5/26/2012 By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) About once a year Huntress assumes the role of ride leader and takes us on one of our out of town rides. Saturday was just such a day and Huntress was to lead us from Oceanside to San Diego and back. I for one was looking forward to it. I got to Starbucks and met up with Huntress and Shadow and the three of us headed for Oceanside. It only took us about an hour and we were at the Park on College to meet up with the rest of the group for the Beach ride. Once we got to the Coyote and his friend from Cast a Shadow Adam, and Pam (Nike) were waiting for us to unload and start the ride. After a short mix up at the start we headed down the bike trail towards Oceanside. I pulled till we got towards the end of the trail where Huntress took over and headed us south.

The day started out maybe just a bit cool but Huntress did a fine job of moving us through Oceanside with a minimum of problems and we started off with an easy pace the we would end up holding for most of the ride. While we didn’t start off right on the beach we were at least on the same route as a great number of other cyclists. I do not remember seeing this many cyclist last time Huntress and Coyote assured me this was light compared to what we would see if we had tried this ride on Monday, Memorial Day.

To be honest the great scenery is only one of the reasons we like this ride so much. Even on a relatively cool morning there is something about the smell of the ocean breeze and the sound of the waves crashing against the beach to let you know we are lucky or even blessed to live in Southern California and to have the bicycle culture that we have. Looking at my fellow riders I could see they were enjoying the ride as much as I happened to be. We moved towards Encinitas and got ready to drop down to the highway right next to the ocean. The ocean was beautiful and the waves were pure white with foam as we looked west and rode south looking for our first SAG stop where John would supply us with Bananas, fluids and sandwiches.

Once we met up with John and refueled and got ready to attack the rollers from Encinitas to Solana Beach. The great thing about rollers is once you get into a rhythm they seem to eat up the miles in short order. But this point Adam and Coyote we spending a lot of time in the front followed by Huntress and Nike every now and then. We rode past another long stretch of beach and started up a few more rollers till we got close to Del Mar. After a short little climb Huntress pulled up next to me at a stop light, one we didn’t run unlike so many groups in front of us did, and asked if I was ready for the Climb? I told her I was ready and knew the only thing between us and Torry Pines was a little downhill and then the climb.

I took off and hit the hill pretty hard only to discover my legs were not happy with me for riding in the wind on Friday. I got past by Adam and then Shadow blew by me giving chase. We all made the climb and regrouped at the top of the Torry Pines hill.

Once we were back on our way Huntress took us past the University and down Torry Pines to a gas station and Starbucks were we met John and the SAG wagon again. Once again we hydrated and had some bananas and PBJ sandwiches. I have discovered the need to hydrate and do a pretty good job of it but often on a long ride it is way too easy to forget to eat and then you can bonk. We took off again and Huntress took us down to La Jolla cove and back out onto the main highway towards Garnet before turning back for the run home.

Other than a flat right in front of the Bush Beer warehouse and distribution center we made the turn for home without many problems. About the only complaint I had was that the cracked pavement had hammered my right hand long enough that it started to cramp. Still it wasn’t bad and soon we were back in La Jolla and heading from the down side of the hill. We dropped down the hill and ran hard for Encinitas. We had a way to go before our last SAG stop and I for one was looking forward to it. Still Adam looked almost as fresh as he did at the start of the ride.

Once we were back on our way Coyote and Adam spent a lot of time pulling us back towards Oceanside. About a mile or two before we got back to the bike trail we had to stop again because my hand started to cramp. Lucky for me Huntress always has a bag full of Motrin and I downed some and two Electrolyte tabs before we started out again.

Something about the bike trail seemed to energize me and we held a steady pace all the way back to the parking lot and cars. Huntress brought Shadow and I some chocolate milk and diet Coke and collected her gear before heading home with John. It only took us about an hour got get home where I dropped Shadow off at his house and went home myself to a big bowl of Chili and a hot shower. Huntress did a great job of putting together a great ride.