RSF, Del Dios and HVR Ride Report (by Rob V)
RSF, Del Dios and HVR Hammerfest Ride Report-12 Oct 2013.pdf
Tour de Poway Ride Report (by Rob V)
Tour de Poway Ride Report-Oct 2013.pdf
Also photos below (by Oleg):
I did two long-ish (by my standards – 60+ miles, 6K+ ft of elevation gain, 4+ hrs) rides during my most recent visit to Bay Area.
First day I started in Woodside, rode around Portola, went up Page Mill Road, crossed over Skyline and was descending down Alpine towards Pescadero, until one wrong turn took me into a (completely deserted) camping grounds in the middle of redwood forest.
So the first ride was fantastic until the disaster struck about half-way through, around mile 32 or so, I was a little lost and was climbing a dirt road that was at least 20% gradient steep, and my rear derailleur snapped in half! I stopped to examine the damage – luckily, the spokes and the wheel were ok, but derailleur was in two pieces. I was on a tiny road – a pedestrian path really – in a camping area, some 8 or so miles away from the main road (also quite deserted, but the one that has a car or two passing every 10 minutes or so). I tried converting my chain to single-speed, and after some struggling with getting the chain length just right, I was on my way. I was stuck with a fairly unfriendly, non-climbing gear ratio so I had to walk a few slopes steeper than 10%, and I also had to pedal like crazy on the flats and gentle downhills, as I was spinning out at 18mph.
Lucky for me, the single-speed setup survived just fine for 30 miles, till I got back to the car. A quick trip to a local Palo Alto bike store and I was an owner of new derailleur and chain, my Ritchey is back in business.
On the second day I rode up Old La Honda, then descended into Pescadero via Pescadero Creek Rd., then went up Stage Road via San Gregorio to the coastline by Half Moon Bay, and then back climbing via Tunitas Creek and descending down King Mountain Road. No technical problems the second day.
Both days had a fantastic weather, in the 70ies, bright sun and blue skies. Amazing views (see below), I wish I could ride even more.
SPP and HVR Loop Ride Report
Hi Guys,
Lesson learned, do not plan a group ride the day before the Tour de Poway; especially when the winds are whipping at 20-25 mph. The planned route was Mussey and Pamo. I was only going to do part of the ride to save something for the Sunday ride. I thought a few folks would join.
I got to the top of Black Mountain on the bike path and no Guido. I rode solo over to Spring Meadow and said hi to Daisy and Rochelle but no Voris riding. I rode to the 7-11 and took a solo group photo for the 8 am start, only me.
Tony O showed up a few minutes late, dropped off by his wife. We waited until almost 8:10 am and just after I verbally abused Sheehan for not coming, he rolls to the start. The three of us climbed up SPP. Tony took off to chase some guys and we regrouped at the top.
We headed north towards Ramona. Cresap was spotted out riding just after we passed Poway Grade. He was heading south back towards SPP. We waved and rolled on. Tony planned to head over to Pamo while Sheehan and I were descending HVR. At Archie Moore Road we split as Tony continued along 67.
The winds were whipping but also swirling a bit. I took Sheehan on Sky Valley Road to get to the top of HVR. Cars went by so we waited until we had a gap. Sheehan took off on the descent. I caught up to him near Starvation Mountain Road as he slowed for me. The swirling winds blew in our faces and across our wheels but we still kept up a fast pace with the helping winds. We continued on, past Bandy Canyon and through the final curvy section. It was fast at times and Sheehan claimed a number of KOM crowns.
We cruised over to Pomerado and then slit at RB Road. I made by way home via Ted Williams hoping I saved some for Tour de Poway.
Cycling in Beijing, China:
This is the first time I brought my Ritchey with me to Asia. I have recently (since last December or so) travelled to China, Japan and Hong Kong but each time the combinations of the weather and the logistics of the trip didn’t cooperate with bringing Ritchey along. I think each time I regretted a bit not having my Ritchey at some point, since I could probably find a few hours of riding.
