Quips from the ride...

Today I had my longest (to memory and date, I think) ride EVER. And, as it turns out, my butt isn't too sore and my bike is still in one piece. Bonus? In spite of entertaining the thought of calling Nathaniel when I was lost the second time, I didn't. I figured that the Pacific was in a Westerly sort of direction...and to get there I had to head...West.

Brilliant, I know.

Here are a few other thoughts, ideas, observations, and expletives from my ride today. Enjoy!

-At 56:12 in, my bike computer stopped working. I have no idea what happened, or why. I had just started climbing the San Elijo hill, and I looked down and WHAM! No watts, speed, or anything. Just blank numbers. Thank goodness my hr was on a separate system, because the LAST thing you want to see when glancing at a computer/hr monitor is a blank screen.

Yes, the heart was still pumping. All 172 beats per minute (its a long hill, and my heart rate gets pretty high...easily. Go figure). But for MOST of the rest of the ride I was riding sans bike computer.

-At the top of the REALLY BIG HILL I pulled over and allowed myself to freak out for 5 minutes. No computer...? And I'm riding LONG today...?? WTF! Bloody F*$#!!! Hell. And then I realized that cursing at the computer and tossing the bike over the cliff wasn't going to do ME any good. Not really the end of the world. Seriously. If anything, I would simply prolong my time being out - because eventually I WOULD complete Jen's prescribed time.

Even if it meant sliding down said cliff, retrieving the bike, hiking back up, and completing the route. And then I would just be covered in dirt and probably chased by rattlesnakes or something. Yuck.

-I DID see a squished rattlesnake in the middle of the road. Somewhere on Lilac or West Lilac. It didn't look good. And it smelled even worse than it looked. But it reminded me to stay AS FAR RIGHT AS POSSIBLE, lest I should become squished like a rattlesnake.

-A few weeks ago when I met with Charisa to talk about rides and routes, she gave me a list of "really good roads" to tackle that branched out from old Hwy 395. I wondered at the time how she could remember so many roads... Today I found out: They all had HUGE hills. Yeah - I would remember Circle R Road if I had to climb it for 20 minutes as well.

-I swear that the city of San Marcos did not like me today. Two bottles either dropped or bounced (out of the cages), a dropped chain, and glass embedded in my tire... I think I biked through the remnants of a windshield or something ominous. At least I stopped to pull out a few shards of glass from my front tire. Phew! Unlike after descending Palomar the other day - when (to my surprise) upon arriving home, I discovered a front flat tire thanks to one heckuva cactus thorn. That sucker went ALL the way through.

-People who bike without helmets are NOT very smart. Sure - no tan lines and you get to feel the breeze blowing through your hair. But seriously. Haven't we seen enough of what can happen when an unprotected head meets the pavement? Grow up. Sheesh. You make responsible cyclists look bad.

-Thank you San Diego Chargers fans! I'm not kidding when I say that EVERY car that passed me that had a San Diego Charges lightning bolt plastered on gave me a wide berth. And I was grateful. And now, I like SD Chargers. Not as much as Green Bay though...

-I was passed by two blokes wearing FULL Garmin-Chipotle team kits somewhere on Lilac just before Couser Canyon road. They had foreign accents and spoke English with a British accent. They reminded me of Spencer Smith, actually. And when they passed me not once, but TWICE (one stopped to fix his chain at the bottom of the climb - silly me... I asked if he was okay. He just looked at me weird) - they danced on their pedals. I wanted to stop and watch them climb.

Instead I had to focus on the task at hand: 1) not looking like a buffoon on the bike and 2) not sounding like a wheezing elephant. When your heart rate is at 175, it's pretty darned near impossible to mask the Darth Vadar-like sounds emanating from your person. Trust me.

They were brilliant to watch, though.

-There was only one point when I was ready to cry "uncle" and take a break from climbing. I had JUST descended into some valley down a really really LONG and STEEP hill, and realized that I had to go back up said hill and another and then another. Thankfully cell phone reception was non-existant, and Nathaniel didn't get a phone call.

-I got lost twice, stopped at a gas station just off the 76 once to ask for directions, and eventually wound my way through Vista and Oceanside before finding the San Luis Ray River Bike Trail. I was prepared to do what it took to get home, though. Yes, I had an extra gel with me (just in case I got lost...it's dangerous when I take new routes...but you've got to learn, right), but I was NOT planning on being on the bike any longer than necessary.

Thankfully 20 minutes was all the extra that I did.

-30 minutes though...and Nathaniel WOULD have received a call.

-I am getting some funky tan lines.

For some reason my arms are extremely sensitive to the sun - in spite of the gobs and gobs on sunscreen I apply. So I'll usually keep my arm warmers on at all times if I'm wearing a jersey. Everything from my wrist and up is great... but there is a clear line on the back of my hand to where the arm warmers started. It's one thing to have a jersey tan... but arm warmer tan? I know, I know - it could be a lot worse.

-Double Latte Powergel with 2X the caffeine tastes REALLY good 4 hours into the ride. Really, really good.

-I thought A LOT about people racing this weekend, and tried to channel as much energy and "good vibes" towards them as possible.

But not so much energy that I couldn't make it up a hill.

-Speaking of hills... While climbing Gopher Canyon Road, I spied a sign from afar that I THOUGHT read HolyHill Road. And all I could think of was The Caped Crusader and "Holy Hill Batman!"

Turns out the sign was for HollyHill Road. I chanced a glance and decided that HollyHill would best be appreciated from where I was at - Gopher Canyon Road and NOT via HollyHill Road.

-I left the house really early this morning, so that I could make it home in time for Nathaniel and I to visit a local brew pub before they shut the tasting room doors at 4 pm.

I made it!

And the beer sampler (because for those of you who know me, know that I enjoy the mini samplers...I'll never order a regular beer, no. BUT - if there's a small sample of each, consider me IN), was wonderful.

-I thought I recognized a familiar face, but didn't want to be weird and tell someone, "Hey aren't you James? I read your blog!" But I did anyway. And then Beth, his fiancee and local triathlete who ALSO has a blog came in, greeted me, and then turned to Nathaniel and said, "You must be Nathaniel!"

I think Nate was more taken aback than all of us. But in his defense - he has no idea who these people were, doesn't do triathlon, and doesn't have a blog. Yeah.

But they were really nice! It's always fun to meet other triathletes and put a face to the name...

-Beer sampler + LONG bike ride = early afternoon inebriation. Yikes. Which in turn equals late afternoon head ache. YIKES! You know... I've never craved a Bloody Mary - BUT, I could really go for one minus the alcohol. Throw in some olives and celery, and I would SO all over that.

-As I was turning from Tamarack onto the Coastal Highway (about 3 minutes into my ride), my thoughts were, "This is my LAST HARD WORKOUT FOR A WEEK! Let's make it a good one!"

And I did.