Awesome ride!!!

Well today was the 83 mile San Clemente ride basically straight up the coast after leaving Solana Beach about 7:15 am. The weather was overcast and eventually the sun did come out but temps stayed very cool and just a great day to be on the bike.
Today we had a few extra radio riders with us in group 3 as Brian and Keith both decided to join the "fun" riders and relax after hammering on Saturday. Keith is planning a 24 hour ride to help raise $$ for the XX1090 Scott & BR Cycling Team,which will happen this Wednesday and finish up Thursday morning around La Jolla, so just a slow relaxing day for him and Brian took a bit of a fall riding with a group down in the South Bay yesterday so he was not up to his normal group 1-2 faster paced ride today, so we had some god conversation while doing the coastal thing.
The first part of the ride went by what seemed to be really quick as we hit the 1st SAG at mile 30 in no time at all. Some of the scenery out by the water is just great and it really does take your mind off all the miles being covered.
We hit the turn around in San Clemente and I think at that point the group had 3 flats so not too bad considering the roads and the mileage. THen radio rider Mark got 2 flats within 30 minutes and the group leader came back after the last one and said "you guys are SAGGED out", which basically means no one will wait for you and we are heading on without you. Well after hearing that I was like "I don't think so" and told Brian and Mark let's hammer and catch them and blow right past them. So once the tire was changed and we got going we took turns at the front and did everything to make a run to catch up. The last flat occured right as we came out of Camp Pendelton so we had a few miles to catch them but they had a good 5-7 minute jump on us, but I know we were determined to catch them.
As it turned out all the hard work really did help out and with me and Brian pulling hard and Mark giving it everything he had after flatting 4x today we saw them in our sites and finally caught them in Carlsbad and finished the ride with the rest of the group. Nothing like really getting to hammer for a while in a chase group after 65-70 miles, great job Mark and Brian!!!!! Brian looked at his Garmin when we finished and said we averaged 18.8 mph for the 83 miles, very nice!!
Well all in all it was a lot of fun from 6:15 for the immunity challenge which was won by Mr Brian Myers, who now gets to add his own flavor to the immunity helmet/person, all the way to chatting it up with Brian and a few riders from Group 4 after everyone had gotten in, the CAF/MDC riders REALLY are a bunch of really nice people.
Well it looks like this week will be pure hell at work so I am guessing there will be zero hours on the saddle this week until maybe Saturday. I am going to try to get in the garage after work and do some weights and stretching to help strengthen my legs for some upcoming mileage.

An easy Spin & Sit day

This morning I decided to head out for an early (6:45am) ride to clear the head and try to figure out how I am going to tackle today's tasks. I have a full day and figured I would head out on a very simple "sit and spin" 2 hour ride using once again just the small chain ring, so ho hammering today just a lot of spinning and bonding with the saddle.
It is very strange not to see anyone sharing the bike lane when riding. Today I got passed by no one and passed no one, very odd but great for getting things done mentally for the upcoming week. Also on a lighter side I decoded to wear socks for the 1st time. I see all the roadies wearing them every Sunday and since I grew up here in SD and never wore socks off the bike it just sort of migrated to when I was on the bike so I never used them and then when I started doing triathlons I noticed none of them wore sock either so I felt pretty good about not wearing them. But after noticing I was maybe the only one on Sundays NOT wearing them I wanted to see what all the hub bub was all about. I want to report it ws ok, nothing special and think it may have to be pretty cold out there for me to do it again.
OKay enough about all this. I have a flyer to get done, a funds request letter to draft up for a foundation that may help out, a challenge letter for my bowling challenge that will net $1K and a few more things for the CAF/MDC XX1090 Scott & BR Cycling Team.

