San Diego Descenders Cycling Club

Lake Wohlford, Couser Canyon, West Lilac and Camino del Rey Loop

23 March 2013

by Rob Verfurth

The Descenders group ride started at the mall by Lake Hodges. I rode over from my house to join a very large group of riders. There were almost two dozen Descenders ready to ride. Dave Sheehan could not ride but he stopped by, coffee in hand, to say hi to the group. Voris had multiple flats before we rolled out a few minutes after 8 am. The large group was difficult to control, especially when the slow guys, like me, knew the exact ride route. We rode up Mary Lane toward Summit Drive and the group split with the fast front guys taking a wrong turn. James, Matt, Jordan, Oleg and Tony all went right when we usually head across route 78 towards Citrus. The remainder of the group cruised along towards the Lake Wohlford climb knowing the fast guys would eventually turn around once they realized their mistake. The climb up was its usual spirited pace with everyone regrouping at the top. Garet had to abandon to get back to family so he headed back down Lake Wohlford Road.

Hodges was ready to start riding again and I knew we would get sucked up by the faster guys before we got to Woods Valley. A few of us headed out. Tony was in the bathroom and a number of guys waited until he was back ready to ride. The fast guys flew by me before Woods Valley. Bernie was in front of me and we closed back to the lead group. The pace was blistering as Bernie pulled me along at 29 mph but we could not hold the wheel of the torrid pace set by James, Oleg, Matt, Voris, Jordan, Geoff B, Farkas, Matt D, Eric and a few others. Jeff S was the hero for the last group of Tony, Kevin and Jeff Langley. Jeff S pulled them from the top of Wohlford to Woods Valley and over to Cole Grade.

We lost a number of guys at Cole Grade as they headed back to town. Oleg, James and Matt Davis went back south while the remaining group pedaled over to Lilac Road. We headed north and lost Len (TE) at Old Castle as he headed back to town. The group made another wrong turn at West Lilac but we all regrouped to find the bottom of Couser Canyon. The climb up was relatively tame and we all enjoyed the smooth, curvy descent back down to route 76. It was a beautiful sunny morning and the mountains were lush and green.

Farkas led us through the neighborhood cut through off of route 76 and we all climbed to the Lilac bridge. The descent was fast as I hung onto the wheel of Jeff S; he gave a monster pull to the bottom. We all stayed in a nice pace line along Camino del Rey until Eric R and Bernie surged to the front. The pace pushed me but fortunately the campground stop was just ahead. Jeff Langley fell back and did not see us turn into the rest stop. I glanced up to see him continue to head south on Old 395. I usually try to start in front of the rest of the guys so planned to head out and try to catch Jeff. Voris had another flat so most of the guys stayed to help fix the tire.

Jeff S, Kevin and I took off to reel in Jeff L. Jeff S continued to work hard and he pulled Kevin and I all the way to Jesmond Dene. We did not see Jeff. We cruised fast down Jesmond Dene and cut through Encondido, skipping the route back along El Notre Parkway and Citrus. We cut straight to Bear Valley and back to the mall. Jeff Langley rolled up a few minutes after us. He had gone to Citrus so we just missed him.

I headed out to ride around Lake Hodges and hit Del Dios before looping back through RSF and home. Hodges was forcing me to get in more mileage to prepare for the brutal BWR on the horizon. I was felling the effects of the climbing and more than 75 miles already under my belt. Hodges said I had to ride 100 miles. I slowly made by way along Del Dios with a steady headwind that slowed my pace even more. Fortunately Hodges finally caught up to me near Cielo so he took point the rest of the way into RSF. We cruised by stud loop and along Apajo towards Three Witches. I hung on Mike’s wheel for the climb and then we pedaled down Camino del Sur towards the bike path. I was only at 95 miles and did not have the legs to add additional loops. Mike went home past Mt Carmel HS and hit over 100 miles for the day; he will be ready for BWR.

I was another great Descenders group ride. Here are a few photos.

