Finally, a Californian

I've been feeling pretty tired over the past few weeks. Legs are heavy, heart rate running a bit low, etc... Kind of a drag.

It's spring in San Diego which means wind and rain. So, I've found myself giving up riding in the rain and instead doing drills on the trainer. My Colorado friends wound be so proud...

When I lived in Colorado, there were two long periods where I completely avoided driving a car. This meant long cycling commutes for work from north Arvada to Park Meadows (52 miles) and later Arvada to Aurora (46 miles) in all weather - rain, snow, ice... I remember some winter commutes that would be so icy that the derailleurs and cables would freeze solid and you would have to limp home with one usable gear. It was a source of pride for me to commute in by bike while some of my co-workers would have to "take a snow day" since the roads were too dangerous to drive. Most weeks consisted of over 200 commute miles followed by 80 mile fun rides on my days off. Exhausting.

Last Wednesday, as it rained, I jumped on the trainer instead of heading out on the Wednesday ride. Yeah, I felt guilty - even after 3 hours of ILTs and standing intervals - it's just not the same.

A month or so ago we opened a new location in Encinitas, and I've started to commute off and on. It's about 44 miles round trip... but, what a 44 miles! The route I've been taking includes the Rose Canyon bike path, Torey Pines, and the coast ride on 101 up through Swami's. It is absolutely gorgeous. At night, I leave just as the sun is going down, and hit Solana Beach just as the sun sets.

Omnium Report: Stage 3 Criterium

I rode over to Sunday's criterium in Mira Mesa fairly early. The plan was to get in a coffee and the Sunday paper before the race. It also gave me a chance to watch the Masters and the Women's race. The course was the same as last year, three sweeping turns and one 90 degree with a manhole cover right in the best line.

Two riders tried a break halfway through the race and I tried to bridge up to them, but they let off the gas before I could catch and the group came together. A poor position in the final lap meant a long sprint for a 12th place finish.

I dropped 2 places in the GC to finish 6th overall.

Omnium Report: Stage 2 Road Race

The Omnium Road Race follows the same course as the Boulevard Road Race, big descent followed by a big ascent. A 7:20am start time meant a 5 am wake up call and on the road towards Campo. I grabbed a bottle of that magical elixir - Chocolate Milk from the 7 Eleven and headed east. After puling into the Acorn Casino parking lot, I set the bike up in the trainer with the full intentions of warming up for a good 45 minutes or so. Didn't quite work out that way. Some mechanical work on the derailleurs, a squirt of WD40 on the chain (the experiment is rolling along swimmingly), and went to grab my cycle computer... missing. A frantic search of the car turned up nothing. Crap, oh well, guess I'll be doing this one by feel. My water bottle was empty, and as I started up the hill to the convenience store I noticed that the Cat 5's were already receiving the race briefing. Guest I'll be doing this one without water as well.

So with no warm up, no water, and no computer I started the race. A rider from Nevada got off the first on the first descent - freezing cold. Never saw him go, didn't even hear about it until the climb back up to the start. No one really wanted to chase, so the pace for lap 1 was pretty slow. I stayed to the rear for most of the race, letting everyone else do most of the work. SDBC and Moment Cycle had several riders in the group so they had the burden. I was able to stay with the group - something I've had an issue with on the course - for the first lap. The rider off the front had about 3 minutes on us.

After the climb and through the rollers the pack whittled down to about 15 riders. The second descent was a bit sketchy and I found myself sprinting for a few wheels. The Moment guys were calling out directions (commands?) to the group to maintain rotating pace lines - they were either ignored or unheard. I was just hoping to hold on for a top 15 finish, just something slightly better than last year.

On the second climb I was falling off the back, the group had grown a bit on the descent. The gap to the Nevada rider began to shrink - that's in no small part by his flatting. When we caught him, his teammate made a good dig and began to split the group up. For the rest of the climb to Hwy 80 I dangled off the back.

