San Diego Descenders Cycling Club

Five Faces of Soledad–Short Ride Report

By now most have seen the great ride Oleg hosted this morning, lots of Strava awards and comments. Five Faces of Soledad is always fun and brutal. We had about 14 riders coming and going throughout the assault of Soledad. We did the Black’s Beach road just for a bit more gratuitous climbing and great views. Oleg changed up the climbs a bit so we had fun on a few new roads. The coffee, fruit and snacks at the top were much appreciated and needed. Larry rode strong as usual, as did Paul, Claus, Tony, Oleg and a friend of Tony’s who use to race–Jason. He was super strong. Hodges played dodge the group most of the day while John M played catch-up. Claus and John (our resident medical support team member) had to leave early as did Paul who had to get to a family event. After the fun and brutal climbs up Soledad, a small group of us headed back east. Guido, Bernie, Hodges, Voris, Rob and Larry (until UCSD) road up Calle del Oro. Guido promised me he would ride easy home; he lied.

The winds were helping once we descended down TP and made the turn back toward the bike path. The pace was quick but not too painful given the assistance of the breezes. In the middle of the sunken neighborhood Guido hit the accelerator and Voris followed. Hodges tried to close and failed. I tried to close and failed but pushed along solo all the way back home watching the gap get bigger. Bernie and Hodges closed some on me. Guido and Voris switched off a few times from my view but it looks like Guido did most of the work. They both set PR times on just about every segment along he bike path, strong finish to a great day riding.

Below are a few of the photos from the ride.

Rob

Hi All,

The group ride Saturday was lots of fun. Attached is the ride report.

Guido and I got out for a nice Sunday ride too. We saw Bryan on his way back home along the 56 bike path and we rode with Larry for a bit up along Torrey Pines.

I will put out info on the rides this weekend. If anyone wants to volunteer to host the Sunday recovery ride, let me know.

Rob

Mussey & Pamo Ride-3 May 2014.docx

Descenders,
We have quite a trip planned for May 16th viewing of Tour of California Stage 6 – which is just 10 days from today!

Please see the brochure attached (read the %&@#%^* brochure!).

Executive summary:
* The best stage to watch is *clearly* Stage 6, which is on Friday. Take a day off!

* We will leave San Diego Thursday night, aim to meet for carpool at 7PM and be on the road by 7:30PM.

* We have 10 riders who signed up so far, and 5 rooms ($63 per room) already booked at Best Western by Rob – if you want to join us but have not RSVP yet, please contact Rob ASAP! Hotel rooms may not be available if you hesitate!

* Friday morning we will aim to ride by 8AM. The course options range from 30 miles to 100 miles (with 13K ft of climbing, for ambitious types!).

* 100mile route:http://www.strava.com/routes/179746

* Proposed route(s) looks like a giant letter Y – at 15 miles we get to the fork in the road, this is Mount High Ski Resort where the stage will finish. I propose doing two out-and-backs, one on Angeles Crest Hwy where Tour of California went through in 2010, another one down Big Pines Rd, riding the final 11 miles or so of the stage. Both sections can be shortened as desired, so lots of flexibility here.
After each out-and-back we will come back to Mount High.

* We will also have a support vehicle (water, food, clothes, chairs) parked at the Y (Mount High). It will be a first-class, full service affair! (Hodges, sorry, no massage, we have to draw the line somewhere!).

* The peloton arrival time at Mount High (finish) ranges from 3:15PM to about 4PM. We only need to descend to cars (15 miles mostly super-fast downhill at 30+mph), load up and go home, but I estimate we probably won’t be back to San Diego till about 8PM due to Friday night LA traffic.

You should come!

Tour of California Trip 2014 May 16.pdf

All, we had 11 Descenders show up for our (slightly modified) Alpine Loop ride. Small-ish group was party due to Hodges, Geoff and Paul P. doing Ride Across America – more than 300miles from Yuma to coast, and Eileen has put us all to shame by riding Mulholand challenge – 120 mile ride with more than 17K of climbing north of LA. Rob was still in Cabo – surely putting in some secret training – running or riding!

The weather was perfect all day – not too cold at the start, sunny but never got too warm during the day.
Larry and I rode from home and picked Bob Proux and Big Rick on Poway Rd. At 7-11 we met with John Moran, Ernst, Claus, Rick B., Bernie, Tony and Neil from Ranchos team.
We rolled out easy but going up SPP big Rick had a flat, Larry and I stopped to help change it and then chased back up – the group was waiting at the top. There was a lot of glass and debris everywhere and we would have two more flats (Rick B. and John), I am surprised we didn’t have more flats with all the broken bottle glass we had to ride over. Proux turned around as we got to Lakeside as he had to get home early. We rode steady as a group up Lake Jennings and beyond – two Ricks waited for John and helped him chase when he got gapped a bit along old 80. We decided to repeat the reverse Alpine loop direction from Feb – Larry and I pushed the pace a bit up South Grade, chased by the rest of the group, maybe only 40 seconds back. On the way down Dehesa Big Rick got away from the group and it took many of us (Claus, Ernst, Larry and I) rotating in organized fashion to bring him back – which we (finally!) did just before the fire station. Rick has a lot of power! We went up Harbison Cyn but turned left on Mountain View Rd up to Crest – it’s a nice 2.5 mile climb, and you end up gaining a total of 1,000 ft over the bottom of Dehesa. Larry, Neil and I broke way enjoying amazing views – Neil spent part of the climb talking on the phone and still had no problems following Larry and me. Larry grew up in the Crest area, so this was a stroll down the memory lane for him – he told us how he used to ride 12-speed (then state of the art) bike up these roads when he was a 20-year old youngster.
We stopped at the market at the top of Crest to refuel, then descended down La Cresta into El Cajon. The ride through El Cajon was… just what you would expect from El Cajon. All of us rode to El Capitan and back – the reservoir water level was even lower than last time we were here in February. On the way back Larry and I split off to ride directly through Santee and Clairemont home, while the rest of the group went up 67 climb back to Poway. Most of the group got 80+ miles, Larry and I ended up with about 100 miles, a routine distance for us by now – while Claus got 110mi, as should have been expected.