This time I was going to Beijing, China, for about 5 days. The pollution forecast didn’t look good (high levels of pollution) but having learned from past experience I decided on taking Ritchey with me anyways. It worked out great!
I was a bit worried about Chinese customs but it went without any issues.
Cycling in Beijing was dicey (Manhattan downtown in rush hour with their taxis and bike messengers is quiet suburbia in comparison) – the drivers don’t give you an inch, and a lot of cars are driven by aggresive maniacs, plus there are millions (literally) of bikes, mopeds, scooters, motorized carts, motorcycles and pedestrians: one needs nerves of steel, constant attention and good urban-riding instincts to anticipate traffic around you.
It was a lot of fun nonetheless. No close calls really, just have to be super-vigilant and anticipate what happens next.
See photos below. You should have come!
Oleg
It’s not fog – it’s pollution. Air Quality Index is 200 today, which is very unhealthy. Can barely breathe, and can feel it in my throat – eyes are burning. It feels similar to when we had wildfires in SoCal in 2007 and were breathing smoke – except here it’s like this all the time.
Ritchey in front of the North Gate to Forbidden City.
My Ritchey in Tiananmen Sq.
I made it to Tiananmen Square.
Crazy looking skies and mountains in the distance as I exit Beijing suburbs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=W0d3j4zmnyY
1st 5 min shows front range and at the 5 min mark a once gorgeous road, Rt. 34 up to Estes Park at the base of the Rocky Mnt Nat’l Park. I cycled this road twice and also summitted from Estes to the top of the Rocky Mnt Nat’l Park (12k elevation).
Deeper into the video is a separate but even more beautiful canyon road where I won a 10.4 mi descending KOM. This segment later in during the same day was part of the US Pro Challenge stage #6 Ft. Collins finish. This is also where a week after my KOM ride my friend Dean and I spent the day fly fishing.
These roads are beautiful for cycling and driving and have sustained catastrophic damage but now it’s questionable if they can even be re-built.
Not included in the video link are the perfect black ribbon roads to the summit, 12k+ and across multiple peaks of the Rocky Mnt Nat’l Park. These road are no long even accessible from the Front Range as there’s no way of getting to Estes Park.
I’m attaching some photos from one of my rides:
https://share.htc.com/FryoWVpF8
Matthew Babb
Subject: Tour De Poway Pre-Ride
Hi All,
We had a small group out for the ride on Saturday. There were a total of nine riders that met up at the 7-11 store on Poway Road. The group consisted of Guido, Len (TE), Rick W, Larry, Bob P, Tony, Ernst, Rob and Brian’s wife, Monica. Brian is the Scottish rider who was out with us for Couser and Rice Canyon last week. She is a super strong rider, just like Brian.
The route took us up Poway Grade and through Ramona to the descent down 78, over past Lake Hodges and down Del Dios with a loop back toward the bike path. Guido explained the route and led the group for the ride.
I only made it to Archie Moore where Bob P and I cut down HVR and then around through 4S and home. I had a XC meet to go to at Morley Field and Bob was heading back to Italy again so we both had to cut our ride short.
We got home with about 43 miles of riding. I saw a few Strava posts showing a 68 mile or more loop for the rest of the riders. They are all ready for Tour de Poway.
The ride is only two weeks away. Hope to see a large Descender turnout for the Nick Venuto Century on Sunday, 6 October.
See you there,
Rob
Santa Cruz Ride by Dave Voris is attached.
Hi Guys,
Attached is the ride report for the group ride from Saturday.
Ride on-
Rob
Subject: Descenders Birthdays–Jeff and Rick
Hi All,
We forgot to celebrate with Jeff Southerton for his 50th birthday yesterday. Happy belated best wishes Jeff.
Today is Rick Bienias’ birthday and my data shows that Denise is having her birthday in a couple of days. Party time with the Bienias team.
