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.