You should have come!
Photos attached, the rest are at:
http://goo.gl/SwMQ8P

9 Descenders showed up for the Lilac Loop Ride today.
Larry and I rode from home – the roads were quite wet from overnight rain and we got sprayed quite a bit (at some point our shoes were completely soaked!). We picked up Hodges at Pomerado.
At the Escondido Mall we met Jeff Langley (who has been ramping up mileage after missing 6 weeks due to broken collarbone), Rob, Guido, Ernst, John Moran and new rider, Quoc. Quoc is doing Belgian Waffle – in addition to Hodges, Larry, Ernst and me – we had 5 out of 9 riders today doing BWR training.
We all rode together to Lake Wohlford where we split into groups – Larry, Rob and I climbed together, closely followed by Ernst. Larry set a nice tempo, urging me to hit my power goals and inadvertently making me burn a few too many matches in the process. Rob was riding very strong – he was off to Cabo in a few days so this was his last change to do a big ride for a week or so. Both Rob and Ernst set PRs on Lake Wohlford (not an ideal day with the winds), strong efforts for both!
Ernst had to go back home after regrouping – it was good to see him – as well as Guido – a few from the core group of Descenders who are club regulars going way back before I joined and who I haven’t had the pleasure of riding with for a while (I inadvertently called them “old-timers” at the start, which offended Ernst so he flipped me off – see the photos).
On Woods Valley we had set a nice rotating tempo, I tried to break away in the end but it was futile – Larry rode past me like I was standing still, easily taking the sprint. Larry was riding his CX bike with thick 28mm tires, I think this is the key to his excellent sprinting. Either that, or losing some weight due to stomach flu he had last week.
Jeff and John went through a “shortcut” via W. Lilac, while the remaining 5 of us went via Couser, and Old 395/Lilac/Del Rey/back to Old 395. Guido should be called “King of Lilac” because whenever we ride on the road that starts with “Li-” and end with “-lac” he goes to the front to set a nice fast tempo for the entire group. And I have many memories of us riding Lilac, with the group being lead by Guido. He owns Lilac – both West and East sections.
We found John and Jeff waiting for us at the RV park store. After brief refueling, we kept climbing up Champaign (Hodges/Rob/Guido/Larry and I stayed together all the way to the top), and rode to the Mall – at which point Guido peeled off, while the four of us took Hodges’ generous offer to ride the dirt trails around Lake Hodges. It was a fun ride with some rocky sections and even a water crossing (see photos).
The four of us kept on riding via Del Dios to Rancho Santa Fe – Rob and Hodges went home via Three Witches while Larry and I took Linea del Cielo to Del Mar Fairgrounds and rode along the coast home. About 120 miles and 8K of climbing for Larry and me, 100miles for Hodges, 95 for Rob, 87 for Jeff – a lot of us hit pretty large numbers today. You should have come!

A few photos attached, the rest are at: http://goo.gl/JNfY85

Hi All,

I know Oleg sent out a great report. I filled in a few gaps and added my photos into a report. Great riding adventure for all those who came.

Have a good week-
Rob

Dudley’s Dream Ride Report-29 March 2014.pdf

All, we had about 18 riders out on a Dudley’s Dream ride yesterday. I started riding from Ramona, with the aim of exploring Black Canyon Rd. in my preparation for Belgian Waffle Ride – a 12.6mi, mostly loosely packed dirt road connecting Ramona and Mesa Grande. I was hoping someone else would join me but Larry got sick the day before the ride and everyone else had other plans. I started around 7AM and it was freezing cold going through Ramona, with temperatures dipping in the 40ies, as per my Garmin. The Black Canyon is a beautiful road featuring some of the most amazing views in East County. If you are not afraid of riding on dirt (it’s fine and not too technical for road bikes, but 25mm tires are recommended), you should try it. I saw only one person walking their dog on the entire ride up to Mesa Grande. It’s a great shortcut – takes a bit over an hour to go from Ramona to half-point of Mesa Grande. I got to the top a bit early so I rode East on Mesa Grande until I spotted a large group of descenders. It was first ride for Farkas with us in many months – he lost so much weight his old Descenders kit doesn’t fit anymore! We also had Eric Fischer, a friend of Rick’s, who is basically my neighbor, joining us as well. Plus all the regulars.
About 1 mile after I joined the group, there was a loud pop sound – Rob’s rear tire had a blow-out flat. Rob changed it pretty quickly, but the group already split up – some chose to carry on, perhaps realizing they may get caught on the East Grade climb anyways. Our group contained 9 riders – Jim, both Erics, Tony, Rob, Rick, Neil, Farkas and myself. Up ahead was another group of 9 – Hodges, Voris, Jeff & Eileen, Len, John, Sheehan, Bernie and Matt. We only saw some of them, half way up East Grade.

