Saturday, August 30, 2008

Is Faster Faster?





I did basically the same ride as last Saturday. I started out by going out to Sierra and Summit in Fontana before heading back to the coffee shop. I then did the medium ride (basically go up to Padua and Mt Baldy and then turn around) I was feeling fairly frisky, and I noticed that the faster rider didn't catch us until Eitwanda and Baseline.
So I was surprised when I got back and found my time was slower than last week :( granted I did slow down to see if a couple of people with flats and steered some folks back on the right course. But I think the real reason was that last week my computer decided not to give any reading going up Benson. I had put on new tape and moved the position of the display, which seemed to solve the problem with interference.
Well you can't have everything.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Do a Brevet, get a medal!

















Well today I did brevet. Actually this is a special one. Today is the 10th anniversary of Randonneurs USA and if you did a brevet today, you were eligible for a medal.
The only thing was that It was in San Diego . I had to get started at 4AM. I did get there a little early, so I found some place to have breakfast. I then moseyed over to the parking lot and got everything ready. You could tell it was a special day since there were about 20 riders,usually there's about 7.
We did the warm-up lap around Fiesta Island, before taking off. I was soon at the rear as we climbed up through UCSD and down the grade at Torrey Pines. I ran into some of the faster riders waiting to make everyone was still on the road. This one of thing I really like about brevets, is that everyone watches out for everybody, unlike the usual "Saturday Morning World Championships".
Anyway, back to the positive! I chatted with them until I missed a light in Carlsbad. I took advantage of my loneliness to snap a photo.
At Oceanside, you have an option. You can either ride the shoulder of Interstate 5 through Camp Pendleton, or ride through Camp Pendleton if you show the guard an ID . I usually like riding through the base, although I do wonder about the "Tank Crossing" signs and the one directing Ambulances to the various live fire ranges.
It takes about 7 miles to get through the base. You then spend most of the rest of time on old abandoned highway 101. Nothing Like a 6 lane wide bike path! it's also part of San Onofre State Beach(and you get to go by San Onofre Nuclear Reactor). I stopped at the Control in San Clemente, which was next to Carl's Jr(Hardee's to folks back east) I got my card stamped had lunch, and headed back out.
Then the fun began. going through Oceanside, the traffic was bumper to bumper with no bike lane. The bike lane picked up in Carlsbad, but people were double parking on it to get to the beach. This lead to it swarming with Police cars and Tow trucks. I was think I need to re-fuel before Torry Pines (did I mention I had a Hammer Gel flask spill all over my bag, so I only had instead my normal two?) I passed by a 7-eleven in Encinatas, and had a Gatorade. I stopped before Torrey Pines to take a picture ( you can only see the first half). it's about 7% for a mile. I made it up with no problems and was soon on the bike path that takes you to Mission Bay Drive. I got on Mission Bay drive and found myself in the middle of a police pursuit. What a day!
I stopped to take a picture of Mission Bay. Things got better, as Mike (our RBA, Regional Brevet Administrator) had a medal waiting for me. I had registered early enough That he could pre-ordered mine. He also had some pizza and sodas. we talked about If would be willing to be an RBA for the Inland Empire (the name of the area I live in) I'm going to have to think on that.
I was going to by the outlet mall at Lake Elsinore, but decided that I had enough excitement for one day.

Saturday, August 02, 2008

a more popularie bike ride








In case you're wondering, a populaire is like a brevet, but only less so. They're usually only 100Km in length.
We had have been talking about doing ,and since most folks want to go into the mountains, I design a route that went into the mountains , specifically Lytle Creek Road. The n=only problem was where to afterwards. We decided to go through Rialto to Riverside before returning.
since I was starting from home, and didn't want to do the climb to Lytle Creek on a hot day., i went down up neely's corner before heading down. on the sceond from the bottom photo, the ridge in the background is the San Andreas fault. The ride through Rialto wasn't as bad as I had thought, but traffic and safety wise. Bloomington was a lot more bumpy, but manageable.
Once I crossed the Santa Ana into the City of Riverside, I started looking for a place to have a Control. Bruce had suggested the park (where the locomotive is), but I was looking for people to Restock. I soon found a shopping center with a CVS and a Starbucks - problem solved. I stopped and had a Gatorade Tiger. Mr woods must have some strange tastes, as I didn't care for the flavor and he apparently selected them.
enough with the negative!
I saw a neat hotel on the way back! and a nice view of the bridge to Mt Rubidox. I was going along Mission Blvd and saw the mural on the vfw post.
I then tried a route around the construction on Etiwanda Ave before heading to coffee shop . it worked fine, and I got here just as the folks doing the short route had pulled in. I sat and socialized for a while before Heading to REI to get a tire and going home (where I had a Gatorade rain - much better!)