Busted In DeLuz Populaire

Modified Busted In DeLuz Garmin stuff.

Being Sunday, needed a early start. Left home after 4:00 AM. Didn't get too far and the heavy fog kicked in. Decided to turn around and pick up my vest. More mileage. Using my white Planet Bike rear Blinkie and 2 watt front light attached to the inside of my left drop bar. That seems to work well on those shorter trips. Decided on the Fuji carbon with the somewhat questionable rebuilt 9 speed brifters. Doing the reverse route today.

Slight light in the east as I got a receipt at the LaCosta Circle K. Fog had all but disappeared by now. Nice easy riding along the coast up to Oceanside. San Luis Rey Bike Trail was almost void of riders this early. Stopped at the Bonsall McDonalds to top off bottles with ice. Nada. No ice in machines yet! They hand bucket it over instead of the built in ice makers. Tried out some different gears climbing up Mission Road. Usually this bike takes 1 or 2 less gears for climbing vs the SOMA. Same gearing on both bikes: 50/34 compact on the front with 13/30 Rando Special cassette in the rear. Green Canyon Road is always nice and quiet. Sunday makes it even more so!

Foggy early morning start.

Live Oak Park was another quiet road today. Did see several riders coming down Hwy. 395 near Rainbow. I took the back way into Carl's Jr. on Hwy. 79 in Temecula for a break. ( I usually bypass Pechunga Pkwy by cutting over to the sidewalk and around through the neighborhood and sidewalk to 7-Eleven or Carl's Jr.) Saw an advertisement for "Carmel, Sea Salt Shake". Thought I would try that one instead of my usual Choc Malt thing. It was too sweet for me and had small chunks of butterfinger floating throughout. With my feet up, I cut up my banana and added that to the mix.

Took the back way over to Rancho California climb, bypassing the busy "Old Towne" section. Three riders came up behind on the side streets. Buff climber girl in white riding a carbon Specialized with Di2 electronic shifting. 2. Racer guy on a red Pinarello. 3. Older guy with accent on a nice yellow/orange Lemond Ti bike. We started the climb up Rancho together. I soon passed the older guy, who took off his helmet and put on a cap on the way up! I noticed he was already out of cogs. I mentioned that and he just said: "It's my f_)*&*&*ing legs". Thought he had on the usual 11-23 road set up. Thought I could pace him, but he was weaving all over and dropped out of sight. The  girl in white was pacing up ahead and I chatted with her at the turn to Sandia Creek Road. Pinarello guy turned around and went back to check on the Lemond rider. I continued on, figuring they would catch me somewhere along the road again.

Nice riding up Live Oak Park Road near Fallbrook.

Saw one rider heading along Sandia Creek Rd., heading the hard way to Rancho California. Sections of new road through there now makes blasting those downhill real fun! Used up all my gears on the last 14% climb, before the fast, bumpy downhill along Santa Margarita Creek. Real nasty curve is now rougher than ever. I braked hard, thinking about loosing grip on the hoods here and doing an endo! I ate a bar and chugged some fluid as I rolled along the creek bottom. The group of 3 riders soon passed me, just before the climb started up to Fallbrook.

Same thing as last time... passed the Lemond guy, mentioned his gearing again. Caught the Specialized girl this time part way up the climb. We chatted a bit and she said: "We can't seem to drop you". Said I was going back to San Diego and passed her. Racer guy was turning around looking for the older guy, who had once again dropped back out of sight. Never stopped in Fallbrook as usual, but continued on to the McDonalds in Bonsall. Took the little side road of Heller's Bend to break up the Mission Road traffic noise.

Sucked a gel, spiked one of my bottles with iced Coke, packed the other with ice and away I went. Saw 2 riders ahead as I was waiting to cross Hwy. 76. Later on Camino del Rey, one had a flat and I stopped to chat along the road. They were in the shade. One riding a carbon TREK, the other a Specialized. They said "We'll see you down the road". I couldn't do anything for them and continued on toward Old Hwy. 395.

Sight headwind now and temps were in the high 80's. Didn't set any records climbing through there. Saw the 2 racers boys coming fast as I started up Champagne Blvd. climb. I did the leg-releasing in and out of the saddle routine at 10 mph up the climb. They were gaining on me! I kept my same tempo and speed as the wind died and it got hot. After the curve, I could see they were dropping back. Guess their adrenaline was fading. No way these dudes could catch me now! Timed the light at Deer Springs Road perfect and blasted through. Downhill now back through San Marcos and on to the finish!

Decent day on the road today. Did my recovery drink at home and rolled out my legs. Felt quite good. Monday morning the right tendon above the calf hurt and was swelled up some. I hit the ice and muscle rub. Must be my cycling shoes where I added on the soles. This doesn't allow any movement on the flat pedal surface. Don't have this problem with the wider platform looser pedals on the SOMA. Need to watch it close.

Early fog followed by sunny skies.
Hi: 94   Lo: 51
97 miles

-randorides