However, one unfortunate consequence of that quick stop is that we all quickly split up into smaller groups of 2-5 riders, and there were several riders who got phase-shifted and I never got a chance to ride with them, despite chasing them all day along identical route. At least I rode a mile or so with some them briefly, early on!

Jim attacked the opening few miles of East Grade at 400+ Watts, soon to be joined by Rick. They flew up East Grade in amazing time of 46 minutes and change. Neil tried to follow them too but quickly came to his senses and backed off. Both Eric Fischer and Eric R. went hard at the bottom too and had more than a minute on me – I eventually caught them half-way up and we worked together to the top – we could see Neil less than a minute ahead of us but we never caught him. At the top Eric F. took off on the downhill, perhaps trying to catch Neil, while I waited a bit for Eric R. and the two of us took it easy, all three of us finishing in 54-something.
We went to observatory at conversational pace – I was chatting with Jim, who was done with hard efforts for today, and Neil. We saw Bernie, Matt, Voris and Hodges going back down already. Jim and I rode/walked out bikes to the observatory to take some photos. When we got back to Mothers’, some riders already went down South grade, while others were contemplating going back East Grade and bypassing South grade.
I convinced Matt to do the full Dudley route – once again, I attended Matt’s descending clinic by descending on his wheel and learning from the master – both on South and East Grades. On the way down South Grade we saw many descenders already coming up – Voris and Hodges were already half way up (they had good 20-something minutes on us), as well as Jeff & Eileen and Rob and Tony. Matt and I rode up easy – it was getting hot. We were still somewhat surprised we weren’t catching Tony and Rob who started the climb maybe a minute ahead of us. Turned out Rob was flying – he had the fastest time up South Grade of all descenders, followed closely by Eileen and Jeff. We could see Tony up in the switchbacks but we weren’t catching him either, he was riding strong!
We regrouped at the top – Jeff and Eileen took off on East Grade descent a few minutes early, since they wanted to go slow – Rob was already descending too. Matt and I waited for Tony but he wanted to take a few more minutes recovering, so in the end we reluctantly decided to descend without him. The East Grade road surface is getting worse and worse so we took it easy. We caught Eileen and Jeff at the very bottom – perfect timing! – we slowed down just in time for giant wild turkey that was slowly walking across the road and eventually flew away. It would be a shame to crash into a turkey at the bottom of 11-mile descent! Rob was waiting at the bottom as well, taking photos. The five of us climbed Mesa Grande as a group, staying together pretty much to the top. Jeff and Matt took some strong pulls until I turned on Black Canyon – Matt set a KOM descending Mesa Grande, over Cyclocross Champion Tim Johnson. On the Black Canyon descent I was hoping to catch Hodges, not realizing he was good 20+ minutes ahead of me at that point. The descend on the dirt was a lot of fun, except for occasional washboard and many blind corners. Not for everyone, but we should make this an option for future descenders rides, for
adventurous types. I noticed several descenders rode *down* Black Canyon (as per strava) but nobody did it going up, at least not all the way to Mesa Grande – in my opinion climbing on dirt is always less technical and easier in many ways.

When I got back to the car in Ramona, the ride was 101 miles for me (a quarter of it was on dirt), with about 12K ft of climbing and many descenders scored ~80 miles with 10K ft of climbing. Hodges had the longest ride of 105 miles by riding home via Black Canyon to Ramona and 78.

You Should Have Come!

Photos: http://goo.gl/TXga42

Hi All,

I pootled to the top of the bike path at Black Mountain, no one was there. I pootled over to Spring Meadow, no one wanted to ride. I pootled down to the 7-11 and only Len (TE) was waiting. We both waited until well after the start time and decided to roll out for an easy recovery ride.

Len was working yesterday so he missed the group ride. It was his birthday so we celebrated a day late with a Poway Pootle. The pace was going to be nice and easy all morning.

We cruised up to Espola and looped around to Pomerado. We rode over the freeway and climbed back towards 4S before turning back towards Poway on Camino Del Notre. Nice and easy, conversational riding.

After crossing back over Pomerado we rode down to Community. At the light on Poway Road Len turned east towards his car while I decided to climb up to SPP. I added a few miles by going back home along SPP and climbed back up Black Mountain.

The ride was only 37 miles, a nice recovery ride. Here is the photo from the start.

Rob

Mussey Grade and Pamo Road Ride Report22 March 2014
by Bernie Bogard

Eight Descenders showed at 7-11 on a cloudy, slightly cool morning, moderate enthusiasm was present among Rob V, Bob P, Big Rick, Larry, John M, Hodges, Zach (student/occasional Descender, nice kid) and Bernie. We started by dissing other Descenders for not showing, Hodges tried to frighten the BWR participants then we were off to Scripps Poway Parkway where Rick, Zach and Larry sorted out the strongest of the group.