Taking a day off

Well after a pretty busy week at work and the fact that I had a r appointment this morning I decided to take a much needed day off of work and get in some much needed saddle time and run a few errands. I did the Mira Mesa To Fairbanks Ranch out to RSF and back to the beach by the track and then over to Pepsi for a SAG stop and some Mexican BBQ that Pepsi was supplying for all the employees...yum-yum.
Then it was of to San Diego Bowling Supply to see what goodies Bill had for me to use as raffle gifts to help the XX1090 Scott & BR Cycling Team. Looks like we are at 2 balls and counting which is nice to get and also I talked with another friend who looks to donate $1K, but there is a catch, I have to bowl him heads up for 10 games first. Win or lose he will still put up the money for the cause, some bowlers are just AWESOME!!!
All in all it was about 67 miles as I road from 10:45 to about 3pm with a few quick stops along the way but a VERY productive day off and it looks like it might turn into a few thousand dollars for the team with little to no effort from me, just a few calls and hand shakes, oh and 10 games of bowling.
Should be a good weekend as I head out first thing in the morning for an easy 40 miles up and down the coast. Followed by 93 with the CAF/MDC group on Sunday, can't wait.

77 mile Circle R Loop

Well here is it 8pm and about 7 hours after Group 3 finished our 77 mile Sunday CAF/MDC ride. There was plenty of climbing and the heat was in full effect. I tried to lay back and just have a good time for the first 56 miles and then push the pace for the final 21 miles from SAG #2 to Lomas Santa Fe. It seemed to work as planned with the exception of a few hills that I decided to push the pace a little but nothing crazy.
We had plenty of flats along the way today and I am guessing the number might be around 20 or so which is a lot I think. I was lucky and avoided all the mishaps along the way. Today there was no cloud cover at the coast as we rolled out at 7:15am and you could tell it was going to be a tough day in the saddle from the get go. I am guessing our group was a bit smaller then normal maybe 25 riders or so and I was towards the rear for the first 25 miles chatting it up with Mike Henderson and a few others.
The 2nd 1/3 of the ride there were some decent hills for climbing and I did move up a bit during the climbing phase of the ride. After getting to the 2nd SAG in Vista you could tell there was some carnage going on as people looked really tired and a few even dropped out. I actually felt pretty good and had a very good time in the heat just wish there was a bit more humidity and less dry air.
The final 1/3 of the ride was kind of the same as most Sundays as a small group of about 6 riders decided to take off and I felt pretty fresh since holding back the first 2/3 of the ride. Had a chance to chat with Brian and Adam afterwards with regards to fundraising and how to judge if one is a success or not. Seems we (scott & br cycling team) have our work cut out for us.
Sitting here my legs are actually pretty sore and I am pretty tired and hope to be sleeping by 9pm to get lots of rest before a busy week at work. I hope to make it to Fiesta Island tomorrow after work to log about 35 miles or so just to get ride of some leg stiffness, but we will see how work goes.
Well today was a different immunity challenge and we played spin the bottle, so just a random luck winner. Keith was the last one standing only to find out he had to gift the gift he just received to one of the remaining 6 riders. Keith decided to gift his immunity to Danielle who is a very good pick, she works hard on the email front sending and keeping everyone notified just what is going on. And I am guessing she is also the most improved rider going from a group 3 riders barely hanging on to the back of the pack to a group 3 riders hanging out in the front pack most of the time. So she is a very deserving immunity winner and I am sure she will do good things with the immunity helmet.
Well depending on work I am hoping to get in about 150 miles during the week and then about 60 on Saturday then another big one on Sunday. Let's just hope work is good to me and I can get out there a bit.