We also have Eric Rehberg with a birthday on Thursday.
Happy Birthday greetings to the above Descenders–Jeff, Rick, Denise and Eric.
Here are a few photos of the B-day crew from the ride yesterday. Ride report coming soon.
Rob
Once again I found myself in Bologna for two consecutive weekends and had access to a friend’s bike so I took advantage of the good weather and rode both Saturday and Sunday of BOTH weekends. Rides are posted on Strava but a quick recap for those interested.
Saturday I met Nazareno, a rider I had met and befriended through Strava last May. We arranged to meet for a big ride on Saturday (Aug 31). We didn’t start until noon so we hit the heat of the day with temperatures in the high 80’s. We road out the Zena valley and then climbed the well known Passo della Raticosa. This is a 12km climb to the top of the pass from Bologna to Florence crossing from the region Emilia Romagna to Tuscany. There were a gazillion motorcyclists out that day and many were sitting in the sun at the top having an espresso. The ride back down the ridge through Mogodirho and Loiano was great and we finished the day with just over 100km.
Fellow Strava Rider Nazareno Storani
Selfie atop Raticosa – about half way between Bologna and Florence
Motorcycles clogging the top of Raticosa
Sorry Toto, I don’t think we are in Emilia Romagna anymore!
Sunday Nazareno invited me to join his Club for a ride. We met early and headed over to a small town nearby. In the town center we came upon 50+ other riders milling about. There was a locally organized ride so we joined for part of it. Their club has some big guys and some old guys. The oldest is 73 and in great shape. Our group split from the organized ride route and headed up a favorite climb of his Club. The road pitched quite steeply right from the get-go and had section of 15-20%. At the top, some of his riding mates wanted to know how much I weighed – I think they felt I had an unfair advantage climbing! We descended then did another short climb and concluded coming back through the Zena valley.
Lots of Italian riders!
This weekend my coworker, Nicolo decided to join us, so Nicolo, Nazareno, and I headed out Saturday morning. They decided to take me up the most challenging climb that starts right at the edge of town. The road to San Luca church is famous. It has a covered portico staircase to allow pedestrians to climb up to the church. It was steep right from the start. They warned me there was a section in excess of 20% after a switch back. When I turned the corner I was not prepared for the length of the pitch. I stood on my pedals with a slow turnover for 50+m but couldn’t maintain sufficient turnover and, for the first time, found myself having to side-wind the road to keep the momentum going for the second half of the climb. Brutal but satisfying. (Unlike Voris, I can’t take pictures of my trip computer while riding so you’ll have to look at Strava to see the gradient. It is enough for me to stay on the bike.) We then stayed on top of the hills with a LOT of ups and downs and many more 15%+ climbs. By 12 miles I was amazed how much up and down we had done and couldn’t believe we had only gone 12 miles. We KEPT climbing planning to get to Monzuno. With less than 100m to go on the final ascent to Monzuno we found the road blocked, closed to traffic. We decided to go anyways thinking maybe it was passable by bike and we really didn’t want to go back the way we came. After only about 200 meters we found the reason for the road closure.
Total wipeout of hillside. We managed to walk, carrying our bikes, on the concrete wall. We then descended to the valley and road the rest of the way home. 48 miles and ~4900ft of climbing!
Today, I was on my own and decided to do one climb I had not done yet and retrace some roads I have done on other rides but in opposite directions. After the initial target climb was descending to Pianoro and managed to have a bee hit me in the forehead between my helmet and glasses. He was there long enough to sting me in my eyebrow causing me sufficient pain to get really pissed off. I knew I had a long 1-2% grade up the next valley ahead and was not looking forward to slugging it out alone. Fortunately just as I turned onto the valley road a group of 11 riders went buy. I was able to jump on the back and got a free pull by the group all the way up the valley. The pace was animated but not brutal and I was happy for the distraction. I left the group to take the 6km climb to Loiano. I have done this climb twice before and today set a new PR! Descended through Quinzano and Zena and headed home for a total of 54 miles.