On to 67, up the grade, a few of us trundled behind Rick and Larry’s draft, Bernie attacked near the top, pushing 116 watts, even hitting 120 watts briefly, Larry held the group back from counterattacking, was heard to say "he’s old, let him win, he never wins". Fun descent to Mussey and down Mussey ensued, Rick and Larry doing the work, leaving Rob off the front for awhile "teach him a lesson".

Up Mussey… you guessed it, Rick and Larry then Zach and Rob V made nice runs at the end. Zach, Rob V, Bob P headed back as Hodges rejoined and we had a "smooth" paceline headed to Pamo where Rick had a very fast descent and Hodges headed off at the end of Pamo saying "Mesa Grande, Palomar, Matterhorn…I may WIN the BWR". Predictable ascent, Larry holding 320 watts smoothly, Rick trailing, John doggedly pursuing. Saw Denise and Amy heading to Pamo as we came out and headed for a brief break at Chevron. Rick and Larry led us back to 67 and up and over down to Scripps Poway Parkway with John heading down Poway grade toward home. On Scripps Poway we saw a green fluorescence on an Elliptigo that may have been the world famous Rick B who we glorified in conversation for awhile and figured he was in training for National Elliptigo Championship on Palomar. Great day on the bike, nice people. You shoulda been there!

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

Yesterday, we had about 17 descenders and friends on our “coastal” ride. Larry and I rode from home to 56 bike path, about 15 miles worth (starting into a thick cold fog) – but Klaus got to the start already with 25 miles under his belt.
The goal for Claus, Larry and myself was to ride to Oceanside and then split off and go inland, towards Bonsall and then San Marcos to explore some new roads, and get extra miles, extra elevation and some dirt riding experience.

There were 15 descenders at the start, mostly regulars (you know who you are), but also notably Bill Wood who I have not seen in a while, Frankie, as well as Joel and Eric G – Mike’s friends. We also spotted Jeff L. in Oceanside on a similar coastal ride, but an hour ahead of us (daylight savings is one hour, not two, Jeff!). Jeff is bouncing back from a 6-week downtime due to broken collarbone. I gave Jeff an “air-high-five” as he rode past me, smiling.
In Oceanside there was a group of five (Larry, Claus and me, as well as Frankie and Bernie) that separated and went our way along Oceanside bike path.

Larry hit an unexpectedly large rock on the bike path and
pinch-flatted. This was a bit ironic considering the magnitude of rocks and dirt to come. He fixed his flat in about 2 minutes and we were riding off again. In Bonsall, we took a detour past strawberry fields, orange groves, up Sleeping Indian climb and down Moro Hills and Olive Hill Rd. These are beautiful, quiet roads and we need to incorporate them somehow into our rides.

Then we rode more familiar roads – Camino Del Rey and Champaign Blvd, with a quick stop at the campgrounds. It was getting really hot, but we rode steady, not too easy but not attacking either. At the top of Champaign, Bernie kept going straight towards Escondido – he ended up with 83 miles, mapping out a perfect new loop route for future descenders ride. The four of us headed towards San Marcos along Twin Oaks, for more torture, dirt and climbing, as it got even hotter (my Garmin read 100F at some point).
The ride through San Marcos was the least exciting part for me – partly because of traffic, and partly because we were staring up at the looming Mt. Whitney, which seemed a lot higher than expected. We took it easy on the climb – once we turned off Twin Oaks there was about 200m of rather rocky and rough dirt road climbing, the kind of that makes it difficult not to put your foot down, and once you do that in a weak moment of hesitation it’s really difficult to get going again.
Larry floated above rocks like an expert cyclocrosser that he is, picking a perfect line. The rest of the road up to the top is 0.9 miles of “paved” (rather poorly I must say) road, with gradients averaging 10%, and peaking at around 20%. Larry easily got a KOM up the top, despite having to dismount to get over the locked gate. The views were quite spectacular. The Mt. Whitney is about 150 ft higher than Double Peak, but it somehow feels even taller, as if you are looking down at Double Peak.
After descending gingerly (riding the brakes all the way), and negotiating the same nasty rocky section, this time descending, I asked if anyone still wanted to do Double Peak. Surprisingly, everyone was enthusiastically up for it! Claus was at 100mile mark at that point, while Larry and me were at mile 90.
We refilled water bottles and descended down to Elfin Forest. From there we took another 2-mile (I falsely advertised it as 1-mile long) dirt path shortcut along Escondido creek towards Rancho Santa Fe. It felt like we were miles from any civilization, as if we were in the middle of Cleveland National Forest, rather than San Marcos/Rancho Santa Fe. I expected hearing complaints about rocks and short ~30% downhill concrete section, but everyone seemed to enjoy the “teleport” to RSF. Frankie took off towards the coast at San Dieguito, while the three of us went up Three Witches, even pushing the pace a bit. Claus turned left on Camino Del Sur, so it was just Larry and me riding the bike path to the coast and up Torrey Pines. Both of us felt
surprisingly fresh (except stiff necks and back) – we even rode up Torrey Pines at a pretty good clip, 12mph or so, while it still felt like conversational pace – a lot faster than I would have expected, considering we had 120 miles in our legs. Never quite hit the wall, which is good.
When we got home, both Claus and I had to mow the lawn – something else we had in common for the day.
The total mileage was 125-126 miles for Larry, Claus and myself, and 7.5-8K ft of climbing. You should have come and should have joined us!