Ride on-

Mount Soledad Repeats

16 March 2013
by Rob Verfurth

Getting to the start of the Descenders group ride was difficult enough. Friday evening I met the enemy and it kicked my backside. Early beers and red wine while staying up way too late, continuing to imbibe, was a recipe for disaster when considering a ride, especially one that was slated for Mt Soledad repeats. I slowly made my way to the 8 am start and was greeted by a bunch of peppy riders, ugh. At the start were Voris, Yi-Shiou, Steve K, Tony O, Ernst, Hodges, Claus, Kevin (new rider) and me. We picked up Oleg along the 56 bike path and then met Matt B at the coast. A solid group ready to tackle Soledad. We also met up with a triathlon friend of Eric R. Tyson was out doing some road work so he joined us until we hit PCH.

It was a cool day, rather foggy at the coast but still great conditions for a ride. We rode the bike path and looped up Carmel Country before heading back to Carmel Valley Road and over to PCH. The group stayed together climbing Torrey Pines outside but we lost Mike H, who had to make a phone call and Kevin, who had to fix his heart rate monitor. The rest of us motored over to La Jolla Shores with a huge surging push past UCSD where I about fell off the back. The descent past the oceanography pier and into La Jolla was also quick. We regrouped before the start of the climbs. Hodges and Ken cut over and caught up to us as we were climbing.

Oleg led us up a series of turning, twisting and steep roads to get us to Soledad Park. The climbing was challenging and everyone was glad to get to the top. First of four climbs! Oleg had us descend down Nautilus St and then come back around for climb two up Country Club Dr. Hodges broke his chain at the start of the climb. Oleg and Ernst provided some technical assistance and then caught up to the group. Mike eventually fixed his chain and got in over 100 miles for the day. He will be ready for BWR in a few weeks. As we neared the top of Country Club we spotted a number of women out doing some exercising in the trees by the golf course; not sure what their game plan was but I had to take a picture. Oleg and Ernst got a chuckle out of it anyway.

We had to go through the gates but made our way back to Soledad Park. Fortunately for me I had to ride to Torrey Pines high school for a track meet so I got to bug out after two climbs. Kevin joined me as we rapidly descended Via Capri, made our way back to Calle Del Oro to climb up toward UCSD. We reversed our Torrey Pines and bike path route until I split off for TP high school. After watching my girls run I finished my ride home, only 53 miles but over 4,500 feet of climbing. I am sure Oleg has more details from the other Soledad repeat climbs. Here are two photos. I will post the album to Shutterfly.

Ride on-

Oleg’s addendum:

We did have a very nice ride as Rob described. Hodges broke his chain on the lower slopes just before start of Country Club and had to stop to fix it and try to catch us on the next lap – somehow we missed him so he ended up doing the rest of it solo. Only 3 riders made it all the way to the final loop up Pacifica – some turned away early, and Klaus destroyed his derailleur. Carnage everywhere!

Some photos are below.

More Photos are here

HVR Climb, Mussey Grade and Poway Grade Loop

10 March 2013
by Rob Verfurth

It was a beautiful Sunday morning with bright blue skies and lots of sun. The early temps were still cool but it was going to warm up nicely. We had no set ride plans but the group met at the corner of Black Mountain Road and the bike path at 9 am, all the guys correctly set their clocks forward and arrived on time. We had five Descenders ready to knock out a small group ride: Guido, Bernie, Yi-Shiou, Tony (from Chicago) and Rob. The decision was to go climb up HVR and loop around back to the start.

Guido led us north on Black Mountain Road then handed off to Bernie who pushed the pace along Carmel Valley Road toward 4S. We cruised through the electronics companies business park and by RB park near Lake Hodges to get to the start of the HVR climb. Bernie was off the front as expected but he slowed after the first climb to keep us together and explain the route to Tony who had not ridden up HVR. We all rode to the top and then along the flats to Hwy 67. Bernie and Guido took long strong pulls on point.

The turn onto Mussey Grade coming out of Ramona was a bit challenging with all the traffic. We eventually got into a smooth paceline heading down Mussey; again with Bernie and Guido doing most of the front efforts. After a short break in the bright sunshine overlooking San Vicente Reservoir we pedaled back to the top of Mussey Grade. Yi-Shiou had to head back down HVR toward RB and home while the rest of us headed south on 67. Bernie pulled us along until I blew up and fell off the back. He came back to pull me back to the group around Mt Woodson. Bernie was on point to entire descent to Poway Grade and then again for most of the descent down to Espola; we were moving fast. The four of us rode together until Bernie cut north on Pomerado while Guido, Tony and I rode Ted Williams toward PQ. Tony cut north at Oggi’s Pizza so Guido and I got the chance to pootle the remaining miles to home.

