today’s ride was in honor of Sheehan’s 50th birthday.
This was a new ride, even though every road was known to us.

We had 22 riders overall – we started with 16 riders on the bike path, but soon had 6 other riders join us. It was nice to see David Boyle, who I haven’t seen in a while.
We rode through Santa Luz as one large group (always helps to have Bob Proulx with us for Santa Luz riding) – and Sheehan the birthday boy was often off the front, splitting the group a bit on the descent to Rancho Santa Fe.

Eric and Chad did some strong pulls on the Stud Loop, and the new guy, triathlete Dave (who has been racing with Rick for 15+ years, so he is not SO new) pushed the pace a bit on Del Dios.

We had Jeff and Eileen join us in RSF, while two superfast guys, Jim and Andrew, joined us at Lake Drive after doing Swami’s sufferfest. We broke off into smaller groups on HVR, as was expected, and some people turned back. After regrouping and some riding towards Dye Rd., only 4 of us (three Daves – Voris, Ernst, Guido and I) decided to do Mussey, the rest of the pack continued along 67 back to Poway. At the dead-end of Mussey we had a pleasant surprise – the road (which is typically closed) was open today! We rode down the "forbidden" road, all the way to the next "no trespassing" sign, very close to the San Vincente reservoir. On the way back, I fought the headwind with Guido on 67 and Poway Grade, while Voris and Ernst did some extra work by descending down to Lakeside on 67 before returning to Poway.

Fun day in the saddle, and once again, happy birthday to Sheehan! As per usual, a few selected photos attached and full set is at http://goo.gl/HX9fO

You should have come!