We had a large group meet at the North County Mall for the ride on Saturday.  There were 11 Descenders in total, including Denise.  Ready for a good ride were:  Oleg, Rick, Denise, John M, Len (TE), Guido, Geoff, Chad, Mike, Bernie and Rob.  A number of the Ranchos rode by us while we prepared to depart.  They gathered in a nearby parking lot.  Guido led us out onto Bear Parkway and through some fun climbing and turns on Mary Lane and Summit Dr before connecting back onto Route 78.  We turned on Citrus when we saw all the Ranchos waiting for some maintenance on one of their bikes.  The group rode together until we hit the Lake Wohlford climb.  We regrouped at the top and cruised over to Woods Valley Road for some fast paced 36 mph pace lines into Valley Center.  The group then headed along Lilac towards West Lilac where again the pace quickened.  Guido, Bernie, Chad, Geoff and Rob hit high gear just when Farkas declared a nature stop.  Oleg was in hot pursuit as we hammered over the bridge to Old 395 where we waited for the rest of the group.  After a fast descent down West Lilac, where we saw the Ranchos heading up the hill, we regrouped along Camino Del Ray.  The group again split with the fast guys motored to the camp ground rest stop while the rest of us mere mortals pedaled along with what was let if our tank.  The climb along Old 395 was painful as usual for me.  The Rancho riders that passed me seemed to enjoy it too much.  I was the last Descender to finish the climb.  We regrouped on one side of the intersection, the Ranchos the other side. Weird?  Home was in sight so the headed for Jesmond Dene Road, the Ash and back down Citrus towards Bear Valley.  I caught a few lights near the end just right and tried to make a quick escape to the Mall.  Unfortunately Farkas timed by surges well and was on my wheel in no time.  He finished first with the rest of the group right behind.  The weather was perfect all day, we covered 58 miles with about 4,000 of climbing.  Good day in the saddle.

Here are a few photos from the ride.  I will upload a number of weeks or photos into our Shutterfly account soon.  The next few rides are now posted on the web site.  I head to Vail on Friday so I will miss the next two weeks of rides but will get in a little high altitude training in Colorado.

Ride on-

Rob