San Diego Descenders Cycling Club

Hi All,

I knew the group of riders able to commit to a morning ride today would be small.  The ride up Wohlford and Cole Grade on Saturday took its toll.  I drove over to meet Gustaf at his hotel.  The goal was to get in a ride before he and his wife had to drive to Palm Springs for the next phase of their CA journey.  It was again very foggy and wet, practically drizzling on my drive over to the hotel in RB.  I was going to retrieve back my bike that I let Gustaf ride after today’s ride so I had to have a way to get two bikes home.  We got organized and pedaled over to Pomerado and RB corner to meet Dave Sheehan.  We were fortunate enough to meet Garet Heintz and his co-worker, Nancy.  Garet recently moved to Poway from Chula Vista and he knows Matt Babb.  Nancy is an ex-road bike racer from Scripps Ranch and she knows Jeff Cresap; small world of roadies.

The group of five headed for HVR.  We hoped to climb up above the thick fog.  Sheehan was in HOGWASH mode all day.  He hammer along HVR until we got the climb.  We regrouped at Bandy and flew down Bandy Canyon.  I was on Sheehan’s wheel going much faster than I should have been.  Dave hammered again along 78 as we started up the Ramona Grade.  Garet and Nancy are very good riders.  They spanked us and got to the top first.  We rode up into bright sunshine in Ramona as the fog stayed thick in the valleys.  We again regrouped and headed through Ramona to Dye Road.  Sheehan organized a fast rotation on the second half of the Dye Road loop back to highway 67.  

We took a good pace back along 67 towards Mt Woodson.  Garet and I hit the peak first and he had to head home to met a family deadline.  I took a few photos of the fog hitting the top of the mountain and got on the back wheel of Gustaf as he and Sheehan blew by me, with Nancy just behind.  We hammered to Poway Grade and almost caught Garet.  Nancy kept going to return down SPP.  Sheehan led the way down the Poway Grade and quickly closed the gap of Garet.  We went by him and all of us turned onto Espola.  We let Garet head for home while we regrouped with Gustaf.  The three of us cruised up Espola and then Sheehan again put the hammer down by Poway HS.  We hit almost 30 mph flying all the way back to Valley Verde.  Dave went home while Gustaf and I thankfully took it easy the last few miles back to his hotel.  We rode about 42 miles and climbed 2,800 feet.  Nice end to a good weekend of riding.

It was good to have our latest international guest join the Descenders for a few rides.  Gustaf will return soon and until then, he will follows us on Strava!

Have a great week all.  

Ride on-

Rob

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Hi All,

We had a great turnout for the ride today.  It started out fairly foggy in PQ and I was late getting to the meeting spot.  I saw Guido and Geoff just on the other side of the road as they had given up on me and were on their way to Spring Meadow.  We pedaled over and met Oleg and Rick.  The 5 of us headed for the group start.

We had 13 riders, including Gustaf and Manuel.  Manuel is a young buck friend of Matt.  We knew we were in trouble when Manuel said he was "about the same" rider as Matt!  Gustaf is our latest international visitor.  He is in the area for a few days and has been tracking our rides via the web page and our Strava entries.  Gustaf lives just south of Copenhagen, Denmark and is a fan of Arsenal.  Unfortunately Hodges was out of town so they did not get to discuss the beautiful game or Denmark.  Hodges is over galavanting around Barcelona from his Strava postings.

The group consisted of the above guys plus Dan S, Ernst (route planner), Eric, Farkas, Matt and Cresap.  The fog was thinning out a bit as we made our way over the Lake Hodges bridge.  We had a flat and mechanical delay along the bike path but eventually got our ride in gear heading up Mary Lane as the sun broke through.  We stayed as a group until the bottom of Lake Wohlford climb where Matt and Manuel took off, the pace quicken all along the pace line.  Ernst passed Geoff, Dan S and me about halfway up the climb and I hung on his wheel until we got near the top.  After a bathroom break, Farkas reversed course to head home and Dan S went with him.  The rest of us motored towards Valley View Casino.  We took the right and descended towards Rincon Harrah’s Casino.  The roads were bumpy and a bit tight in places, especially has we rode on highway 76 over to Cole Grade.  

It was getting warmer now and the climb up Cole Grade was long and tough.  We regrouped at the store at the end of Cole Grade.  The heat took its toll on all of us, especially Gustaf.  There is still snow on the ground at his house.  He needed a coke and some rest.  We are refilled our water bottles.  The group decided to skip Woods Valley Road back towards Lake Wohlford and instead just descend back into Escondido.  I hung back with Gustaf as we lost the group after leaving the store.  We were on the descent when we saw Geoff fixing his flat, all alone on the side of the road.  The three of us picked up a 4th rider, a nice Italian guy who lives in RB.  We rode as a group along Citrus and Bear Valley, retracing our steps back over the Lake Hodges bridge.  Geoff, Gustaf and I went right and back towards the hotel where Gustaf is staying.  Geoff and I finished our ride along Carmel Valley Road on the backside of Black Mountain, legs feeling the pain of the ride.