mid week ride

Well it seems like it is getting harder and harder to get out of the house mid week due to longer hours at work. Normally I would try to get home around 5:15 and roll out at 5:30 and do a nice 2 hour ride somewhere locally. So yesterday was that day as I rolled out at 5:30 and decided to do a TT to Chino Farms and beat my post work ride time of 51 minutes. It was hot and a bit windy but felt strong on the bike and made the 15.5 mile trip in 47 minutes, just 2 minutes off my best Saturday morning time. Finished the loop by heading over to via de la valle and up to the 101 and then south back to Carmel valley road and then home. In total it was about 31 miles and I covered it in 1:50 which was a good ride even with the heat.
Things are going smoothly with the training as I start to get a little gym time in here at home, maybe 2x a week to strengthen the legs. I also stepped on the scale thig morning and am my lowest weight since the '98 Honolulu Marathon weighing in at 181 lbs. If I can get the legs stronger and get down to my desired 178 I think it will work out for me on the bike in training and also coming down the coast. And to think I was weighing in at 193 after returning from Japan on July 19th, so in one month I have lost 12 lbs, with no paid diet. Of course I do have an in house Nutrisionist with my lovely wife Sayaji making sure I get all the right stuff to keep me lean and strong for the bike.
Well today is normally a bike day but not sure what I will do after getting the girls. Possibly a very light ride or maybe some cross training is in order, we will see. Today is another elimination for the XX1090 Scott and BR Cycling Team as we cut from 8 riders down to 7 riders. With winning the immunity challenge last Sunday I am safe from this weeks cut, which is a great feeling as the group gets smaller. I will also be on local radio station XX1090am around 8:45am to talk about what has been going on thus far, should be fun.

Well today was a very tough day in and out of the saddle. We started in Pine Valley and rode straight up to Mount Laguna and then to Lake Cuyamaca and then back to Pine Valley. It was about 52 miles and seemed we never spent more then 15 minutes before there was a giant hill right in front of us. The ride up to Mount Laguna was about 10 miles and brutally tough as it was on a fire road with little shade if any.
The air out there was hot, maybe mid 80's and super dry. Trying to keep your mouth moist was tough to do even with constant drinking. The uphills were steep and long and since it was my first time out there I had no idea what lay ahead and how long some of these hills were so hard to know just how hard to push. Group 3 was the perfect pace today as I was out on the lead for almost all the way when I was not chatting it up with Danielle to see how the XX1090 team fundraising was coming along.
Going to try and get in another 50 miles in tomorrow morning up the coast where is will be much cooler then today. Some of the views from todays ride was really nice from the sunrise as I drove in to some of the mountain valleys we saw from atop of Mt Laguna. All in all it was a great hill climbing day but don't think I want to repeat another one of those for a while.
On another great note, today the XX1090 Scott & BR Cycling Team held another immunity challenge. With 8 riders left getting the immunity is huge as it keeps you safe from the Wednesday single rider cut. Today we needed to figure out how many calories were in a plastic jar containing a bunch of gels and like product. After some quick math calculations I came up with about an average of 125 calories per item and guessed there were 27 packets in the jar, for a total of 3175 calories. After talking to everyone I felt like I was way low since everyone said about 4 or 5K calories. Well as it turned out the number was 3180 and I missed by just 5 and won the immunity for another week. So gotta keep going and log some miles and figure out what I am going to do with the immunity helmet.

Great weekend!!

Well after a very slow start to the weekend with what seems like a mild case of food poisoning from some bad tuna fish that kept me off the bike on Friday and Saturday it ended up very nicely. I used the time off the bike to do a little studying up on the MDC and the CAF as well as some time on the XX1090 Scott & BR website just in case the immunity challenge was going to be on these topics sooner then later.
Well as it turned out Sunday was the challenge that had to do with all 3 and I felt pretty good when I saw the test, but as usual once I got the test and started to write down the answers my mind went totally blank. Now I remember why I did so poorly in school, all that studying and then forget everything when the test arrives. But lucky me I got just enough right answers correct to win the immunity for the week and this was a critical week to get it as there were 2 guys cut from the team today to take us down to 8 riders. The 2 Jesse's who won the immunity last week with the Internet voting are the 2 guys who were cut today. I hope this is not the trend this coming week since I have immunity now.
After a nice 48 mile ride during our recovery week we were lucky enough to have CAF line us up with breakfast at the La Valencia Ranch Santa Fe Spa which is one top notch place to hang out. We as radio contestants got to hang out with all the other CAF riders on what was a beautiful day in San Diego. That is where we learned who won the immunity and my breakfast tasted a little bit better. Now I need to figure out how I am going to decorate the immunity helmet.
This was the 2nd time in a week the CAF group got together as we also got together at Dean Roepers house in RSF which is one of the nicest houses I have been in. The radio group got together each time to discuss what we will be doing as far as fundraising and mapping out a nice game plan for raising funds for CAF.
After leaving the Rancho Valencia I headed to the Del Mar Race Track to meet up with Sayaji and the girls as well as another 5 families for some fun in the sun with great friends. As it turned out the last race we stayed for I hit a $433 exacta which made our weekend just a little more special.
Well going to try and get in some much needed mileage this week as our Sunday rides will be getting longer with more climbing and the heat is on its way which will make for some long days in the saddle. Feeling good about where I am as far as fundraising just need to get one more decent sum from that one special person to get me over the top. So far I am on track with funds raised and also fitness. Today weight is 185.5 with my goal to be at 180 come October 16th.

