Ursa Minor Permanent

7-Eleven: Starting point for the Ursa Minor Permanent

Keith Olsen and I left the San Marcos 7-Eleven slightly after  6 AM today. Temps were at 38F, but it didn't seem that cool due to me wearing a IP wind jacket, covering the wool SS SDRando wool jersey and long sleeve base layer. Tough call wearing a jacket, as I've always felt they don't layer well... it's either on or off due to the heat buildup. Lower legs were covered with the knee-hi wool compression type socks and knee warmers. Most of those layers came off 33 miles later along the coast, as temps were up +20F by then!

Keith had on his dark blue wool jersey, covering multiply layers under with these new looking white gloves. Had his Ti road bike with gunky looking chain-line. Keith isn't into cleaning components like I am. It's out of necessity for me to prevent the more frequent replacement costs. Keith's cycle computer had a dead battery and once again he forgot to bring his mirror. He always says: "I left it in the car". I wonder if he really has a mirror in there?

Solana Beach Control: Solana Donuts on the right.

A few cold pockets along the downhill past Lake Hodges. Lots of traffic going our way too. This route is best started after 8 AM to miss lots of this. The traffic disappears after Rancho Santa Fe town. Pleasant ride to the coast on the Loma Santa Fe rollers. Not much going on riding up the coast through Solana Beach and Encinitas. A quick stop at Swami's for bathroom break. The water fountain finally has enough pressure to fill a bottle! Several "guitar" dudes there, getting ready to hawk money by playing tunes for the surfers! Haha.

We stumbled upon the OFR gruppo getting ready to ride north from Magee Park. After a quick bathroom break and a repacking of clothes, we all headed northward around 8:35. No drafting here, as we all chatted and rode our own pace. Olympic grade gymnast Eric and Uncle Ben joined up just before the Camp Pendleton Main Gate. The 12 person gruppo split up on the first small hill through the base route, and soon we all regrouped at the Las Pulgas parking lot.

OFR Group meets at Magee Part every Thursday at 8:30 AM

Next up was a stop at bathroom # 11, San Onofre Campground. This one is always open, as the ranger has his trailer parked next to it, with the normal trailer hook-ups installed. After a bit of chit-chat, we all left together for the ride up through San Clemente. Temps were near 60F now and not much wind. We met 3 other OFR gruppo riders going southbound, Paul, Judy and Lance. I think they rode out early from Las Pulgas lot. Keith missed a turn on the residential "neighborhood" route, so I waited a bit for him. This route is longer than the normal cue sheet route, but doesn't have near the through town traffic either. We could see the group riding ahead as we neared the San Juan River Trail turn.

Still a detour on the SJRT, so we rode along Del Obispo a bit, before sort of following signs through a park and onto the River Trail to San Juan Capistrano. Another detour after the old bike bridge, but we finally made it to the control at Carl's Jr. McDonalds is next door, but the service is so slow there, we usually opt for Carl's Jr. The group was taking a break along the harbor at Dana Point. They usually get back on the road after about 50 minutes. We planned our stop long enough to hopefully join up for the ride southward.

Carl's Jr.: San Juan Capistrano Control next to McDonald's

Keith led out along the River Trail westward. We jogged over, did the detour again and saw the gruppo turning onto Park Lantern ahead! Just pure luck or was this perfect timing? Friday the 13th was tomorrow! Everyone rides their own pace on the uphill rollers going back through the "neighborhood".

I later joined up with a big guy on a Specialized hybrid bike riding by San Onofre. We chatted a bit and he said his daughter was a "super" tri-athlete, olympic qualifier and all that. He said his weight was down from 290lbs! He worked for the city of Mission Viejo and lived in Oceanside. He drove out to do a 18 mile ride. Hope his daughter motivates him to loose another 50! Regroup at #11 again. Alan is the senior member of the group at 80. Just got a new Focus Dura Ace equipped last summer. We chatted about his girlfriend "Anita". The old stud!

Group split up at Las Pulgas lot. Eric, Ben, Keith and I took the I-5 route, while the others returned through the base. It's nice to do both routes on a Permanent. Eric set a 22 mph pace on the tailwind ride south. It's really fast on I-5, if you can stand the traffic noise and sometimes debris. You can't draft here. If you do, you're due to hit the planned scattered debris. The bike lane is much cleaner south of the Rest Area. All cyclists must exit through the Rest Area, due to the hazard of merging traffic taking out cyclists if they continue straight on the I-5 wide bike lane. We cranked it up all the way to Oceanside and the turn onto Harbor Drive. Eric and Ben left us there. We stopped at the Harbor bathrooms, before planning our tactics for the last 30 miles of the route.

We were now riding in "rolling recovery" mode. That's a term used to describe a 4-6 mph slower pace. It let's your body recover from a harder previous effort, while still moving along the route. Now a tailwind pushed us along at 17mph on the San Luis Rey Bike Path toward Bonsall.

Country Club Lane: Used to be "golf course" homes here.

Almost a timed stop at Bonsall. Maybe 12 minutes. Enough time for a yogurt and a leg stretch. Camino del Rey offered some more of those tailwinds as we left McDonalds at 3:05. Nice easy pace along this road. What a great area, if they would just add a bike lane, instead of the 10" outside the white line they now have. The turn onto Old 395 offered us a chance to ride our own pace up the 3 climbs ahead. The last one up Champagne Blvd section is the longest and always seems to drag on a bit. Normally takes 12-15 minutes to get up that. I waited for Keith a bit at the top, while putting on my paper vest, long gloves and woolie cap. Lots of sun left as we blasted down Center City Pkwy. and off onto the Nutmeg turn. As we passed the Old Country Club area, we chatted about the many homeowners that paid for the "golf course homes" here. Now there was no more golf course!

Garmin Stats from today's Ursa Minor Permanent

El Norte becomes Borden Road. All nice and new surface as we cruised on to the finish at 7-Eleven. Plenty of daylight left and we didn't need our lights at all. After our finish receipts, we chatted a bit about taking your wife something after a long ride. Good policy! Works for me.

Good day in the saddle and I think Keith had a OK day too with his R-12 now intact for another month. Weather was very nice after a dressed up cooler start. Spot on with the clothing today. Didn't get too hot with the long sleeve under the wool SS jersey in the afternoon. I brought a cookie home to the wife! TA DA!

-randorides