Photos:
http://goo.gl/3AWlMe
Oleg Shpyrko

Hi All,

It was a small group that showed for a beautiful morning recovery ride. Sheehan got there on time, even with the time change, with some help from the pajama car drop-off. Guido and Len were also there for the start of the ride I volunteered to host.. I proposed a ride up TP and back across I-5 to climb Sorrento Valley before riding up into Scripps Ranch. That idea fell flat so we rode to the coast and planned to go up PCH to Loma Sante Fe. It was breezy and we had the wind behind us so we hammered west along the bike path setting new PR times for the next few miles. Guido did most of the work and Sheehan pulled more than he should have. Len was always there, tired legs from the big Saturday ride but never far off the back. We got to PCH and cruised north. Sheehan was on point as we flew into Solana Beach and he blew right past the turn so we just kept heading north.

There were plenty of riders and runners, great morning–sunny, warming but very dry. The tides were out so the large group of surfers at Swamis were way out from the shore trying to catch the small sets that rolled in from the glassy ocean. We rode up to La Costa and tuned inland. The winds were strong–blowing from the northeast and definitely in our face. The pace slowed a bit and then we split as we rolled up El Camino Del Norte. We regrouped by Lago Lido, stopped for water in RSF and cruised to Three Witches. Guido and Len split off point while Sheehan and I rode up together. At Santaluz, we split again with Guido and Len going south while Sheehan and I rode north towards Poway.

We cruised through 4S and back to Pomerado where I headed south while Sheehan went home. I pulled a Claus and decided to ride a few extra miles by exploring the neighborhood streets near Bob Raibert’s house near Shoal Creek. I still only got in a bit less than 60 miles, shameful performance invoking Claus’ name. None the less, we had a fun recovery ride.

Enjoy the week ahead,
Rob

Only 6 brave descenders met at the Pine Valley meeting spot this morning: Geoff, Neil, Tony, Len, Larry and Oleg.
Last weekend we had belgian weather (rainy and cold), and today it was Dutch weather (super-windy). The forecast called for 15mph wind, with 30mph gusts.

Pine/Kitchen creek combo is arguably the most brutal, most challenging and also the most scenic ride we do on regular basis.
The only reason I can think of to explain relatively low turnout today is because most descenders know just how brutal those climbs, especially Pine creek, can be, and that this ride involved some driving. This was the first drive-to weekend descenders ride of 2014, the last one being Julian Fall ride back in October.

For the future, we should start this ride from Pine Valley (plenty of parking), ride Pine Creek first, and finish with Kitchen creek, for a change.

Two people in the group never did Pine Creek before – Larry and Tony (it was also the first time up Kitchen Creek for Larry). Larry opened up a bit of a gap as we started climbing Kitchen creek – into stiff headwind too, but with some coordinated effort we brought him back a few miles later. I was quickly getting tired. After we passed through the gate Geoff, Tony and I let Neil and Larry ride off at a faster pace, while the three of us rode nice and steady tempo to the top. Geoff’s seatpost clamp cracked and it was loose, but he kept on riding.

At the top we waited for poor Len who was left to bravely face the stiff headwinds solo and then we all descended down Sunrise Hwy with a strong tailwind this time.

Carried by the winds Larry set a strava KOM on Sunrise Hwy descent section by averaging 45 mph or so for 3 mile stretch – without pedaling once! However, strong cross-wind gusts were also quite dangerous – imagine invisible cannonballs randomly fired at the front wheel of your bike as you are descending at 45mph – this is what it feels like to ride through the gusty winds that whip the bikes around. I watched Larry from behind, as he saved it a few times from sudden front wheel wobble caused by the strong and random wind gusts. Unfortunately there was little one can do to fight off (or even anticipate) the gusts, but we were lucky to avoid any problems. Neil was riding deep dish carbon rims and he was whipped around by the wind even worse than the rest of us riding aluminum boxed rims – he was the fastest of the group climbing today but was deliberately slow descending (we were worried if something happened to him as he was good 3-4 minutes back at the bottom).

While riding towards Pine Valley we saw a female rider who was riding in the opposite direction – the wind blew her into the ditch and she fell off the bike. She appeared Ok and tried to remount her bike but got blown off the bike again.

At the same time the gusts threw us from the bike lane on the far right, about 10 feet to the left, right in the middle of the road. Luckily there was no traffic.

We quickly refueled at Pine Valley store and set off to climb Pine Creek. Pine creek has several long sections of about 16%, sometimes briefly reaching 20% gradients. With 20+ mph headwind gusts it felt like a slap in the face, equivalent to 25% or more. Larry and I were climbing full-out at about 4mph, watching Neil distance from us at a rapid speed of… about 5mph. We saw several riders descending down beaten road of Pine creek – not the wisest choice considering the road quality, but I suspect they climbed half way and decided to turn around. Or perhaps they wanted to avoid winds on Sunrise Hwy.