recovery week

Well we were told to use the recovery weeks as a time to rest and let the body recover from 3 weeks of intense riding. So that is just what I did not touching the bike since the long tough ride last Sunday. However the time has come to get back on the bike first thing tomorrow morning and do a light and easy 2 hours. Just want to loosen up the legs a bit and then if I feel up to it I will make my first journey to Group 2 on Sunday for the 48 miler with the CAF/MDC riders.
I am battling a bit of the stomach bug I got from what I believe was some bad tuna. My stomach has been in knots all day and I have not eaten since 1pm and it is now 11pm. So the ride tomorrow will depend on how the stomach feels in the morning.
Well if all goes well and I can get some time with the bike I am hoping to have a big week riding on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday most likely getting in about 200 miles or so those 4 days if all goes well. But we will have to wait and see what the plans are for getting the girls from YMCA camp.
Ok short and sweet today as a kind of busy Saturday is planned.

Ramona ride

Well here it is Sunday night and relaxing after a very hilly and warm day on the bike. I believe it was a bout 75 miles with about 3900 feet of climbing and it started from early on and seemed we were never far from another uphill climb. I can't remember the last time I rode my bike in that much sunshine for that long a period of time. It got pretty warm and with all the climbing it was a pretty tough day in the saddle as I am still feeling the pain in my quads from today's efforts.
Had a good chat with many of the XX1090 Scott & BR Cycling Team riders today getting to hear what went on during the Thursday meeting that I missed due to a late YMCA bus pickup. It seems that we will be meeting again this Thursday at one of the MDC co-chairman's house for a social and some fundraising idea help. As the clock ticks on fundraising our window on team fundraising is getting smaller by the week. Seemed one of our fearless leaders Mr Scott Kaplan from the XX1090 morning show was there after getting an epidural shot to help with his bulging disc which is causing some sciatica issues. Good to see him back on the bike and with the group.
Well seems I will have a tough week trying to find time to ride this week. As we get further along in the Sunday rides we need to up our weekly mileage and this week might be a bit tough to do so with so many things going on around the house. As much as I hate it I may be forced to jump on the trainer for a few hours late at night....ugh!!!
Well back to today's ride, we all pretty much stayed together for the 1st 22 miles which is where the 1st SAG was at. After that it was into Ramona and up some pretty good hills so with about 10 miles to go before the 2nd SAG I decided the guys were going a bit slow up a hill so I took off and worked the hill pretty good taking Dave and John along with me for the next 10 miles as we worked together and got to the SAG about 5 minutes before the rest of the group. Then again after the 2nd SAG we were all together and when we went up a hill about 3 miles past the SAG the group which was in mile 58 just seemed tired so I stepped it up a bit and this time I dragged 4 others with me, Dave, John, and 2 other guys and we all worked pretty good together all the way to Solana Beach finishing about 10 minutes before the rest of group 3.
Next week I will give group 2 a try to see how it goes since it is the beginning of a new cycle and we are going just 40 miles so I should be able to handle the shorter distance with the higher speeds. Since I will be on the lower end of training mileage this week it will be a good time for a short ride. Looking forward to a new challenge and some higher speeds, just hope I am up to the challenge.