Elfin Forest Training Ride

A local favorite, the Elfin Forest ride is a mixture of rolling hills through Harmony Grove and the famous (or infamous ) Del Dios Highway. It was a shorter than normal training ride but none the less both fun and challenging. I decided to ride to the start of the ride in Solana Beach so that - depending on time I could still make my daughters soccer game at 11:30. I left the house at about 6:15 am in the dark and rode the first 13 miles or so hoping cars could see me and that I didn't find a pothole in the dark that I didn't know about. The nice thing about this weekend is that is a little cooler than previous weeks so that was going to help.

I had cheated a little and done the ride the prior day - in the reverse direction and although it was a little less steep the way I did it, it was good to get 50 in the day before so that in essence I was able to do back to back 50's with about 3200 feet of climbing on both days in preparation for the back to back 100's next week -- that have just a little less climbing (2900 ish). That one promises to be an interesting weekend!

The EF ride was nice.. I forgot to eat breakfast but managed to grab a Cliff bar at the Java Depot as it opened so wasn't on "empty". Group 4 was a mixture of some new faces with some "regulars" and it was nice to see Julie back - first time I had rode with her since Palomar, Diane and Hooter -- our fearless leaders were there and Effran, Rob M from the Radio contest, Cowboy, Webby, Brent Senior, Kristine and some "new faces"-- mood was light and jovial as we headed out. No Anne, Shelby or Jodi this week - Jodi recovering from an indepth conversation with the corner wall on the bike path last week. She wasn't too badly hurt, but a little banged up and I heard she is planning to be back for the big weekend.

It is funny how you get into a rhythm with a group and at first we struggled to get the right "running order" as we went east on via de valle-- with a couple of near misses with cars for some of the group. Once we got onto the Rancho Santa Fe track though we all sorted out the spacing etc and got into the 'groove". I chatted with Alex, the Radio contestant from Group 3 who 4 weeks earlier had shoulder surgery for the fall on Palomar. Very brave of him to comeback so soon and I can't help feeling he will be one of the final few in the Radio Contest.

Got to chat with Julie a bit (mainly about the health care debate ::-) ) and spent sometime with Kristine talking about riding "bubbles"

Del Dios was hard but with the cooler temps and being a little fitter -- and knowing what to expect - didn't seem nearly as hard as last time -- I think a large part of that was the temps but it was still pretty humid

After a very quick SAG stop we enjoyed a fast (20mph) roll through Elfin Forest into San Elijo hills. We waited for the back of the group - 2 flats that Diane had to deal with -- Pretty straight forward to the coast and looking at the time I was able to turn north and leave the group to do the part I had done earlier that morning. I rode the 5 or so miles home and rounded out the 50... legs a little sore this am but rode a "recovery" 35 this am to bring the grand F-M total to 170 miles.

Ran into a friend who was riding on the way home so rode the last few miles with him and his friend.

Next week will be the challenge and given I was fighting saddle sores this week, I am going to take it easy this week, get the bike serviced and save some legs for the weekend. I will try to get one spin class and maybe a light ride on Friday in.

Looking forward to the LA trip