing off. When I saw the gap get to about 5 feet to the front guy, I went around, at which point, the lead guy suddenly backed off as well. I knew that was coming, as no one wants to be up front. I just hit a steady pace and kept an eye out for who was behind me. With about a quarter mile to go, I moved my heart rate up to a steady 188. Up to this point today, I was keeping it in the low 180s on the climbs. I was able to pick up the pace and drop the guys off the back, or atleast about 50 feet or so.

From there, Jay and I headed back down to Poway so I could get to work. I knew I was going to be late to work. Nice cool down pace on the way back. Jay used to race and gave me a lot of intel on the Boulevard Race coming up. Probably the most valuable info I have got so far.

I was happy with my performance, I felt good and was able to sustain really hard efforts for long periods on the climbs. I was able to get in 140 miles this week, so I'm not off too far with my training. Of course, this week is going to be a ball breaker with lots of flying and simulator training.

The Kurt Kinetic has been working out great. I'm sure these intervals are really helping out. I don't spend more than about 1:30 on the trainer, as it would drive me nuts I think.