Like Oleg says, “you should have come”.
From June 7 to June 9, 2013, twenty San Diego Descenders took part in “Monster Climbs VII” – a three day road riding test that will surely will go down forever in annals of history. Ok, so maybe not THE Annals of ALL History, but since it’s now on the internet, it will surely be preserved in some form of electronic history for future generations to disapprovingly shake their heads at the collective lapse of judgment of our Club members to participate in what can now be known only as Monster Climbs “Vee-I-I”.
VII of course in ancient roman numerology stands for seven, as in: it was the seventh time Descenders talked to their families and entered a plea of highly contagious and temporary insanity for permission to take a weekend in June to indulge their deeply hidden sadomasochistic desires to cyclo-climbing some of the highest, steepest and most challenging roads available to cyclists, which just happen to be located in our beloved Sierra’s of Central California.
Participants for VII consisted mostly middle-aged men (though we had the first ever woman joining us this year – yay, Eileen!) whom should know better, or at least should have learned from their previous Monster Climb escapades. Clearly gluttons for punishment, it seems Descenders never learn. In fact the Monster Climb group has grown bigger, with 20 riders participating this year, the highest ever.
The 2013 climbing route was organized by David “The Man with the Plan” Voris, with the help from David “Financials and Logistics” Guidotti serving as the trip treasurer and coordinator. Also present were Rick “Ni-i-ice!” Bienias, David “Travelling Ninja” Sheehan-san, Rob “CrashTest” Verfurth, Mike “A Private Dancer” Hodges (see this previous year’s Monster Climb YouTube video), Dave “Need for Speed” Ernst, Oleg “Gigapixel” Shpyrko, Geoff “Microbrewer” Barall, Len “The Elder” Nathe, Eric “The Ironman” Rehberg, Matt “Fast and Furious” Babb, Claus “Der Panzerwagen” Schulze, Jim “The Youngster” Wingert, Bill “Crikey, Mate!” Wood, Bob “The Running Man” Proulx, Jeff “The Gentle Giant” Southerton, Eileen “Queen of the Mountain” Blasi, Jeff “Your Derailleur is misaligned” Cresap, and Mike “Strava Sucks” Farkas.
At the start we got a surprise gift – Rick distributed Descenders Hats to all VII participants (a new gear item currently available for purchase from the team store, contact Rick for details). We packed our bikes and gear into five cars, had some delicious coffee and pastries courtesy of Voris household, posed for the group photo (below) and drove off towards Bishop.
We stopped for brunch at Adelanto. It was not even 11AM but it was already very hot. At least 90’s hot. Next stop was the bottom of Onion Valley just outside Lone Pine. There was some road construction but we managed to find a nice shaded trailer parking area. The heat was relentless it was 1:30pm and 104°F. We took some group photos (Len, Sheehan and Bill are not in any of them as they took off before the photos) and all head off for Onion Valley.
Onion Valley is a 12.5 mile climb at 7.8% average grade (peaking at 12% grade, climbing 5,169 ft to 9200 ft) and is ranked #1 toughest climb in California, 5th in the United States (2nd in Continental US), just ahead of Horseshoe Meadows and White Mountain.
Oleg: “I ran to the car to put my camera back and by the time I got on the road everyone was gone! I was the last man on the road. Three years ago we all rode through alluvial fan as a large group, but this time we split into small groups 1-3 large almost from the start, as everyone was eager to get going due to the heat. I rode with Ernst and Claus for a while and then got to chase riders ahead. It ended up great as I took photos of everyone climbing on Day 1 except Rick and James who were obviously way too fast for me – those two were waiting as I got to the top, barely broke the sweat.”
