Last Saturday the team did our annual San Diego ride, which I looked forward to every time. We met at the usual Anaheim Stadium Amtrak station parking lot where we came back to after a train ride back up. Less than a year has past and I felt nothing but excitement leading up to it. It was a major contrast from last year where I honestly felt scared. Just the sound of it sounded daunting – “We’re biking to San Diego.” What?!?
We started to ride towards the coast by using the river path. It was nice and smooth with rollers under bridges all throughout. I remember last year I was pretty nervous because there was no fence dividing us and the descent into a dry concrete river. It wasn’t much of a concern this year, so I enjoyed the whole bit!
A little more than halfway through was our SAG stop where we switched out bottles and food, and took restroom breaks. Taking note for next time, I’m packing a burrito or something because that’s what I saw some teammates do! Mmmm looked so amazing!
By the time we got to the boobies, err.. I mean San Onofre Power Plant, it was definitely time for a photo op! I somehow got ahead of my friends that planned the photo op, so I stopped at a perfect place and waited for them. BAM… picture(s) taken!
For the most part, we had a relatively cool and overcast day (whew!). Last year I think it was pretty hot. The pic above was pretty much our view the whole way. Sure, it was grey, but I still thought it was beautiful! I seriously love riding along the coast! I still think the best (and fastest) part was through Camp Pendleton. We all needed our California IDs to get through, but past that guard gate, it was mainly smooth and fast! Well, there was a few hiccups for me. A flat tire! A back flat of all things! Hmm… it was my first back flat, so umm, yeah I didn’t really know what to do. Turned my bike upside down, wiggled the tire around the chain, got everything dirty and swapped out the bad tube. I guess I didn’t fill the air all the way the first time, so when I was back on the road, the tire felt wobbly. Oh weird. Great, had to stop again, then some strangers offered to help. Then Brad, my coach, stopped and helped. All I needed was more air.
The rest of the ride went really well. Brought back many happy memories of last year. I was also able to ride with other teammates I normally wouldn’t ride with. The final stretch was through San Diego neighborhoods, and we were even able to see one of our teammate’s mothers who live along our route.
After all that was said and done, 80ish miles complete! Pizza and beer all around! When we boarded the train back, we immediately found the car that had all the alcohol and the fun continued!
We didn’t find out until after the ride that one of our teammates, Adam had an unfortunate bike accident a little south of Orange County. He was trying to avoid some careless bikers and his bike got caught up in some storm drains, flipped over cracked his helmet, got some deep road rashes, and broke his scapula! By the time we got back to the Amtrak station, we was already discharged from the hospital and was in good spirits, like always.
STATS
June 11 2011
- 84.11 miles / 5:24 16.0mph avg
- moving time 5:15
May 21, 2012
- 80.25 miles / 5:11 15.5mph avg
- moving time 4:45:09
So, what do you think ?