Thursday, December 31, 2009

On the SoCal coast!


The last ride of the year, Fallbrook to San Diego
Leaving Fallbrook under blue skies on our last day of the ride. It's been a treat!

posted via cell phone at 8:01 AM


A beautiful day on the SoCal coast.


(posted via cell phone at 9:59 AM)

UPDATE:
The day started out clear and bright. The rain of yesterday was....well, yesterday's news! We were advised to be in San Diego no later than 3PM since the organizers had a rental truck to return and all the "toys" had to be put away.
For most of us that would not be a problem, there were less than 60 miles to ride and a net elevation loss on the route.

The weather was gorgeous and the ride was really quite uneventful. I continued to take in the view as I rode. I was by myself most of the ride today. I pulled off in a shopping center parking lot a few hours into the ride to drink one of the Ensure's that I carry. While stopped a car with two older couples pull up next to me and ask directions to a restaurant! I started telling them that I wasn't from the area when I remembered that I had my car GPS in my pack just in case I needed it for "off route" navigating. I pulled it out, got a fix on the current location, then had it find nearby restaurants. They were only a couple of miles away and only a couple of turns to memorize. Worked like a charm! They commented that they needed to get one of those things.

Having done my good deed for the day I pedaled onward. The route had us traveling in an arc heading first west then south. We made a sharp turn to the west and hopped on a bike path that brought us to the sea at Oceanside. As far as bike paths go this was a good one, smooth, and few other users. As I pedaled along about 18 mph I caught up with another of our riders. I slowed up and we rode together for the next 20-25 miles. I finally dropped him on one of the climbs along the coast.

Much of the last half of today's ride was on bike paths. One paralleled I-5, a welcome alternative to riding the freeway shoulder. (I don't think it's legal to ride the freeway in this area anyway) Then on some low traffic light industrial streets, then we were routed onto the Rose Creek Bike Path. I had ridden this many times in June. The lower portions of it were my route to Fiesta Island and rides out to Mission Gorge. Today as I pedaled up to the northern end of this path I saw Ronaele peering over the precipitous drop off to access the path. I had ridden with her the very first morning of the ride, 6 days ago. Now I would ride the last leg of the ride with her. We pedaled along the Rose Creek path, into Pacific Beach, along Mission Bay Park, past Fiesta Island, and made the turn up Friar's Road towards the University of San Diego, our finish location, the same place we began our adventure.

We pedaled up the last little hill to get to the parking lot at USD and it was all over. I loaded my bike, got out of my bike shoes, retrieved my overnight bags, milled around a bit, then was off for a shower and rest at The Marriot in LaJolla. A few hours later I joined about a third of the riders for a bite to eat and a chance to share stories and contact information at a Mexican restaurant near USD.

It had been a nice 6 days of riding. One afternoon of very light rain, the rest of the time was mostly cloud free. Temperatures were pleasant. SoCal lived up to it's nice weather reputation and was a nice change for this webfooted Oregonian. As it ended up nearly 10% of the riders were from Oregon. I think we all had the same idea!

It was a good ride and a nice way to finish up the year of riding, a year where I achieved all my riding goals..........except one.

Looking forward to the coming year!




+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles Today
.................57...............0.................57
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......543.....+.........0........=.......543
July total.....1322.....+.........0........=......1322
August total...1603.....+.........0........=......1603
Sept total.....1403.....+.........0........=......1403
October.........503.....+.........0........=.......503
November........664.....+.........0........=.......664
December........941.....+.........0........=.......941
Year to date..10,717.....+........30.......=.....10,747 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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