When we hit Hwy 80 I made sure I was close the front, expecting a big push... it never happened. Instead the group set a steady pace. After telling the riders on the front to either speed up or move over two of the Moment Cycles guys pulled up, side by each, and set pace. After they wore themselves out, two riders slid off the front and then a Swami's rider took off as well. Another 4 riders followed them and left me hanging on to another group of 4, Eric from SDBC, a rider from Jamba Juice, a rider from Descenders, and another unattached. We clawed back the group of 4, with me doing the final pull. Then I sat in and tried to recover. As we moved farther up towards the finish the group seemed to slow somewhat. I put in a big effort up the right side of the group, expecting to pull some of the stronger guys with me.

When I turned around no one was there, leaving me with visions of being caught by the line. I pushed on, catching the Swami's rider and almost the rider after. I had nothing left, but was able to stay away.

4th place in 2:05

4th place in the GC going into Sunday's Crit

Omnium Report: Stage 1 Time Trial

So, the first stage of the 3 day Cyclo-Vet Omnium was an 8.2 mile Time Trial around Fiesta Island. More or less flat, but some wind. It's a course that I've done several times, including last year. Eric loaned me his Felt TT bike - amazingly fast bike in the right hands... mine are not the right hands. Still, it definitely helped me set a faster time.

After a fairly long warm up, I headed out to the start gate. I tried to keep the power fairly even for the first lap, Arnie had recommended keeping the effort at tamer for the first lap and then ramp it up for the second.

I must admit that I never felt terribly comfortable on the bike -not helped in anyway shape or form by a wonky seat clamp. First lap went... okay, 10:20 by my count. On the second lap I was passed by the only rider to do so, Marlo - as she started her 1st lap, absolutely flying...

Second lap was very painful, finished a bit faster in the 9's. Total time was 20:07, good for 12th pace and 5 points.

Pie?

Well, the plan for today , was to head up to Julian for a bit of Easter apple pie. I've lived off and on in San Diego for nearly 6 years and have never had a piece of Julian Apple Pie... it's a bit of an on going joke.

The goal was to take the Great Western's Japatul Road up to I-8, drop down to the 79 and climb up through Cuyamaca to Julian. Traffic was pretty light early in the morning, still after the long climb up the Japatul Valley I decided to take Pine Creek Road instead of the 79 - it would be much quieter and quite a bit steeper. It's a fantastic climb with for all intents mirrors the Noble Canyon MTB route up Mt. Laguna. It climbs via a single lane asphalt road through tree filled creek beds, 20 degree exposed switchback grades, rolling meadows, and a pine forest top. You get a little of everything San Diego County has to offer. The total climb from bottom to top was about 1600' in just under 7 miles.

After reaching the top of Pine Creek Road I turned left and headed toward Lake Cuyamaca on the Sunrise Highway. The wind was absolutely howling, the ride back was not fun. Every so often a wind gust would hit me and toss me towards the edge of the road. Later, heading into the wind, I crept along at a miserable 9 miles and hour.

As I came to the end of the Sunrise Highway and met Hwy 79 I gave up on my Apple Pie Dreams and headed back past the Lake and into Cuyamaca. Traffic had increased considerably since the morning, and not being terribly religious myself, I was unaware that Easter is a holiday which, much like St. Patrick's Day or the 4th of July , is celebrated by drinking large amounts of alcohol, jumping into your RV, and trying to run over cyclists. On my 10 mile decent on Hwy 79 I was nearly hit 3 times and was the recipient of several "birds." Apparently the Holy Spirit had warned them of the impending quake and they were all rushing home to secure their Easter Eggs - and I was in their way.

I was still descending Japatul Valley Road when the quake hit, although I can't say I felt it. The wind was buffeting me around so much that I couldn't tell a tremor from a gust.

Ride Stats:

Time: 7:21

Work: 3660 KJ

Norm Power: 195

Distance: 94.8 miles

Elevation Gain: 8034 ft

Still no Apple Pie.