Hi Guys,

Oleg captured the summary of the ride well.  I do want to add a few comments from my perspective.

The pace did not seem that pedestrian to me.  Even the climb up 67 towards Poway Grade and then Mt Woodson started to spread the group out.  I waited at the top of Mt Woodson and said good-bye to Ernst who had to head home while the last of the riders came together.  Dave E and Dan S looped back home so we were down to 10 riders.  I was now behind the front group flying towards Mussey.  I passed Garrett and Jeff S before the Archie Moore curve but could not close the gap.  Jeff S put it in overdrive and he blew by me.  I grabbed his wheel and he quickly closed to the lead group.  The pace down Mussey was not its usual blistering pace line, a nice respite.  Garrett had to head back down HVR so he missed the ride to Pamo.  We continued our pace line on Dye Road to Pamo.  That descent is always beautiful, all riders noting that a smooth 5 mile road extension is on our wish list.  The MTB riders came at us on the packed dirt road.  They stopped to share ride routes. Hodges is pushing for a dirt trail road ride.

The ride back towards Mt Woodson was uneventful until we had a near miss run-in with a large SUV.  The big, black car came at us during the cut through road we take at Mt Woodson, driven by a distracted driver "checking her mailbox".  We all pulled into the dirt on the side of the road, evening looking for potential bail out spots in the trees if she did not slow down.  Fortunately she quickly decelerated right in front of our group.  Hodges briefly attempted a polite dialogue that did not get through to this driver who seemed to deem our intrusion on the right side of the road as our problem.

All riders safely made it back to highway 67 and picked up speed toward the Poway Grade.  Bernie turned west while the rest of us went back via SPP.      The descent was quick and we all pulled hard back to the start at casa Voris.  Guido and I still had to pedal up the hill back to PQ.  We finished the great ride with about 73 miles and 4,600 feet of climbing.  Great training for Monster Climb.  Attached are a few photos.

Ride on-

Rob

Descenders, we had another fantastic day on the bike!
12 descenders: Guido, Rob, Hodges, Jeff S., Cresap, Eileen, Ernst, Bernie, Dan, Eric R., Garet and I (some had to depart early due to family obligations). The day started overcast, but the sun came out as we got closer to Ramona. We had a nice warmup pace early on, and kept things civilized down Mussey (Hodges, Garet and I pushed it a bit on the climb back up to 67). We had a nicely rotating paceline on Dye Rd., and nobody seemed to want to sprint towards San Vincente Rd – finally Eric jumped, and Cresap and I were on his wheel. After a monstrous leadout I went around Eric, only to have him go around me again in the final stretch – double kick! We descended into Pamo Road where we talked a bit to mountain bikers coming from Mesa Grande. Eric pushed the pace going up Pamo Rd. – he is now 3rd on strava, behind Rick and Neil.
We used rotating paceline and some fast descending to get back – Jeff S. got away on the Scripps Poway and it took a huge effort on my part to bridge up to him. Now we had a sizeable gap and we rotated well, trying to keep it going – however, Guido, Hodges and Rob would have none of it and easily closed the gap. A little too easily for my taste. I demand doping control!
62 miles (for me) with 4,000 ft climbed. (Meanwhile Rick set a new KOM, 45 minute on Kitchen Creek, improving his own time by almost 5 min!, as well as many other KOMs) Photos are attached, and also at http://goo.gl/PoQOc

You should have come!

Oleg

Hi guys,

This is the last planned hard climbing team ride before Monsters Climb.  I will ride over from PQ and be at the corner of 56 and the bike path about 7:15 am.  

See you in the am-

Rob

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