I got home with about 72 miles of riding and over 5,000 feet of climbing.  Fun group ride.  Here are a few photos.

I am hosting a ride tomorrow if you want to get in an easy Sunday ride.  I will drive to Gustaf’s hotel near RB Road at 8 am.  We will pedal over to Pomerado and RB intersection to meet riders at 8:30.  We will decide a route based on who rides.  I am considering a climb up HVR and over to Poway Grade or heading over to Del Dios and going back through RSF.  If you want to ride–meet at 8:30 am.  E-mail or test me if you have questions.

See you in the am.

Ride on-

Rob

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Hi All,

It was a cool morning but the sun was shining and the roads were dry; a much better environment than on Saturday.  I was late as usual and pedaled over to Spring Meadow to find Voris, Guido and Bob P ready to head to the start.  It was pretty cold in the valleys riding to Voris’ house but we all hoped for warmer weather as the ride unfolded.  I spun down to Hodges house to see his bike at the ready, but no Mike in sight.  Apparently he was at his computer watching a road race taking place in Europe.  We rode to the 7-11 with Hodges playing catch-up.  Rick was there to join us. A small but hardy group for a repeat of the previous day’s ride, Mussey Grade and Pamo Road.

We rode up SPP at a nice pace and around Mt Woodson.  The pace line down to Mussey was quick, as were the nice pulls to the end of the road.  We stopped and enjoyed the bright sunshine and starting to warm conditions.  It was very green from all the recent rain.  Mike noted that it was about 20 degrees warmer compared to his ride the previous day.  We all stayed together for the climb back up Mussey.  Bob P, our world traveler, had to bug out for home and work.  He headed back down highway 67 while the rest of us rode towards Dye Road.

It was deja vu all over again!  I looked around me and saw the original Descenders Team A from the 2008 Shadowtour Team Time Trail–Rick, Voris, Guido and Hodges.  I knew the rest of the ride was going to be painful for me.  We pulled hard along Dye Road and then through downtown Ramona and over to Pamo.  The views going north were brilliant.  We could see the snow on the mountains off in the distance and the lush, green valley ahead.  Voris stopped at the top of the descent to take a photo.  I took a photo of the wildlife down in the valley.  We all wished the road would continue on for miles instead of stopping and turning into a sand/dirt track.  Rick has taken his motorcycle all the way to the end.   No such luck on our road bikes.  We turned around and climbed back out of Pamo Valley reversing our course back to highway 67.

At the light, Voris, Guido and Rick headed home via the SPP descent.  They met up with Jeff Cresap on the way home.  Hodges and I went down HVR.  Mike was a stud, he pulled the entire length of HVR.  We passed a group of Swami riders just before the start of the descent.  Mike led out for the first part of the downhill portion.  I passed him above Bandy and was then passed by one of the Swami guys.  I held his wheel to the bottom of the descent.  There was now another rider behind me and then Mike.  It was a fast downhill for me, nothing like the speedster Sheehan.  At the bottom of HVR, I headed over the I-15 and through 4S Ranch while Mike went down Pomerado.  I finished with 77 miles and about 5,000 ft of climbing.  Great Sunday ride.

See a few photos below:

Also attached is the Alpine Challenge entry form.  Be sure to register this week for the early-bird and team discounts.  

The ride this Sat is heading up to north county.  Ernst is tweaking the route so I will send out a message tomorrow.  

Ride on-

Rob

—————————————– ******************************************************************* IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR RECIPIENTS IN THE U.S.A.: This message may constitute an advertisement of a BD group’s products or services or a solicitation of interest in them. If this is such a message and you would like to opt out of receiving future advertisements or solicitations from this BD group, please forward this e-mail to optoutbygroup@bd.com. ******************************************************************* This message (which includes any attachments) is intended only for the designated recipient(s). It may contain confidential or proprietary information and may be subject to the attorney-client privilege or other confidentiality protections. If you are not a designated recipient, you may not review, use, copy or distribute this message. If you received this in error, please notify the sender by reply e-mail and delete this message. Thank you. ******************************************************************* Corporate Headquarters Mailing Address: BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) 1 Becton Drive Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417 U.S.A. *******************************************************************

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Alpine Challenge-2012RegistrationForm.pdf
Download this file

