Toughest and Hottest Ride of the Year...For Me

First things first. On my Saturday group ride some guy made the comment (jokingly I guess) that my shoes "clashed" with my socks. NOBODY busts on my argyle socks (or my shoes more like it)! I didn't have a good come-back and now I can't remember what I said. I think I said something lame like "yeah, they don't go with much." LAME!

But whatever, I know the shit doesn't go! They're highlighter-florescent yellow and I've got goofy socks on. It's cycling, we're all in tight as heck spandex and shave our legs, do you think I'm going to worry about clashing? That's the camera rope in the below pic, not a pearl necklace. Now a pearl necklace, that would clash!

Today was REALLY hot and humid. I know I shouldn't complain given the heat spell the Mid-Atlantic Region was experiencing, but this is coastal California. I don't know how hot it got today, but when I checked at around 3:50pm, weather.com said it was only 87 degrees F in La Jolla. It felt like 97. Just about 30 miles northeast of La Jolla in Escondido, it was HOT! The proof was in the first pic above.

Now, on to the ride. I felt good during the San Diego Bicycle Club (SDBC) portion of the ride. Had a little fun, did some bridging. My back started hurting on Wednesday morning after a run and has been a pain ever since (bending and twisted). Not sure if I aggravated my "slightly protruding L5."

It's amazing how therapeutic a 70-mile ride can be for your back. Actually, it does feel better today. After the SDBC portion of the ride I headed home and had a clif bar and filled up with fluids and headed back out.

My 100 mile training program says I should do 4 hours. Ride data below (out of my www.garminconnect.com account).


The Garmin 705 has been pretty good. It puts your ride right onto a fully functioning google maps screen. You can zoom in to different part, change the view to "satellite." Below is the complete ride, the SDBC loop which is the top portion and then after that I worked a little south climbing Soledad Mountain.

The below pic is why Cezanne LOVES the Garmin 705. You can zoom in and see EVERYTHING. After we do our paceline work we stop at a school to regroup. At the end of the parking lot (on the right of the pic) there is a porta-potty. Guess where I went? I think Cezanne would like additional features to be added though, like a warning signal that transmits home if I talk to any girls on the ride. I hear Garmin is working on that one, although it's low on their priority list. I'm totally joking about Cezanne loving the GPS and wanting that feature.

I'm a little nervous about the climb that comes at mile 70 of the 100-mile San Jose LiveStrong ride. I've heard it is 2 miles long and 15% gradient. I did my best to try to figure out the length and gradient from the route profile, but it's not very detailed. I estimated 1.5 miles and an average gradient of 11-12%.

So, I tried something today that I've never done before, climb up to the Soledad Mountain Cross using Hidden Valley/Via Capri. Ugh. I've been up Soledad Mountain Rd and up Nautilus and DOWN Via Capri, but never up.

So when I headed back out, after a hard workout of 50 miles and on the hottest day of the year, I thought it only rationale to try to climb Hidden Valley/Via Capri. I figured the tough 50 miles today might simulate the easy/moderate first 70 miles of the LiveStrong Ride.

It was rough. I was slow. I made it to the top. I wish I had a few lower gears.

I think it was just shy of 2 miles and a lot of it was between 10-15% gradient. The max gradient I saw while on the climb was 17%, not exactly fun.

You can see the ride elevation profile below. The tallest blip to the right is the climb up Hidden Valley/Via Capri. It was steep. I descended then climbed back up on Soledad Mountain Rd. The Torrey Pines hill (6 %) ends where the distance says 42.something.

Below is my victory lap on GPS around the Cross after the tough climb. It wasn't so much a victory lap as it was a "I'm glad I didn't turn-around" lap.

My first race is next Sunday. Little nervous and apprehensive on what to expect. I have a feeling I am going to hang back to feel things out and be fighting it out for spots 45-50 of 50 spots.

It is interesting training for a 100-mile training ride (July 13th), a couple of Cat 5 races (June 29, late July), and the Annapolis Triathlon (September 7th) all at the same time.