Rob: “It was HOT going up Onion Valley. Bob P smoked himself going up the alluvial fan and needed to stop under the shade of a tree. Mike Hodges rode well to catch me and then I pushed hard to break him. He fell off on the final mile up Onion Valley but rode much stronger each of the next two days.”
It was brutally hot in the valley but got cooler as we climbed. By the time we reached the top it was nice breezy 70°F. Eileen showed her strength and managed to record a top x Strava posting for the full Onion Valley segment. Way to go Eileen!
At Springmeadow. Everyone got a hat.
A few hours later, we are at the bottom of Onion Valley. It’s 100 degrees.
Descenders, Yesterday was a Labor Day, many of us riding all over county. None of those rides were as full of fun and adventures as the one we did, I guarantee it.
Seven brave descenders met at my house in BayHo for an Urban (we put “U” in Urban), Adventure-filled fun ride to Coronado. The ride was based on an idea Ernst and I have been kicking around for some time – ride to Coronado through the strand, return via ferry. I have previously ridden to Coronado and back but never taken the ferry, so some elements were new to me. Plus we chose a different route to bypass downtown.
Ernst called it a “Quasi-Descenders ride” in his description, because unlike a standard descenders ride, we were riding very easy (no, really!), didn’t chase down strava KOMs, on occasion waited for each other, and even (gasp!) stopped for coffee and pastries. There was almost no hammering off the front. Almost.
In addition to Ernst and I, at the start there was Bernie, Hodges, plus Len and John. Hodges has been doing hard rides every day for the past 4 days now – mega-Black Canyon cyclocross on Friday, All five Soledad repeats Saturday, Double Peak ride Sunday and now this Coronado ride. He is whipping himself into great shape.
It was quite foggy as the six of us rolled down the street as we saw a rider in what looked like Descenders jersey climb the 10% steep gradient of a nearby Jutland street, far in the distance. Nobody wanted to chase him, plus it looked like Larry and chasing Larry is a bit like my dog trying to chase her tail – you can get close but you will never catch up. I went back and climbed a bit of the street I expected Larry to come from but didn’t see anyone.
We carried on easy, assisted with tailwind, but in a mile or so we looked back and Larry was riding quietly in the group – he chased and caught us, easily. Turns out he had some mechanical and was running late – he was riding his cyclocross bike with 28mm tires. I was on my Ritchey CX too, but with 25mms.
We rolled with the tailwind along Morena, climbed Presidio, one of the very few hills we had to do on our route, rode through Hilcrest/Mission Hills, which was a ride down memory lane for Ernst who used to live and work there. We briefly met up with Dave’s buddy who was hanging out on his front lawn (our route happened to go by his house), almost stopped for espresso at several coffee shops, but decided to keep going, descended by Balboa park, and soon found ourselves by the naval base, next to the ocean.
We continued on the bike path, picking up a solo rider – we rode by marinas, bridges and salt mines, and soon we were on the Strand, riding into the wind. Len and John knew the way better than me, even though I did this route last fall. This was definitely a change of scenery from your typical descenders inland routes.
Our smallish group of 7 was just the right size for navigating bike paths and quickly changing plans and directions – it would be too dicey doing it with 20 descenders in tow. We exchanged strong pulls into the wind, on occasion breaking the group up a bit and regroupping, but arrived into Coronado very quickly.
We goofed around a bit, riding along with the tourists on quad-ricycles that frequent Coronado, Larry rode his cyclocross bike on the strip of grass next to golf course. The sun has come out and it was a great day – we arrived at the Ferry just a few minutes before it was departing. We got on and enjoyed about 15 minutes of boat experience. In downtown tourists asked to take photos with us, we did it (free of charge!). We rode through traffic to Little Italy, to Caffe Italia, a coffee place frequented by Hodges and Ernst. We had a perfect italian experience with cappuccinos and a cannolis. Ernst and I figured out the least-trafficky way to get us back through Hilcrest and Presidio. We were riding into a heavy headwind (again), but were were almost home. One last climb on Ariane Drive, and we were back to my house. A bit under 50 miles and only a little over 1,000ft of climbing.
