Dog Attack On The Reservation!

Lilac Road enters the Pala Reservation

Hadn't planned any ride for my normal Tuesday jaunt, but woke up and decided to give er a go. Felt like a slo roll day to me. Maybe a little recon stuff with a shortie permanent thrown in. Rode the SOMA over to get a receipt from San Marcos at 0630. Heavy fog was just lifting and the temp was 61F. I had my helmet light and 2 rear blinkies on just in case. Got my usual 20 cent thing and hit the road northward. Borden Road becomes El Norte Parkway entering Escondido. Turned north on Broadway and took Jesmond Dene up the climb. Stopped off on a side road to stuff my mini pak in the seat bag, as something was banging around in there. Racer guy went by so I followed him. He was quick and I figured I could catch him on the climbs. I was gaining as we topped the last 11%'er and on to Centre City Pkwy. He turned around at Deer Springs as the sun was now blasting through. High today was supposed to be only 88F in the inland valleys. Pulled my arm warmers up as I topped 30 mph on the long Champagne downhill with a temp drop to 54F!

Which way now? I finally turned on Circle R and followed the San Marcos Century or Rainbow 1.24 Permanent route. Feeling good enough to tackle Couser climb in a bigger ring, I opted for a little "recon" work and rode straight by on Lilac Road. I hadn't been this way in years. The rando routes come down Lilac Rd not UP! Road turned upward as I stopped and adjusted something banging around in my front bag. Never did find out what is was this trip. Several 9% rollers kept things interesting and a nice run through some dense dark woods before the final 11% climb up past the "Pavement Ends 300' " sign. I'm familiar with the dirt road ahead from the other way and soon found that the pavement section was "wavy" before coming to the dirt stuff. A slow 14% downhill kept me upright and I slowed even more when I hit the dirt.

This is dog country. I don't think the Pala Reservation enforces leash or dog laws around here. Each time I've come up this road from the other side it's usually been in the late day and getting darker. There are always dogs running after you here! Same this trip down in to the valley floor. First it is just dogs barking. So I sort of sneaked-by on the washboard roads. Next up was a little white dog barking and running. Not to worry. A huge black dog was next and he charged out of the driveway and stopped at the road, standing and barking. He sort of followed me for a bit. Too old and too fat. Next up were the attack dogs!

2 "Blue Heelers" turned on each other instead of me!

A pair of mongrel Austrailian Cattle Dogs or "Blue Heeler" wanna-bees. These guys were fast and mean looking.They had the head's up on me as I was trying to negotiate the bumps. One circled around on my right and the killer on my left made a direct charge for me. He was about to jump when I yelled "STOP". He didn't stop, but looked at the other dog, ran around behind me and they attacked each other! Man they were going at it hard, bare teeth and fur flying. I ramped it up and watched them in the mirror Whew, close! Not to be outdone, a little dog behind a fence was yelping away as the beer-gut owner was trying to calm him down by shouting obscenities! The road had just been watered down and graded so was nice and smooth as I clicked into a bigger gear and got the hell out of there! Turned onto Hwy. 76 and stopped at the Pala Casino gas station for a refill break.That's a whole lot of climbing and action before 0900! What's next?

Went inside the station and checked things out. Put some powder from my "dry" bottle into my "active" bottle and iced it up. Looked around for something to purchase. Finally found some yogurt bar for cheap. Went outside and stretched a little before rolling out. Headed west on Hwy. 76 to Rice Canyon. Not much traffic for the narrow, if any, bike lane. Good! Before reaching I-15, I turned left for more recon on Pankey Road. I stopped to ask a guy in a motorized wheelchair for directions. He rolled right by without blinking! Pankey shortly cuts off onto Shearer which then becomes Dulin as it winds through a river bottom community. It comes out on Old Hwy. 395 just before the Day LIlly Hill climb. I spun up the hill in the 34T ring at a steady 8 mph. Turned at the top and went over to the Shawn Harrison cross-memorial alongside the road. My old rando card is still there, bleached out and all. Turned and crossed the road again to Lilac Road headed down towards Bonsall.

Met one rider coming up as I enjoyed the trip downhill. Saw a group of 20 California Conservation Corps clearing out the river bottom before the San Luis Rey Golf Course. They all looked great in their blue helmets and newly pressed brown uniforms. Parked in the shade by a tree alongside McDonalds, ordered out a HF Sundae and laced it up with some GU. Finished off my Cashew Butter WW crackers. Re-iced my bottles and headed west on Hwy. 76 into the normal westerly headwind.

Word has it that Rando Devin M. is building up a Ice Cream Truck!

Turned southward on College Ave by Wal-Mart. Several longish uphill climbs to train on as I headed to Oceanside Performance Bike to check things out. Been a while since I've been there. Rode through the store and straight to the workshop to chat with Mechanic Ed about a cheap dirt bike. Ed knows lots of people and how to spec out MTB's. He showed me what they had there from under $600 27.5 to "better" bikes around $800. I asked him to check out any buddies who wanted to unload their old MTB for cheap. He said most of his riding buddies have $2000 dollar rigs. Next up I chatted with Mgr. Jason Kilroy. He rode the Stagecoach 400 MTB Route a few years back and knows bikes too. He's into moto dirt bike stuff now and has tapered off his bike riding. Caught up on our rando friend Devin Mortenson of late. Guess he had a back injury at work and was off the bike for a month or so. He riding dirt now and is building up a "Fat Tire Bike". Enough said, I rode out and headed up the big climb southward.

Construction on Cannon Road, so I took the sidewalk. Stopped at the park bathroom before riding south on Coast Hwy. Stopped at Nytro to see Joe, but he was out/busy and running around. I sat outside and ate a banana and refilled my bottle. Some TT racer gal pulled in and wanted to put her bike in the stand. She was trying to move another bike to make room, when she dropped her $$ bike onto the curb where it bounced into the street. Nice. Headed south to Swami's and back onto Coast Hwy. Picked up a girl on a carbon racer after she passed me. I kept the heat up as she kept trying to pull away. I called that a good workout for her and a training ride for me!

I was feelin' good after 2 days off the bike and paced up to Rancho Santa Fe town. Saw one rider coming down Del Dios Hwy. past the dam. I cut off on Citracado Pkwy. and made a mental note to make a map with the route up Gamble Lane to send John when he does his evening ride this way next! Did the ol loop-e-doop and finally finished up in San Marcos.

Interesting day with the dog chase, lots of climbing and finally back on course. Maybe a 4/5 today? Looks like the OFR Thursday Gruppo will head south on Thursday, so I might plan a longer ride to SDSU to hook up.

Fog early, clearing mid-morning
Hi: 88     Lo: 55
100 miles

-randorides