Hi All,

It has been a fun and busy week of group rides. I know ride reports are coming for some of the rides so I will just briefly recap the events I was able to attend.

Labor Day-Coronado & Coffee Loop
Oleg organized our second annual no labor Labor Day ride. A group of us met at his house, south of UTC, and rode through town toward Coronado. We did portion of the 5 Cities loop, coming from Imperial Beach to get there. The pace was easy and it was an enjoyable ride. One memorable segment for me was when Oleg got off the bike path along the strand and pulled a small group of us all the way to the Naval Base entrance. We averaged 29 mph over the 1.5 mile segment–all the work done by Oleg. We rolled over to take the ferry back to downtown San Diego. Form there we rode to Little Italy to get some coffee and snacks. It was another beautiful San Diego weather day so we sat outside to enjoy our coffee, the views and do some tourist watching. We looped back to Oleg’s house so only a total of 44 miles. Voris rode almost 90 since he started from his house.

Hooky/Skive Ride–Double Peak and CSUSM Loop
Sheehan hosted the mid-week ride. Joining Dave were Jeff L, Tony and me. We all met at the corner of HVR and Pomerado and cruised over toward Harmony Grove. The paceline kept of a nice clip to the turn up Questhaven. We did our own little BWR training session and tackled the dirt sections with aplomb. Double Peak lay just ahead so we saved a bit for the final climb. After a break at the top where I noticed a big dent in my rear wheel, we descended from Double Peak. I went slowly due to the wheel issue. Jeff L went towards RSF while Sheehan, Tony and I turned toward CSUSM. We explored a new route back toward Stone Brewery and looped back toward Lake Hodges. Sheehan and Tony put on quite a show along Via Rancho, hammering the whole way back to the freeway. Tony went north toward home while Sheehan and I headed back along Pomerado. We finished with 40 miles and 3,400 feet of climbing. Good weekday ride.

Reverse Couser Canyon and Wohlford Loop
Oleg changed up our usual route and had us to a reverse loop for the group ride today. We head up toward Old 395 and turned onto Gopher Canyon to add another new twist. We lost Ernst just before the turn onto Gopher Canyon; he had to head back home. We climbed Lilac and at the top Len & John went back toward home while the rest of us rode up Couser Canyon and back toward Valley Center. Sheehan and Paul kept going straight on Valley Center Road while the rest of us hit Wood Valley and descended Wohlford with our loop back to Bear Valley. I rode to the mall for the start but was very glad Guido could take me home in his car. Oleg and Larry were heading back toward the coast, expecting to ride about 120 miles by the time they got home. Zach was still riding well and went with them. I got in 77 miles and 5,400 feet of climbing; it got hot out there but it was a gorgeous day on the bike.

I will post this message on our site and upload all the photos to our Shutterfly shared album. I have attached a photo from each of the rides. Another great week to be a Descender.

Rob