We regroupped at the top of Pine Creek and rode a nice paceline into the wind to the store, and then descended Sunrise Hwy again. Tony descended at “regular” (=fast) pace while the rest of us rode gingerly and deliberately slowly, after seeing what the nasty gusts can do to bikes. This time it seemed the winds were not as bad (at least not at 30mph instead of 45-50mph). We all made it safely to the cars. 50 miles with 7,000 ft of climbing and a lot of extra wind resistance.

Fun times and an epic memorable ride for sure – you should have come. Selected photos are attached, and more photos are here:
http://goo.gl/bwMtXe

I will leave you with a youtube video of dutch junior cycling team training in ridiculous cross-winds in Netherlands. It wasn’t nearly as bad today, of course, but gives you some idea of basic physics involved in riding in strong winds, enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8qgjyqibwY

Hi All,

What rain? It was a beautiful morning when I rode over to Spring Meadow to get Mike Hodges. The only disappointment of the whole ride was that while I note that Voris was stalking me on Strava and gave me an obligatory kudos for my ride, he was not there as promised at 7:30 am to offer me an umbrella or a sip of coffee or a warm snuggle on his nice sofa. Voris was no where to me found, probably inside his house too fat to get off the couch.

Mike and I pedaled to Pomerado and RB corner to meet ALL the other riders. Sheehan did not want to me be late again so he was already there when we rolled up at 8:02. No one else showed! I guess the banter of last evening scared all those away who did not want to get their hair mussed. The three of us rolled toward the Lake Hodges bridge. The roads were mostly dry but there was plenty of tree debris in the bike lanes. We rode along the path and under I-15 where we picked up Tony O. We now how a 4 rider Descender group ride, must be a record low except for the times when it was pouring and 40 degrees–Hodges and Barrall remember those rides well. To the boys from the British Isles, this was just liquid sunshine. Sheehan is tough as nails and ready for another business trip tomorrow to Nippon land. I was the ever loyal photo journalist just documenting the ride.

I do not want to spoil any more details from our ride since Mike wanted to write up the full report. You can see our route on Strava and with Hodges along, you know it was going to involve some dirt somewhere. We hit heavy rains climbing Via Ambiente but it was mostly dry for much of the morning. Attached are two photos. More ride report details and photos from Mike soon.

Rob

Hi Guys,

Attached is a combined ride report of the Saturday and Sunday rides from last weekend. I will put out the planned group ride for this Saturday by message later tomorrow. I had to be pessimistic but I have a feeling that things are going to be a bit slick and wet Saturday morning. I am certain the Mike Hodges will want to ride in the "UK sunshine" but pouring rain will leave me on the sidelines. More updates on rides and weather tomorrow. Enjoy the ride reports.

Rob

BWR Training Ride Reports-Feb 14.docx

Hi Guys,

Great ride today–Wohlford, South Grade of Palomar and Cole Grade. We had over 20 riders at the start and we picked up Jordan Baab for the Wohlford climb. I will defer to the ride report expertise of Oleg to recount the carnage of the ride. It was fairly long and there was lots of climbing. My Garmin said 67 miles and about 7,300 feet of climbing but I forgot to start it until we were just about to start climbing Wohlford–about 7 miles into the ride.

After regrouping at the corner of Cole Grade and Valley Center we made for our final leg back toward the cars. Bob P was suffering up Cole Grade and he rolled into the rest stop just as we were getting ready to ride. At the top of the hill I decided to turn back to find Bob as he was not in sight. I rode the few miles back to the store and did not see Bob anywhere. There was a rider looking for a friend of hers and trying to find her way back to Harrah’s. I asked her if she had any other riders wearing our kit–no joy. I directed her to turn left from the store to ride to Harrah’s.

I was alone and so I decided to ride the same direction as her for the climb back to Lake Wohlford. It was going to be a bit longer but I was up for the extra miles. A mile into my return I spotted Yi-Shiou coming out of his parallel universe, he had just climbed UP from Harrah’s. Yi-Shiou was still climbing up the last mile of the South Grade of Palomar as were descending. The group started off again after a brief stop at the Taco Shop. Cole Grade was brutal and everyone needed a water break when we got back into Valley Center. Everyone climbed Cole Grade except Yi-Shiou. He had taken a left at the Taco Shop after descending back down South Grade. He climb up Valley Center Road and was just short of the Cole Grade intersection when I spotted him.

I did a quick u-turn and stopped with Yi-Shiou. I told him we could return back over Lake Wohlford or take a more direct route by staying on Valley Center and dropping into Escondido. We might even find Bob along the way. We decided to go the shortest route. I pulled him along and we looked for a bike at all the stores. Just before the turn at Lilac Yi-Shiou spotted Bob sitting against a wall of the Valley Center Oil Center. We both pulled into the parking lot.

Bob had cramped badly trying to stay with the group as we left the last rest stop. I must have missed him when I rode back the first time. He was resting and munching on an ice cream sandwich. We all relaxed for a few minutes before heading out. The three of us climbed up the last hill out of Valley Center and cruised back to our cars at the mall. Never leave a man on the battlefield and explore the parallel universe of Yi-Shiou if you have the opportunity.

Below are two photos from the ride.

