Hi All,

After the huge effort many put out on Saturday–riding roads and dirt with high mileage–I had low expectations for the planned Sunday recovery ride. I pedaled out early to ride over to Pomerado and RB Roads. It was still cool but the day was promising to be a beauty.

At the corner waiting for me were Yi-Shiou and John M. John had ridden over 130 miles on Saturday with a group a friends up to Temecula and he was ready for more. Yi-Shiou did not ride Saturday so he had fresh legs. We took a group photo and decided to loop over Lake Hodges and around Del Dios at a nice recovery ride pace. Things started well for the first quarter mile until Hermann and his son, Jeremy, rolled up to us. They planned to join us for the recovery ride but were a few minutes late, we now had a group of five riders. Jeremy knows Zack Barber, the young, recent Poway HS grad who rides with us at times. Jeremy is in college locally and races on the side. Great, fast and 19 y/o legs for the recovery ride.

We rode across the pedestrian bridge and around to get onto Via Rancho Parkway. Jeremy led us around Felicito and was off point so I have to catch him to make sure he knew where to turn. We were way ahead and waited at Lake Drive for the guys to regroup. The pace along Lake was fast and fun. I told Hermann that I would go back to grab John and Yi-Shiou and for them to go on ahead. Jeremy and Hermann waited for us to regroup when they got to Del Dios Hwy. We sped down Del Dios and passed two riders stopped at the bottom of Via Ambiente. They overtook us quickly so I sped up to grab a wheel. Jeremy came up behind me and sped to the front. I held on as long as I could but those 3 guys were flying into RSF. Jeremy stopped at the Stud Loop corner, I approached needing to catch my breath and we waited for the rest of the guys.

Hermann suggested a recovery ride needed a coffee break so we rolled into RSF to get some coffee at Cafe Positano. I go there regularly when we run the RSF golf course at dawn. I find their coffee to be palatable but not great. Nonetheless, it was convenient, we had a nice table outside and Hermann bought the coffee–great deal for us! We relaxed and talked about riding, what else?

After the coffee break I took the group through the back roads of RSF along Los Arboles and back toward El Apajo to Three Witches. We climbed to Santaluz with Jeremy pushing the pace I held on as long as I could. We regouped at the top and rode back to the 56 bike path. I finished with just under 40 miles, not too long and a fun filled ride.

Rob