Another great day in the saddle, about 53 miles and again about 4,000 feet of climbing. Attached are two photos. I will put the rest on Shutterfly.

Reverse Elfin Forest
9 March 2013
by Rob Verfurth

The group ride on Saturday was looking iffy at best. The heavy rains from the previous two days were not yet done. There were some late passing showers and the roads were wet. I almost thought about calling a two hour delay to the start of the ride but was worried many would not get the word. It was cool and wet as I rolled to the start, somewhat surprised to see 7 other guys ready to ride. Standing in the rain were Len (TE), John, Steve K (I’d rather be skiing), Tony O (from Chicago), Jeff Langley (our new PQ based rider), Zach and his buddy home from college break, Daniel. No one wanted to lead out so I took point riding down the bike path. This was a good move by me with the rains and water on the roads. I got some clean air and avoided all the rooster tails flying off the bikes. I still was wet and the feet were soaked before we met up with Sheehan on Camino Del Sur. He looked too clean to have ridden over; Laurie dropped him off to join the ride. We also met up with Bob P near Santaluz. Bob was planning only to take a bit of rust off his legs as he had flown back from Europe late Friday evening and had the San Diego Half Marathon on Sunday. He rode with us to Lago Lindo before reversing course.

We decided to skip the climbs in Santaluz due to the rains and slick roads, descended cautiously down San Dieguito Road and also skipped Stud Loop, heading over on El Camino Del Norte toward Olivenhain. The group rode together to the climb up towards San Elijo Hills, split and then regrouped heading into town. The climb up to Double Peak split us apart again. Sheehan and I rode together to the top taking an easy pace and talking about how fortunate were are to be able to ride with the Descenders and enjoy a great life in San Diego. The rains had stopped and the sun tried to break through as we go to the parking lot of Double Peak.

The group descended back into the town center before heading to Elfin Forest. John M. Steve K, Tony and Rob got through a light that caught the rest of the group. John pushing the pace and then were were off ahead for the rest for the ride through Elfin Forest and Harmony Grove. Steve and Tony pushed the pace. Len and young Daniel, a very strong rider, caught up with us at the end of Harmony Grove. Everyone decided to slow and wait to regroup. Unfortunately, I was on a time schedule that required me to ride on alone. I had to get to Rancho Bernardo HS in time for the track meet events of my daughters. I cruised around Lake Hodges, down Pomerado and turned off toward the high school, making it with time to spare.

After watching the girls run and seeing Neil Rintoul, who was at the meet to see his son run, I rode home. The mileage was 54 with just over 4,000 feet of climbing. Fun group ride. Attached are a couple of photos. I will upload the rest to Shutterfly. If you are not on the shutterfly album, let me know and I can add you as a Descender member.

Torrey Pines, PCH and RSF Loop

3 March 2013

My Saturday ride was cut way short due to the broken spoke at the top of SPP. I had to turn in the Cervelo to get the maintenance done but I still had the old trusty Trek to ride. Despite a group invite and numerous prodding individual messages, only Guido and Bryan Jones volunteered for the Sunday ride. I know many others were out there based on Strava entries so it was another good day to be on a bike.

Bryan, Guido and I met up on the bike path and headed for the coast. After a nice pace ride to PCH we headed down the hill towards Torrey Pines. Our plan was to ride up the inside and then head back down on the outside road. Bryan took off smartly and flew up the hill with me and Guido in hot pursuit. I closed the gap as we neared the bathrooms and stayed on his wheel to the light. Guido joined us and we headed back north along PCH. There were plenty of riders out all along the roads. Our pace was nice and comfortable, Guido was feeling the effects of the hot and difficult Alpine ride from Saturday.

We turned inland at Lomas Sante Fe and climbed toward RSF. Three riders passed us at the light at the start of the climb. I was taking a picture and Guido & Bryan got caught at the light. The three guys flew up the climb, Bryan went after them. He pretty quickly caught one guy who then decided to pass Bryan. Bryan was having none of it so he dropped the hammer and smoked the dude. He was so utterly defeated that I was able to sneak by him before the stop sign at the top. Guido joined us and we pedaled on toward El Camino Real, where we turned north.

