RSF, Del Dios & HVR Ride Report-16 April 2016

by Rob Verfurth

Riders: Guido, Ernst, Larry, Rick W, Tony, Andrew, Cresap and Rob

It had been a month since I was able to ride with the Descenders. My lack of health and travel had me away for a number of weekends. I was still able to find my new kit and get to the group meeting spot, a bit late as usual. At the start we had a small group of 8 riders ready to head towards RSF. I asked Larry about Oleg and he said that Oleg never rides anymore. Larry also mentioned that Neil reached out to see about riding, so Larry thought we might see Neil. We did later in the day, but not on our route. We rode as a group up CDS and made our way to San Dieguito Road. The pace was not too bad and a number of guys were complaining of tired legs. We hit the descnet of Three Witches and Rick W hit the front, as usual. Larry followed and the rest of us let gravity take us down the hill at a much more pedestrian pace. After a quick regroup along Apajo, we split again with Ernst and Andrew joining Rick and Larry climb up towards Stud Loop. They were kind enought to wait for us slugs and we all cruised along the nice cruves of Stud Loop, regrouping back at S6. Just as we started our descent down Del Dios we spotted Neil and Rick B climbing toward us. They were out for a last bit of BWR reconnaissance before the big event on Sunday, 24 April.

We headed down Del Dios and climbed back up past the Lake Hodges dam and over to Lake Drive. I was well in the back of everyone, cruising along with Guido. He was feeling tried and topped it off with a big flat just as we got to the corner of Lake Drive. He told me he was cutting the ride short, so I pedaled up to the guys waiting at the end of Lake Drive at the corner of Via Rancho Parkway. Ernst was not planning to hit HVR, so he went left towards Elfin Forest and Double Peak. We were down to 6 riders as we cruised over to the gas station by Lake Hodges. I knew I was feeling the effects of my lack of training so I got out in front of the guys to start the HVR climb, expecting them to catch me before Bandy. Unfortunately my hustle across the pedestrain bridge and along HVR got me to the foot of the climb when the guys flew by me. Rick and Larry quickly went ahead, followed by Andrew, Tony and Cresap. I settled into a slow rhythm up HVR; it was a long climb. After hitting the crest of the climb and starting the descent towards the school, I saw Tony and Andrew on the side of the road fixing a tire. I told them I was cutting across Archie Moore; no Mussey Grade for me. Creasp was climbing back up towards me so we rode together to get to Rick and Lary who had been patiently waiting. I turned onto Archie Moore and made by way towards Mount Woodson.

Andrew caught me before the descent of 67. The rest of the guys continued the route, not sure anyone did Mussey that day. We flew to Poway Grade and then sped toward Espola. Andrew continued along Poway Road while I stopped for water on Twin Peaks. I also made more stops at friends homes in Rancho Arbolitos, anything to give my legs a rest. I finally got home with only 55 miles and 4,300 feet of climbing. I saw most others rode longer: Tony-76 miles, Ersnt-62 miles and Larry at 79 miles. It felt good to be back on my bike. Attached are some photos from the ride.

https://plus.google.com/photos/117626389252909371681/albums/6274342776574338481