Remembering how to ride bike

Today was my first day on the bike in June. THAT'S no way to train for the Furnace Creek 508! After a quick trip to the Portland area for a meeting I returned on Wednesday to San Diego but the first day or so was spent catching up with "the project". This morning I finally hopped back on the bike with a plan to do some riding.

I began by pedaling past Fiesta Island and turning up Friar's Road. I climbed the first hill of the day and arrived at Mission Trails Regional Park.........for the second time in a week. (full sized photos available by clicking on any photo)



This time I took a ride up Fr Junipero Serra Rd on the advice of my San Diego Tour Guide.


Fr Junipero Serra Rd is divided for hikers/bikes and cars, 15 mph speed limit both sides, and one way for cars. There were information signs along the route that described various points of interest, including Old Mission Dam, formerly known as Padre Dam. Built in 1813 by local natives under the direction of Spanish clerics it is the oldest irrigation project in the American west.




After playing tourist a bit I continued on my way. I arrived in Santee CA shortly and immediately caught the aroma of donuts! I followed my nose to Mary's and had a chocolate frosted maple bar, which the staff informed me was not a maple bar at all, but a chocolate bar. So what is a Hershey's Bar called then??? ;-)



Once I had my snack I turned toward El Cajon and pedaled on. I had mapped today's route on the computer and transferred it to my gps. It was a good route that avoided most of the traffic. I had the gps navigation zoomed in to 300 ft view to make it clear where to turn but that meant I had to keep an eye on the screen frequently. A couple of times I'd miss a turn because I was busy watching something else but a quick loop around the block would get me back on course. That only happened a couple of times so it was no big deal. In El Cajon I began doing a fair amount of climbing as I made my way through some hills to Lake Murray.





I continued on this rather hilly section but the earlier "chocolate frosted maple bar", as well as some more traditional ride food I had along helped power me over the hills. I finally arrived at what appeared to be the top of my last big climb as I looked out over San Diego. The descent was about to begin!



The only goof up in mapping was little box on my handlebars sent me down about 80 steps. There probably was some way around the stairs, but I don't know the roads so I did my best impression of a cyclocross rider and shouldered the bike and down the steps I went.


I continued a mostly descending ride towards San Diego and came up on Mission Basilica San Diego De Alcala, California's oldest mission.




I was in a bit of a hurry at this point because I was scheduled to meet a contractor at noon but did stop for a brief moment to look around. I'll put this place on my list of things to take time to visit before leaving SoCal.
(aloe vera?)

Just over 3200 ft of climbing today, the rain showers missed me, and even with a donut stop, the stairs, and numerous stop signs and signals I managed to hold nearly a 15 mph average. Not too bad for a tourist!
(actual route map and ride data here)
The plan is to ride both days this weekend so maybe I'll have a respectable 1 week total by Sunday.....maybe.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles
Today............51...............0.................51
Jan total.......501.....+.........30.......=.......531
Feb total.......614.....+.........0........=.......614
March total.....860.....+.........0........=.......860
April total.....790.....+.........0........=.......790
May total.......901.....+.........0........=.......901
June total.......51.....+.........0........=........51
Year to date...3753.....+.........30.......=......3783
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++