Lots of fun and lots of adventure: cannoli’s, capuccino’s, beach, boats – all components of a *true*, classic Descenders ride, not “quasi-Descenders ride”
Photos: http://goo.gl/TAEp4j
You should have come!
Oleg.
Descenders, we had a great farewell to August yesterday. It was a hot and humid (by San Diego standards anyways) Labor Day weekend, and we wisely stayed close to the coast, while also avoiding the 101 weekend zoo – Five Soledad climbing repeats! Technically they are not repeats because we avoided repeating the same roads, but they surely felt like repeats to some.
Larry and I met at the Soledad Cross at 7AM – Larry rode from home, while I drove up to bring some snacks and drinks. It was nice and almost chilly, amazing cloud formations and sunrise views from the top of Soledad.
We bombed down Via Capri, and met up with Julio at UCSD – he is a newly hired physics faculty at UCSD, visiting the campus for a weekend, and a fantastic climber – last weekend he rode an infamous Otztaler Radmarathon – a ride through Austiran Alps from Innsbruck, 150 miles with 15,000ft of climbing in freezing temperatures. The kind of stuff Descenders would surely enjoy! Julio seems to never be in difficulty when climbing – smiling even at 18% inclines and I never even heard him breathing hard!
We rolled through foggy Torrey Pines and met with the rest of the group on 56 bike path.
A few "old" faces I haven’t seen in a while – Bob Raibert and Steve Kolokowsky, plus a few new riders – Janet, a friend of Eileen and Jeff’s – an amazingly strong climber, Justin, a friend of Jeff’s I think, and the strava-famous Keith Hoefer who rides with Bob, but who most of us met for the first time. We had 20 riders at this point, a huge group!
Julio hit the bottom of Torrey Pines hard, and I chased after him, expecting others to follow, but nobody did. We slowed down a bit near the top but still got 6-minute flat time, not too bad. After some short regroup we carried on, down La Jolla shores, negotiated an unusually heavy Sat morning traffic (everyone wants to get to the beach) and hit our first climb. Bob took off but he didn’t know the way. I caught up with Keith and kept him company to make sure we all follow the beaten Paris-Roubaix style path up to the top. Keith and Rob needed to get back home after first climb. At the top we saw Roman DiSalvo, who was doing his own coastal loop.
Just before second climb, Country Club, Voris dropped his chain, Rob and I stayed back to make sure everything is Ok. Rick was taking it easy because of some inflamed knee tendons, so I chased after Larry who was leading the way up Country Club. We stopped to take photos at the overlook. Rick and Voris turned back home, as well as Geoff who had issues with his rear wheel.
We momentarily "lost" Rob and Hodges, as well as Jeff S. who stopped to wait for them. We waited a few minutes at the Muirlands turn on Nautilus but figured they went down a different road (they descended LJ scenic instead). The third way up was relatively painless with fairly mild gradients. We regroupped at the cross, joined again by Jeff S. and Hodges and descended down Mount Soledad Road. Julio had to rush back, and Guido and Jeff L. went back home through Santa Fe while the rest of us (still 10 riders at this point) climbed Pacifica. According to Eileen it wasn’t as painful as her last time. Janet must have really enjoyed it as she was climbing those 15% slopes with ease, right behind Larry, Hodges and me.
After we slugged back up to the cross, surprisingly everyone was eager to do the fifth (and final) repeat, through Via Valverde. We still had 10 riders! Usually we are down to 4-5 riders by the time we start the 4th one. We rode up Via Valverde, and this time it was Hodges who was pushing the pace, ahead of everyone. I forgot to mention that it was Hodges’ birthday – happy birthday, Mike! In Mike’s honor, we will refer to the Via Valverde face of Soledad as "Mike Hodges climb". Mike told me he likes it the most and as our final climb it has all the sadomasochistic components that suits Mike’s nature. See photo below.