Our route cut us through RSF and back up Via de Fortuna to El Montevideo toward the reservoir. We stopped at the house on Mimulus to get water as I had lost a water bottle early in the ride and was parched. Bryan pulled us along Stud Loop and then we headed back toward El Apajo. We were stopped at the light before the Three Witches when a rider rode by heading up the hill. He tried to conceal himself by covering up his face, but that made him more conspicuous. I could tell by the pedal stroke it was Cresap trying to evade us. We quickly caught Jeff and climbed the hill all together. After a short stop we cruised through Santaluz and sped out the south gate toward the bike path.

Guido followed me up the path while Bryan and Jeff headed toward their houses. We rode between 42-45 miles and climbed over 3,000 feet. Guido was tired and I was glad to make up for some lost mileage. Attached are a couple of photos.

Ride on-

Rob

To add to Rob’s report: we had 13 Descenders (including a new rider, Jeff) at the start but picked up Matt Babb at Poway Scripps climb. So it was 14.
Actually, 16 if you count cameos by Garet Heintz and Chris Horner. Garet and I rode the final few miles along Poway Scripps.
Chris Horner was late to our starting point, but went by us in the opposite direction while being motorpaced at approximately 43mph. He may have been hunting for one of the Rick’s KOMs. Chris, next time read Descenders Rides calendar a bit more carefully – we leave promptly at 8:00.

By the way, we did have a few more Descender encounters – I briefly chatted with Voris at the start who was still recovering from his cold and wasn’t riding but was in good spirits. While riding to 7-11 I was also honked at and yelled at (“Get off the road! Cyclists are a Menace!”) by Hodges who was driving to the start after dropping off Sam.

The ride was quite animated, especially by Matt and Jeff who were superstrong all day today.

We had some bad luck with mechanicals today – Rob got a broken spoke on 67 descent, early on into the ride, and on the way back from Alpine Rick got a flat too. Four of us (Hodges, Steve, Yi-Shiou and I) rode on to El Capitan reservoir, while several others went straight home. Matt Babb turned off earlier. We hoped to run into Rick, Jeff, Matt Davis, Bernie and Ernst on our out-and-back El Capitan loop, but I got a text from Ernst describing it as “flat-fest” – there were more flats. Only four of us made it to El Capitan, completing the entire ride.

The four of us rode together to the bottom of 67 climb, where we found Rick who had yet another flat and was waiting for his wife to pick him up. Hodges suggested Rick takes his wheel and Hodges gets a pick up from Rick’s wife. I would gladly take him up on this offer as well!

We separated on the climb but at the top as I was about to descend Poway Scripps I ran into (or rode into) Garet who was doing a short loop as he was recovering from illness. I was tired and it was windy so it was great to have company.

I made it back to Voris/Hodges with 78 miles, official distance for Alpine loop – Hodges did some extra sneaky riding despite surely being dog-tired, to get 88 miles for the day. Highest mileage award of the day goes to Hodges.

Selected Photos are attached, for more see here:
https://plus.google.com/photos/109410926478548321411/albums/5850868614444056641?authkey=CMPCxsWpg67gCA

You should have come!

Alpine Loop Ride Report
2 March 2013
by Rob Verfurth

It was another beautiful day in San Diego County and the Descenders were trying to cover as much of it as possible. The Alpine loop takes us from the Poway area east and south to the bottom of Harbison Canyon, back through Alpine with a detour out to El Capitan reservoir before climbing out of Lakeside on 67 back to Poway. Guido and I met early on the Black Mountain corner and rolled over to a very quiet Spring Meadow. We decided to ride to Garden road and wait for the main group. There were others that came to Spring Meadow–Geoff, Jeff S and Oleg, who chased us to the start.

We had a large group by 8m, 13 riders in total. There were a number of new faces and some who have not ridden in the recent past. Jeff is a new rider from the PQ area. Matt Davis was out, as was Rick, the local constable. who was always super strong in past rides. He now has a new Cervelo so look out! Hodges joined right as we were about to roll. He introduced us to our latest team sponsor. Mike can provide more details.

The group climbed Sycamore Canyon to SPP with Bernie and Geoff on point. As we climbed SPP, we picked up Matt Baab who had ridden from La Mesa up 67 to join the ride. We did a partial regroup at the top of SPP before surging down the 67 towards Lakeside. I snapped a spoke at the top and had to abandon the ride. I wobbled home but still managed to get in 26 miles.

