Commute, commute

So... what have I been up up to? Well, a position chance at work has me up in beautiful Escondido, and has me commuting up there by bike. It seemed like a good idea at first, but it's become a bit much. The trip winds up being around 64 miles round trip and over 3700' of climbing... five days a week, plus weekend training rides is putting my weekly mileage around 400... too much.

There is something nice about riding after dark... dangerous, but nice.

What passes for winter here in socal has hit with a vengeance today. Wind and Rain. I know it sounds silly, but it's getting harder and harder to make it out when the weather turns. 6 years of year round riding in the mountains of Colorado and my school years in the mid western blizzards of Iowa all for naught as 50 degree temperatures and intermittent rain finds me on the trainer.

The early morning hours brought rain and the possibility of snow up around Alpine, so I skipped the Wednesday ride. The skies cleared up around 10am saving me from my date of trainer based intervals and ILT's and I headed out to Mt. Soledad for some hill climbs. 6 hill repeats for 39 miles and 4900' of climbing. Towards the end, the skies opened up and drenched me on the ride back home.

On one of the descents, I came across the aftermath of a pretty serious car accident... right about the same place on Nautilus where someone pulled out in front of Jason a few weeks back... dangerous place.

On a racing note: Boulevard was two weeks ago - the best weather yet... 60 degrees and sunny. As I pulled up to the line I noticed that one of my friends, Chad was also racing the Cat 4's. After realizing that I was most likely the largest guy in the field (not a good sign), we headed out for 2 laps of the course. The course was the same as last year, triangular with half the course descending and half the course climbing. The descent was mostly smooth, the pack of 100 riders a little skittish, but for the most part controlled. At the bottom you take a hard right, and cross over the railroad tracks. As my front wheel went over the tracks I heard and felt a "KaChunk!" Was my tire was going flat?

The riders at the front put in a pretty hard acceleration and began to split up the group. Riders slid back through the peloton like they had dropped anchor. I was far enough back that I missed the move and then had to set a steady pace to pull back some of the riders. Tough, my size wasn't helping much.

As I turned onto Old Hwy 80, I came up behind Chad, he had been battling it out with the ones on the front. We joined a few other riders and began to pace line our way up the climb. As we took turns at the front I became more and more certain that my tire was going flat. I looked around for the follow car, but no luck, it had stopped earlier for another rider, it passed with the rider hanging out the rear window holding his bike. No wheel for me.

At the top, my tire went completely flat and I pulled out of the race... pretty bummed. As penance I rode back from the race, 60 miles. Might as well get something out of the race.

Monday

A perfect day, 75 degrees and sunny. This morning I headed out to Rancho San Diego and set out to ride up Mt. Laguna. It would be a good time to work on some hill climbing and hopefully see a bit of snow. The first part of Dehesa Canyon Rd is pretty flat, until Harbison Canyon, then a hard right and it climbs 900' up to Japutal Road. It's a pretty steady climb, and is the first part of the Great Western loop. Went pretty slow, working on steady climbing - sub-tempo.

The next section is a rolling climb past Loveland Reservoir up Japatul Road followed by a series of lazy switchbacks and "the wall" ; a steep 10%+ climb - always hurts, never fun. To complete the Great Western Loop one turn right at Lyons Valley, but continuing up Japatul sends you back to the north, under I-8, and past Descanso.

The real meat and potatoes of the ride came after the left turn on to Pine Creek Road, just before Pine Valley. Pine Creek skirts the lower section of the infamous Nobel Canyon, crosses Pine Creek and turns into Deer Park Road. Scrub and Live Oak line the road as it follow the creek and begins the steep climb up Mt. Laguna. Really, really steep. It climbs about 2000' over 8 miles, but has a bit of up and down, so is really more like 2200' total. The total elevation gain isn't the entire story as the climb comes in chunks, sections of 15%, 17%, 22%, even 24% pepper the lower sections. The terrain moves from Oak lined creek bed, to desert sage, to fire scorched pine. It tops out around 5500' where it connects with Sunrise Highway. Towards the top a bit of snow was hiding in the shade at the base some of the trees, rocks...

Right on Sunrise takes you up over 6000' and to the Mt. Laguna Lodge for a root beer and some peanuts - and if you are lucky, a brief lecture on any variety of topics from the owner. The drop back down to Pine Valley is a quick ride, most of the corners are sweeping. From the top you can see to ocean. At the bottom, a right turn takes you through Pine Valley and then sends you to retrace your route back under I-8 and to the Lyons Valley / Japatul intersection.

A left turn and a short descent puts you back on the Great Western loop. It's a long drag over rolling hills that takes you up to the "four corners", instead of heading up skyline I stuck to Lyons Valley and dropped down, well Lyons Valley. A quick run down Mexican Canyon and back into Rancho San Diego.

90 miles

8795'

6 hrs 10 min

Wednesday

Morning meeting and then an afternoon ride. Headed out to Point Loma to ride the tide pools. 10 climbs alternating gearing and seated / standing. Started out calm and warm and ended windy and cool. Knowingly made the mistake of having a burrito and coke on the way home and had to climb out of mission valley with a full stomach... think I'd learn.

2011

Happy New Year! I rang the new year in last night by being in bed by 9pm... man, I'm really getting old. This morning was nice, not too many folks out and about at 7am. Did run across some of the aftermath of last night's festivities. Looked like one new year's eve reveler managed to rear end a parked car at the apartment complex up the street, then that car rear ended another... and the car another... they must not have stayed around admiring their handy work... 2011 is not going to start off well for a few.

I met up with the Chili's crew for the Saturday ride, pretty light turn out, but Marlo from Ranchos and Mike from Jamba were both there... good to see them. The route was the usual, Morena up through the UTC, down to Sorrento Valley, up Carrol Canyon and then the Top Gun back to Kearny Mesa. All in all about 36 miles. The ride is pretty fast up with uphill sprints at the top of La Jolla Colony and Carrol Canyon; and a flat high speed sprint at the end Kearny Villa Road. Felt strong on most of the sections, getting better at being in the right place at the right time....

After rolling back into Kearny Mesa I went back out for some extra credit and linked up a loop out through Lakeside, up Hwy 67, and back down Scripps Poway Parkway. All in all it was about 81 miles with 4500' of climbing.

Dirt

This past friday some of the crew from work and I had a chance to try out the SRAM XX 2x10 groupo. Amazing, absolutely amazing. I rode around Daley Ranch trying to keep up with Kyle, so was able to give it a good workout. Light, quick shifting (even while standing cranking uphill), and easy. Normally, I don't give SRAM alot of credit, but they knocked it out of the park on this one.

Week 7

Ah, weekly goals.... when's the next rest week?

Monday: Strength Training (Gym)

Tuesday: 3 hours (tempo intervals)

Wednesday: 6 hours (forced reps)

Thursday: 2 hours Strength

Friday: 3 hours (including trainer workout)

Saturday: 3 hours Big Ring low effort

Sunday:5 hours Strength (including trainer workout)

25 hours total