Rob

All, as Rob already noted in two previous email reports, we had a great turnout for our Palomar ride today.
By the way – Palomar (South Grade) is ranked #17 in US (12th in continental USA) and #9 in California. Along with Mt. Baldy, Palomar is one of the two major “Queen” climbs in Southern California. If you look at the numbers it’s on par with great european climbs like Alpe D’Huez etc.

More than 20 descenders showed up, somewhat surprisingly considering what was on the menu (some riders even showed up thinking the proposed full ride was 130 miles – for some reason strava kept showing ride in km instead of miles – not sure why).
A lot of regulars, plus Jordan Babb who joined us for a while, and Mike Fitzsimmons, a physicist colleague of mine who is spending his sabbatical from Los Alamos here. Hodges and Jeff S. showed up for Wohlford section of the ride but didn’t do Palomar.

Because of 3-day weekend, there was a LOT of car traffic today, especially in casino area.

Whoever was at the front decided not to do Mary Ln and go up Bear Valley, which had a lot more traffic and bad shoulder (= I vote we go Mary Ln next time). We caught Len and John who escaped the group early on, prior to group picture at the mall. The climb up Wohlford was more conserved than usual, as everyone anticipated the worst to come up Palomar.

We rode together to Taco shop but split into small sub-groups as soon as we started climbing. Rick blew by us early on – Larry, Matt and I rode together chasing Bryan, who was chasing Rick. My power meter was not calibrated correctly (possibly due to warm weather) and it took me a while to get the right pace instead of yo-yoing above and below the “red line”. Rick rode another sub-1hr up South Grade, by the way and he did it relative ease, or so it seemed to me.

I was feeling quite hot. We were keeping Bryan in our sights and actually gained on him a bit, he was only maybe 20 seconds in the front as we hit the Y. On the straight section just before the first switchback two motorcycles zoomed by past us, and I heard a loud clank. Matt yelled out and the motorcyclist pulled over – it turns out the rider somehow clipped/grazed Matt’s calf and his bike’s seat stay, fracturing the seat stay – even though we were far to the right, in the bike shoulder and the road was wide open. Matt also had a scratch on his leg – fortunately he was Ok (physically), but understandably upset with the rider. Could have been a lot worse! Larry and I pulled over as the motorcyclist provided her insurance info, and to her credit, immediately accepted being at fault and apologized profusely. Still, Matt’s bike was totaled and I hope he gets insurance company pay for a new one. Matt had to call Jordan to come pick him up.

Voris, Tony, Guido, Claus rolled up soon afterwards. Eventually we all resumed our climbing – Larry and I rode together but never quite regained our previous tempo, and just rode steady but not super-hard. Putting aside about 6 minutes we waited with Matt, we ended up at about 1:16 for the climb. Bryan was at 1:11, and Rick at 59 minutes.

Voris, Tony and Guido finished a few minutes behind us, collectively abandoning their previous gentlemen agreement and sprinting against each other at the top.

Claus, a Palomar virgin, enjoyed his first trip up South Grade, riding up with Ernst.

We regrouped at Mother’s (blueberry muffins!) and discussed Matt’s accident. John had discovered he had a flat tire just as we were ready to descend – Ernst and I helped him fix it as most Descenders took off. Ernst and I descended together at pretty good clip – I enjoy learning how to descent from the experts like Dave or Matt. On the way down we saw Yi-Shiou who was still climbing, near the top, Larry who stopped to fix his own flat (with a few helpers) and Matt who was being picked up by Jordan. Descent was a lot of fun – nice reward for all the climbing!

It was really hot when we got to Taco Shop. Cole Grade was as horrible as I always remembered it – a never-ending climb that just keeps punishing you while playing with your mind. When we regrouped at the grocery store at Valley Center (my Garmin recorded 104F, who knows what the actual temperature was, but it was certainly in mid-to-high 90ies) we made a collective decision to take a Valley Center shortcut to Escondido. The ride back was rather uneventful. We got back to shopping mall with about 68 miles of riding and more than 7,000 ft of climbing. Bryan and Claus added some more miles, ending up with 105 or so miles – to add to Claus’ 265 commuting miles from the past 5 days alone! Claus said he is not touching his bike tomorrow, but I suspect he will end up the mileage king for the week. This is also 8th consecutive weekend that Claus recorded a 100+mile ride.

Some photos are attached, the rest are here:
https://plus.google.com/photos/109410926478548321411/albums/5980753916241349793?authkey=CNqUoOySjqKCwgE

Fun ride despite the heat and a lot of climbing. You should have come! Oleg.

Hi All,

The Sunday "Recovery Ride" was hosted by Mike Hodges. We had a small group of 7 riders meet at the 7-11 store on Garden Road. I pedaled over to meet Mike at his house. On the way to the start we discussed routes. I suggested avoiding SPP since we had climbed that a number of times recently. Mike, fresh from his trip to Europe, decided to get us up toward Ramona via High Valley.

We met up with John, Len, Cresap, Joel and Eric at the start. Joel has ridden with us a couple of times previously. Eric was on his first Descenders ride, having recently gotten into the biking bug. Joel and Eric were acquaintances of Mike, so as host, he was responsible.