Oleg was snapping more great photos so he can provide a full ride report and send many pictures. Here are a few photos.

Ride -on-

Rob

Lake Wohlford, Couser and Rice Canyon Ride Report

2 Feb 2013

by Rob Verfurth

We had a good turnout for the group ride on Sat, 2 Feb. A total of 14 Descenders pedaled or drove to meet at the North County Mall to start the ride. We were joined by Jordan Babb, the 21 y/o son of Matt. Youth and good genes make for a powerful combination, Jordan is a strong rider. We stayed as a group to the Lake Wohlford climb and regrouped at the top. The paceline sped along towards Woods Valley. Guido was not feeling well so he and I dropped back a bit. The group pulled away and only Guido, Bob P and I were left for our own little speed drill back towards Valley Center. Garet, Bob and Guido turned left and headed back towards Escondido while the remaining 11 riders rode towards Lilac.

The pace was good on Lilac and West Lilac Road with Hodges taking a quick break for his hair appointment just before the climb up Couser Canyon. We regrouped at the top and had a fun and safe descent down the curvy narrow roads towards highway 76. Voris noted that we had only ridden 30 miles or so from the mall so the group was quickly convinced to add Rice Canyon to the day. The climb up Rice is beautiful with lots of overhanging trees, little traffic and mostly smooth road. We pedaled over to the church for water and bathroom break before the return back down Old 395.

Rick pulled us along Old 395, past Pala Mesa casino, back south at a fast clip. The fast climb back up towards the Lilac Bridge caused the group to break apart. Yi-Shiou and I swept at the rear and rode to our usual stopping location at the camp grounds. No Descenders were there so we continued on past the Welk Resort. We pulled in Steve K and eventually Hodges joined us as well. Mike had stopped for a soda at the store and then forgot his water bottle in the process. The four of us rode together, skipping the return down Jesmond Dene Road and went straight down Centre City Parkway to Escondido. Ernst had bonked and we reeled him in as we pedaled into town. The five of us cruised together on the back roads to the mall, finishing ahead of the fast guys who went the longer route.

I finished with 63 miles and about 5,000 feet of climbing; not bad given the 77 miles I did with Hodges on our ride the day previous for lunch in downtown San Diego. Many of the guys rode back home but some cars remained at the mall. As I was putting my bike in my car, the other riders cruised back into the mall parking lot. Jeff S had ridden over from the coast to start the ride so he finished with over 100 miles for the day, great riding. Another fun Descenders group ride. Attached are a few photos.

Ride on-

I never sent a report from last weekend’s Pamo and Mussey ride. The Turnout of about 9 reflected the questionable weather pattern. We ultimately got no rain but the sky/cloud patterns we amazing, even when captured in my iPhone camera. I attached a couple of pictures from that ride.
David Voris.

Elfin Forest and The Crosby

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Descenders Group Ride-Oceanside Harbor Loop

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We had 16 brave Descenders show up for a taper ride today. It was very
c-c-cold (yes, with three “c”s)- I rode from my house at 6:30AM with
temperatures around freezing point (with frost on the grass) and by
the time I got to Springmeadow Lane, Guido (who was hiding inside his
car to stay warm) informed me it was 29F outside. My toes were frozen
despite all precautions.
But it warmed up a bit as we climbed (slowly and controlled) Scripps
Poway and rode over to Mussey (with some strong pulls by Raibert and
Matt Davis). We then rotated through smoothly as we descended Mussey,
had some snacks and climbed back up. The temperatures were up to 64
now. At the Mussey/67 intersection the group split up – some went back
through HVR and Rick, Matt Babb, Bob Raibert and Jeff Southerton did a
few laps around Archie Moore/HVR/67 as TTT practice. Nicely done!

Photos are attached. You should have come!

Good luck to everyone at Stagecoach next Saturday, and don’t forget to
renew your Descenders membership if you haven’t done so already!
— Oleg

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We had 12 Descenders on our New Year’s Day ride today. Some started
from Poway and others joined up at Torrey Pines (plus Neil who met us
at Fiesta) – we rode out to Fiesta with a few animated pulls along the
way – at Fiesta we broke off into a few teams. Our team did 5 laps
non-stop (all under 10 minutes, that’s pretty fast by my standards)
plus a short lap for a cooldown. Photos are attached.

Nice way to start the year. You should have come.
— Oleg

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