5/31/2010
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)

Hemet, Ca.


A few times a year we plan an out of town ride. Often not everyone can make it but the ones that do almost always have a great time. This Memorial Day we planned just such a ride and we selected Huntress to pick and lead the ride. Both decisions turned out to be a good one for us.

We had decided to meet at Starbucks and carpool or caravan all the way to Oceanside. Originally we had a pretty good sized group that planned to go but at the last minute some had to cancel. Still we had a pretty good group for a ride that was billed as 75 miles or so. We followed Huntress and her husband to Oceanside and got ready to hit the road. Surgeon decided to leave a bit before the rest of us so we got a quick picture of our group and hit the road just a bit before 10am.


Everyone started out at a pretty good pace and I soon found myself at the back of the pack. Huntress was leading us along with Hit man, Tool Man and a new rider, David, (short cut) and I was in the back trying to adjust my bike computer.

The rest of the ride into Oceanside and down to Carlsbad was cool and traffic was light. Huntress had picked a beautiful route and was setting a pretty good pace as we finally moved over to PCH and rode along the beach. There were plenty of cyclists along our route and people enjoying the beach as we moved through Carlsbad and Leucadia


We had plenty of beach scenery as we moved through Encinites, Cardiff by the Sea and Solana Beach. We had a short stop for a relief break and finally moved through Del Mar along the coast and took our first SAG break for Bananas and water. It was good that John had volunteered to Sag for us because that way we had spare wheels and pumps and things and just knowing that gives us extra peace of mind on longer rides.


We knew we didn’t have far to go before we got to the Torrey Pines climb. To tell the truth this was the part of the ride I was most interested in. The distance wasn’t as much of a challenge as I have had before but I had heard about Torrey Pines for a long time and wanted to test myself against the hill. I will freely admit I was a bit worried that Huntress would run over me going up the hill. She had been on this ride before and every ride she has been getting better and stronger. As we approached the hill Hit man and Tool man took off and I settled into a steady climb. Once I got into a steady spin it was only a matter of time before I noticed I was at the top of the hill. Huntress wasn’t far behind me but at least this time she didn’t run over me.


Once we made it over the top of the hill it was a very nice ride to La Jolla and a break at Starbucks. One briefer climb and we were headed for the beach and a nice ride passed some very expensive homes. Huntress led us though La Jolla and finally to Pacific Beach. There is a reason so many people live in California and our coast line is one of those reasons.


After looking at the beach for a while we rode through some more very expensive neighborhoods before Short Cut suggested we try the board walk down to the Roller Coaster. To be honest it was a bit like riding through Jello so we finally had to go back out onto PCH in an attempt to meet up with John before heading for home. Once we got to the Roller Coaster we discovered there was no place for John to park so we headed back out to the highway and headed back north to try and hook up with John and resupply our food and water.


The ride back was a lot more direct than the ride out and we did have to deal with more car traffic than we did early in the morning. Unfortunately for Short Cut his legs started to cramp up. Even with a direct route we would still have more than 35 miles to get back to the starting point. We asked if he wanted us to call John and provide a Sag ride but he decided to tuff it out and we continued on through all the towns we had passed through on our way south. Considering how far we had gone I was feeling pretty good and I credit that with fueling and hydration. I had been going through a bottle of liquid every 90 minutes or so and eating a bit or two every 20 to 30 minutes.

Short Cut was holding his own on the flats but his legs kept fighting him on the climbs. We thought we had lost him at the College but true to his name he found a way to the bike path that took him around some of the hills and we found him again as we turned onto the path ourselves. Tool man decided to spin the last 3 or 4 miles back to the car and Surgeon had already returned and headed for home. We ended the day with closer to 90 miles than 75 and a reasonable average speed even considering the snail’s pace we had on the boardwalk. Like I said before there is a reason so many people live in California and our coastline just happens to be one of them.