Descenders – We had a great ride up Old Julian today!
When I showed up at Spring Meadow, there was nobody there and I
thought I was going to ride alone to the meet point (would have been a
first), but then Hodges rolled up. Hodges rode part of the Ride Across
California with his kids yesterday, and accumulated more than 100
miles with a lot of climbing in Julian and Ramona just on Friday
alone. At Pomerado Rd. we ran into Jeff Cresap, and then met up with
Matt Babb, Bob Proulx, Rob, Sheehan, Klaus and Bob Raibert. Rob just
drove from Colorado through the night, arriving in San Diego at 4AM.
However, he was full of energy – he was first to the top of HVR,
showing some good form, possibly from elevation training. He seemed so
rested, I demand that he should drug-tested after the ride. We rotated
nicely after Bandy Canyon descent, and for the most part climbed
together as a group, into the headwind, up Ramona Grade. Klaus gets
the “Jens Voigt” award for setting the hard pace on the climb, and
keeping the pace up despite obviously suffering.
Things got a little animated towards the false-flat section of Ramona
Grade, with the three of us (myself, Matt and Bob) separating from the
group a bit, with Proulx and others chasing. Proulx has been traveling
a lot and has been running in UK, France, Italy, Germany and maybe
some other countries that I am forgetting right now, as well as recent
trips to Boston, San Francisco and other locations in US and abroad.
His cycling form was very impressive, given lack of cycling. When we
got to Ramona we broke up – Proulx turned back and descended Ramona
Grade, while Raibert and Sheehan went back through HVR – Bob helped to
pace Sheehan through some sections, with Sheehan setting a new KOM on
HVR descent, 21 seconds ahead of Logan who held KOM before, for an
average of 33.4mph, topping out at 54.5 mph!!! Don’t try this at home,
folks.
Four of us, Matt, Klaus, Hodge and myself, were lead by Jeff and Rob
on what could only be called “Easter Egg Hunt” for new roads leading
to Old Julian, through San Vicente and Vista Ramona Roads. The
“shortcut” wasn’t pre-authorized by the route committee, but being an
excellent salesman, Rob convinced us it will be worth it – fun roads
with fantastic views. There was a lot of “left turn-right turn-left
turn” and we only got semi-lost once (thanks to Jeff who steered us in
the right direction) – not bad for exploring new roads. Rob and Jeff
looped back home when we got to the Old Julian turn, leaving the four
of us to explore Old Julian – this was first time up Old Julian for
Matt and Klaus. We kept the pace steady into the wind, and then
enjoyed a super-fast, tailwind assisted descent down into Ramona. I
was surrounded by high-mileage folks – Hodges did 100+ miles just
yesterday, Klaus routinely does 150 miles of just commuting every
week, never mind weekend rides, and Matt has been averaging 270 miles
a week for the past few weeks – while I was averaging only about 50
per week. By this point it was also quite warm, 86F according to my
Garmin. We refilled our bottles and kept on going to Dye Rd. and HVR –
a lot of kids were out for Easter Egg Hunt, and overall it was a great
day to be out riding. We split up near the top of HVR, with Matt and I
hammering a bit and separating from Klaus and Mike, but we were almost
home. My Garmin battery died on return down Pomerado, but I ended up
with about 80 miles,4500 ft climbed.

Photos attached (also at http://goo.gl/kLKh8)

You should have come!

Oleg.

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April 7:  Old Julian through Ramona Grade:

Meet at the corner of Corner of Pomerado and Rancho Bernardo Road at 8AM for 60-70 miles up the Ramona Grade, then Old Julian Road.

Map: Old Julian through Ramona Grade

April 14: 

Mussey, Pamo, SPP:

Meet at 7-11 at Garden Road and Poway Road at 8:00am for the Mussey Grade, Pamo Road Loop.  Map: Mussey Grade, Pamo Road Loops, up Scripps Poway Parkway

April 21: Gopher Canyon-Bonsail-Lilac-Woods Valley-Wohlford Ride

Meet at 8AM at Pomerado and Rancho Bernardo Roads for 70-mile ride along Old 395, Gopher Canyon to Bonsail, Lilac, Woods Valley and return by Lake Wohlford, 
Map: http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/79477527 

April 28:

• Reverse Coastal Loop: (Taper before Alpine Challenge)

Meet at 8AM at the 56 bike path and Black Mountain Rd. for REVERSE coastal loop through Santaluz to Rancho Santa Fe, Olivenhain Rd. to the coast, to Oceanside, back to Del Mar, inland through Carmel Valley Road and 56 bike path. 68 miles, 2000 ft.
Map: Reverse Coastal Loop