The rest of the guys still had to ride to Poway or Del Mar, while Larry and I were basically done, due to our clever early morning riding. The "biggest ride of the day award" goes to Bernie who rode 90 miles (in the heat and humidity) with close to 9,000ft climbed. Way to go, Bernie!
A few photos are attached below. The rest of photos are at: http://goo.gl/EYfW8w
You Should Have Come!
Oleg.
Dave Ernst “I did a ride report for the (epic) Catalina Gran Fondo back in May (attached)”
Descenders,
we had 18 riders out for our classic Pamo and Mussey Ride.
Larry and I rode from the coast, and as we approached Poway all of a sudden we were surrounded by thick fog. We met with another 6 or so riders (Voris, Hodges, Paul P., Bob Proulx, Geoff and Guido) at Springmeadow, and we pedaled off to 7-11. The fog was quickly burning off. At 7-11 we had a bunch of riders waiting – Eric (Lisa rode off as we pulled up to give herself headstart), Rick W., Bernie, Yi-Shiou, Claus, as well as Cresap. Eric brought along a friend, Chris, who was super-strong on the flats AND climbs. Also, Matt Davis caught up with us on Mussey.
Rick got a flat at the top of SPP, Voris and I stopped to help change the flat, and then gave chase. We caught Mike pacing Lisa up at the final climb and we all regroupped as we got to Mussey. The pace down Mussey grade didn’t seem to be very high but apparently we were going at record pace (31+ mph) – Voris scored a KOM on the Mussey segment, with most of us just a second or two back.
As we had a snack at the bottom and started climbing back, Larry and I had to give a chase as we were chatting and missed the split. The front group was hammering, and we were sitting about 30 seconds back. We picked up Paul who also missed the “train” and soon we had Matt Davis join us too, as he was turning around after spotting the front group. After some heroic pulls, we got most of the group as it was falling apart on the climb. Eric broke away but dropped his pump and had to circle back. That left Chris and Rick at the front. We caught Bernie and Voris near the top, Voris and I charged to chase down the duo ahead, we caught them just before 67.
A lot of us placed in top 10 in various uphill Mussey segments as well (Voris, Larry, Bernie and I – Chris and Rick are not on strava).
That climb burned a few matches. It was getting hot. Proulx, Cresap and Yi-Shiou turned back, the rest of us continued on Dye Rd. I think Eric took the Dye Sprint. Most of us did not contest it.
We stopped at Ramona’s Chevron to get water and ice and headed off to Pamo. This was first time on Pamo for Paul and Chris, hope they enjoyed it. We turned around at the end of the road without waiting and headed back up. Larry and I wanted to give it a hard effort, despite the heat and a bit of a head/crosswind. Larry’s previous best time was 10:00 set 3 weeks ago, and my best time was 11:00. We wanted to get under 10:00. All of the other guys already started climbing. Eric paced us through flat section, then Larry hit the gas, perhaps a bit too aggressive, 410 Watts when we aimed for 330-350. The heat was getting to us. I held it strong for 7-8 minutes but faded a bit in the end. My time was 9:14 with Larry not far behind, also under 10 minutes – we both made it top 10 list. I think Chris and Eric were the next up. We went back to Chevron (again), the girls there missed us in one hour we were gone, then pacelined along Dye Rd. The group split up at 67, some riders going back through HVR, others through 67. Voris had an unfortunate flat next to light on 67 and Dye, but nobody noticed he was gone until it was too late.
We had a group of Guido, Rick, Larry, Bernie and I – Rick and Guido went down Poway while Larry, Bernie and I descended SPP. We talked Bernie into heading up Pomerado with us, at easy conversational pace. Larry and I had another hour or so of riding to the coast, where the temperatures were much cooler and pleasant. 94 or so miles for Larry and me, another great day to ride in Ramona area.
