Hi y'all. I feel like talking country after Sundays Pine Valley, back country ride. When I heard G1 riders praising how great this ride will be. This only meant it would be challenging, but I have to admit, it was not as bad as I anticipated. With a little help from mother nature keeping the temp just above 90 and a cool breeze, it made for an "epic" ride according to our G3 leader Jack N. Covering 57 miles seemed like a walk in the park compared to our 70+ rides couple of weeks ago. But add over 4700 feet of climbing in that short of a distance, that is something I have not attempted nor would have by myself. That's why I feel the group rides in these adverse conditions and terrains will only benefit us come October.
One of my best buds Brian B. decided to ride with G3 this week, it's nice to ride with a familiar face once in awhile. Brian's thoughts on my feelings about this being a tough ride, is that I need to get used to it being tough. LOL!
The first part of the ride was fun due to the fact that we didn't have to battle cars whizzing past at 45miles on hour in a residential area, or stop lights that made us loose any momentum. It was a good change of pace. Most of the climbing was at the first 20 miles which to me is always good. The first SAG was where Kitchen Creek meets Sunrise Highway. Several riders made the trek up the Sunrise highway that day. Last time I rode in between pine tree was my Memorial day ride in Washington State and the last time I saw the Mt Laguna Fire Station was on TV last winter covered in 3 feet in snow.
It's simply beautiful up here. The best was yet to come on the way down Mt Laguna towards Lake Cuyamaca. Wide open roads and no cars, we all got a chance to ride on our drops for most of the down hill. This part made the climb up the hill well worth it.
You couldn't help looking to you right and see the valley below and seeing how high 5000 feet really is. Before you knew it, we were at Lake Cuyamaca at our second SAG stop. With less than 20 miles to go, I gave it all I had till we got to the city of Guatay and was welcomed by the last and final hill. It wasn't steep, just long and constant. I was able to catch up to Brian B. about 2 miles before we hit Pine Valley together. He too was just about ready to call it a day. Everyone had a challenging day but everyone survived it and made all of our goals for the ride down the coast that much more attainable. Like someone asked me right after my first marathon, "would I ever to this again?" I can honestly say, I would. As long as I dont have to get up at 5am next time.
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