We first rode a few blocks through Old Town Temecula
We then turned west and began climbing. We soon had a good view of just how big Temecula is!
After the nearly thousand foot climb we started down into the De Luz Canyon. This section is noted for it's avocado orchards and overarching oak trees.
There is more down than up in this section, and it's a bit twisty. All of that plays into this old out of shape guy on a bike. Dave and I were out in front of the others and I hadn't seen them in awhile. I pulled off to allow them to regroup. As Dave and I stood there visiting, I hear a tell tale hiss of a rear tire going flat. As it ended up, a valved stem separated from the tube. As I was affecting a tube change, the others rode up. As I pumped the tire up, as it neared 80 psi, it went flat again! Doggone if it wasn't another valve stem failure! I put my second spare tube in, and crossed my fingers. I got it to 100 psi, and off we went.
We had some more climbing just prior to Fallbrook. As I rounded a corner there was our support car along the road. I stopped, topped off water, and used the floor pump to adjust the pressure, and grabbed two new spare tubes from my supplies.
We rode through Fallbrook and continued south to Bonsall. I was leading the group on a downhill run....and knew there was a right turn coming up soon. I still missed it! Rather than turn around, I knew the way, if not the route!. In prior years the official ride had continued on the way we were now riding. Last year we had to make the turn to get on a parallel road and miss some construction. I guessed correctly that the construction would be finished up by now. We rolled on down the hill on nice new smooth pavement.
We had left the countryside behind and the remainder of our trip would be mostly urban.
At about mile 32 we were about to enter the San Luis Rey River Trail. The speed demons requested a lunch stop. We pulled off at a Starbucks. They did the coffee drink thing, I grabbed a bar from my pack.
After a short stop, we hopped on the bikes and entered the trail that would take us to Oceanside. Julie would be waiting for us at the Oceanside Pier, the starting location for Race Across America.
We made quick work of the 15 miles of trail. We arrived at Oceanside and stopped briefly for a few photos.
We then rode to the pier where we found Julie sitting on the sand soaking up the sun.
We spent some time at the pier, taking in the view and eating a seafood lunch. Mark had no time for such dalliances and pedaled off. None of us had seen him go. Pretty soon he called and said he was waiting for us up the road near the military recruiter office. Dave, Alan, and I finished up then started on our way. We soon found Mark along the route. He and Alan took off like rockets. Dave and I just pedaled along in the mid to upper teens. It was far too nice a day to just rush along through it.
It put a bit of a smile on our faces to have Mark and Alan take off from a traffic light like rockets, only to get stopped at the next red light and wait as we would catch back up. This happened for several miles before Dave and I got snagged by a light as Mark and Alan pedaled away.
We climbed up Torrey Pines past all those famous institutions (Scripps, Mayo, etc) then over LaJolla and down onto the Rose Creek Bike Path. Julie met us to provide resupply just before we entered the path. Mark and Alan missed this and traveled roads.
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| Rose Creek just before it enters Mission Bay |
Riding along mission bay was beautiful as always. As we neared Fiesta Island a DeLorean passed by. Dave asked if it was Adventure Corps chief officer Chris Kostman. I didn't catch the license plate, but before we had too much time to discuss it, the car pulled over and the gull wing door opened. There sits Chris Kostman! He had recognized the Furnace Creek 508 finisher's jersey I was wearing! (despite that I had a small backpack on the hid most of the back of it!) We visited for a bit then each proceeded on.
Riding along Mission Bay is always a treat!
We dutifully followed the route on my Garmin and navigated around the tangle of freeway interchange ramps. Finally we were on a path that led us back to our starting point. Alan and Mark had arrived 7 minutes before we did. We easily frittered 7 minutes away taking photos of the heron on Rose Creek. Julie and I were the only folks staying in San Diego tonight. We were in late enough that our room should have been ready, but it wasn't. We waited for about 30 minutes for our room to be ready. Alan took a shower in our room and was gone. Mark and Dave also took showers and Mark boxed his bike. I then drove them to the airport and sent them on their way.
I returned, took a shower, then Julie and I wrapped up the bike portion of this adventure with dinner at a renowned Mexican restaurant in Old Town.
It was a good trip. I was happy that my pre event predictions held true. I had said that I thought we'd be able to do this ride for $65/day (double occupancy) including lodging, support car costs, breakfast and dinner each day. I am happy to report that we indeed stayed on that budget. That put us at $200 less than the official ride. We had better lodging, better meals, and better on road support (pretty easy to do considering the official ride has no on road support). Of course, we didn't get an event T-shirt, but we can live with that! :-)
...............road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle........total
Today..............86...........0................0............0.............86 Jan..................93..............0...............0.........0..............93 Feb................411..............0..............0..........0.............411 March.............653.............0..............0.........0................653 April..............696..............0...............0.........0................696 May...............900...............0...............0.........0...............900
June..............484...............0..............0............0..............484
July..............1300................0...............0..........0.............1300
Aug................638.............0.................0..........0.............638
Sept...............232..............0................0...........0............232
Oct...............307...............0................0...........0............307
Nov..............514...............0................0...........0............514 Total...........5984.............0...............0..........0.............5984
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