Photos: http://goo.gl/Jp7qWs
You should have come!
Oleg.
Descenders, yesterday we had another fantastic ride organized by Matt and Roman – the route was essentially a counter-clockwise version of Great Western Loop plus a smaller loop nested inside, through Lawson Valley.
I counted more than 30 riders total early on. About half of riders were Descenders, including Mike Hodges (who just battled 100-mile Palomar ride but was riding strong), Rob, Jeff L., Tony, Paul (sporting new kit borrowed from Jeff), Jeff S., Eileen, Larry M., Ernst, Bob Proulx, Bernie and of course "locals" Larry Tanzo and Matt Babb who were both sporting full Descenders kits. Plus me, this makes it 14 Descenders. Hope I am not forgetting anyone.
There were some really strong riders joining us, including David Santos, a pro racer and a CA state road champion as well as time trial champion for the two past years. Drew Peterson was also there.
We rolled out as one large group but were quickly splitting up into smaller sub-groups, as climbing started around mile 3. Larry and I were riding together and missed the left turn to Wisecarver Rd., which in retrospect looked like a driveway and was easy to miss as we just started our descent after a long and relentless climb. We realized our mistake when we got to four corners. We weren’t the only ones to make the mistake, soon we were joined by 5 or so other riders, including Bernie, Ernst and Matt Babb who chased after Ernst. We turned around and climbed back up – Wisecarver is a steep little road that turns into dirt, with some sandy patches. Ernst rolled away from us, descending like a madman that he is. When we rejoined with a large group, turns out that Eileen (who was apprehensive about dirt to begin with) had a tumble in the sandy patch and scraped her elbow. We waited for Hodges, Rob and a few others who were missing from the group but then realized they must have been ahead of us and kept rolling. The group separated into smaller groups as we did more climbing in Lawson Valley – the front group was represented by Matt, Matt’s son Jordan, Larry T. and Larry M. and myself. It was full-on effort to stay with that group. We regroupped again at Lyons Valley (we found Hodges standing there waiting for us) and almost immediately got split up into sub-groups again on steep climb.
I was happy to see the store as it was getting hot and a lot of us were riding with empty bottles by then. At the store we found Rob and Jeff L. who somehow got ahead of us. We refilled the bottles and formed out own "reasonable tempo pace" group of about 10-12 riders, with Larry and me controlling the pace for the most part. We picked up a few other Descenders, including Rob, Jeff L., Bob. Eileen had a few dropped chain incidents, which have prevented her from getting her best time on some of the climbs. We were climbing with a tailwind but because of the heat some headwind would have been good. It felt like an oven – my Garmin showed temperatures as high as 110F, so it must have been in high 90ies.
Our final regrouping point was at Lyons Valley/Japatul. We waited for everyone and decided not to go to Alpine and just ride back through Dehesa descent. This was my wedding anniversary so I was eager to get home early. Of course group split off immediately, even as we were descending. In the front group we had about 20 riders pushing the pace on the downhills. On a short uphill section I had to put in a strong all-out effort to catch up to Larry Tanzo and Jordan. When I looked behind me, Larry M. was right on my wheel, and a huge gap behind him.The four of us rode together steady, and we were joined by Matt and Isak just before the descent. I could see other riders trying to bridge up but the pace was too high. It was very windy so six of us did Dehesa descent and rotated nicely, in TTT spirit, with very few words exchanged except "good pull". We averaged 25+ mph for the final 20 miles. It was hot! On my drive out of the parking lot I spotted a shiny bald, helmetless rider going what seemed like 30+ mph – another Chris Horner sighting.
It was a fantastic ride on roads less travelled by Descenders, with great route and even better company. Thanks to Roman and Matt for organizing it.
Photos are at http://goo.gl/fXwPvJ.
You should have come!
San Diego Descenders Cycling Club 
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