The group rode up the hill to Espola and over to start the climb of High Valley. Mike was going to pedal up with Eric while the rest of us stayed together and did the Coyote Creek Trail out and back. We would all rendezvous again at the top. Our group pace up High Valley was controlled and we stayed close together so no one missed any of the turns on the way. The usual dogs barking from the houses as we rode by did not deter us from our climb. The rollers along Coyote Creek were great; we all stopped for a photo in front of one of the big rocks in the last driveway at the end before heading back out.

Mike and Eric were at the split when we returned so we took another group photo before pedaling toward highway 67. We cruised around Mt Woodson and down to the Archie Moore turn back toward Highland Valley. I led us through the Sky Valley loop and we all hit the descent of HVR. Cresap wanted me to define "Recovery Ride" as he was feeling a disconnect, he called it an interval ride. John liked the pace, just not the 15-18% grades of climbing. I had to remind them that I was not the host for the ride and was just following direction from Mike. Host Mike asked us to regroup at the bottom, just after the final left curve. I knew what he was planning.

It was time for BWR training. Cresap, Len and Joel would have none of it so they rode on HVR. Mike took John, Eric and me along Mule Hill Trail and back over toward Lake Hodges. The trail was still soft in a few places but the recent rains made it a fairly smooth ride. The plan was to meet back up at the gas station for a water break.

Cresap decided to go put in some extra miles so he took off heading for RSF. After a water break we rolled across the pedestrian bridge and everyone turned left towards Pomerado except me. I was already on the west side of I-15 and decided to cruise toward 4S and around the back of Black Mountain for home. My legs were tired and definitely feeling the effects of the Alpine ride from Saturday. I pootled home with 43 miles and just under 4,000 feet of climbing, fun recovery ride.

Here is one photo from our ride. I tried to share a few via picasa and will post the rest on our Shutterfly site soon. Don’t forget to wish Happy Birthday to Geoff and Garet today.

Rob

All, as a follow up to Rob’s report:
we had 17 riders on Alpine ride today. 13 of us started at 7-eleven, and we picked up Larry Tanzo, Matt Babb, Jeff and Darby at Moreno Ave. It was Darby’s birthday. At the start it was a bit chilly (Tony reported 43F in Escondido, Larry and I saw 47F descending down Pomerado).
Rick W. pushed the pace on 67 and opened up a sizeable gap. Steve K., John Moran and I chased him down eventually. On Lake Jennings climb Rick W. went solo again, this time Larry, Matt and I chasing him, with Guido not far behind.
We reversed the direction on Dehesa loop today – we climbed to Alpine via South Grade, descended down Dehesa and climbed up Harbison Canyon. Rick B. blew by us on South Grade like we were standing still. Matt and Larry were main animators on South Grade, with Larry, Darby, Jeff and I following behind. Once we regrouped, Rick W. (again!), Ernst, Darby and I got in a bit of a break on downhill Dehesa. We were eventually caught by Larry, Matt and Voris half way down Dehesa, and had some fun and aggressive rotations towards Harbison Cyn.
On Harbison climb Rick B. blew by us, again. He set 4 new KOMs today. We had some nice paceline pulls on Old Hwy 80 before stopping at Lakeside 7-eleven for some drinks.
Once we got to El Monte, 6 of us ventured to do a full route by going to El Capitan reservoir (Rick B., Guido, Larry, Tony, Rob and I). After some nicely rotating pace line we got to the lake. We spotted some osprey hunting around the lake. Because of the drought, the water was very low. It was quite warm now. We did some steady rotations on the way back, into the strong headwind – in Lakeside Larry and I continued west through Santee to 52 bike path (headwind, again!), while Rob, Rick B., Guido and Tony went up 67.

Really fun ride, with a few new ideas for ride modifications in the future. You should have come!

Selected photos attached, the rest are at:
http://goo.gl/sxB5vx

Hi Guys,

The recovery ride was hosted by Jeff Cresap today. We had a handful of riders join in a nice loop of RSF. The group met on the corner of Black Mountain and the 56 bike path. The small group included Jeff, John, Len, Bryan Jones, Claus, Bob P and Rob. Claus had been riding for almost two hours before we met at 8 am, he got in another century by the time his day was over.

It was colder at the start of our ride than it had been at the start of Stagecoach, felt like winter. We cruised along the bike path to Camino Del Sur and headed towards Santaluz. The downhill to El Apajo was colder still as we made our way toward RSF. Jeff led us along Los Arboles to the middle of town in RSF. We rode by the golf course and climbed back up El Mirlo, making our way toward Lago Lindo. A quick stop at the water hole and down then Mimulus.

We cruised back through town and headed west on Linea Del Cielo until we descended down El Camino Real to Via De La Valle. The pace was in control most of the ride and we regrouped when the tour roads got too confusing. It was still cool out but the sun was finally breaking through the clouds.

The group rode back east on San Dieguito Road and climbed up toward The Farms. We rode along Carmel Valley and Bob P split off for home at CDS. Cresap rode south past Westview while the rest of us rode to Black Mountain Road. Claus kept heading toward 4S while Bryan showed us a few PQ neighborhood roads back toward the bike path.

I got home with a nice and easy 36 mile recovery ride. We did not take any photos so here is another from the Soledad ride yesterday. This is actually the climb back up from Black’s Beach. You can now see why Bob P was not impressed in the earlier photo; great weekend of riding.

Rob