San Diego and Coronado Island

With my next race a few weeks away in Bakersfield I thought it was time for another travelogue. I spend every other weekend in San Diego and on Saturday, I always ride with my club, the San Diego Cyclo-Vets. This ride is intense, loaded with race simulations, so on Sunday I look for a scenic recovery ride. The ride I currently favor is traveling from our apartment, located in the Serra Mesa neighborhood of S.D., to the silver shores of Coronado and the bike path called the Silver Strand. We've got friends in Coronado, so I make it a one way trip and my wife, Esmeralda, is waiting with the family car. The way I've composed the ride, it is 35 to 43 miles depending what you do in Coronado. The shorter ride is straight to our friends house, the longer version is to the end of the strand, ride through town, and stop at the Ferry Landing. I prefer stopping in Coronado, but I've seen others really make it an adventure and ride the Ferry back to San Diego and home.

Here's the shorter version via MapMyRide:


Coronado Island is really not an island. It is connected to "mainland" San Diego at the South end and the Town of Imperial Beach. The North end of the Coronado is connected to San Diego by the Coronado Bay Bridge but bikes are not allowed on this bridge. When I created the MapMyRide route they still had not opened a new extension of bike path that skips riding into Imperial Beach or IB as the locals call it. That part of my ride was not the high point of the route but you don't have to worry about it anymore. Right before mile 29 you pick up a new bike path that will completely avoid IB and take you directly to the Silver Strand.


Star of India

My version of this ride takes you past some pretty cool scenery. It does have some areas that are pretty congested though, so I like to make this ride first thing in the morning. The best views, prior to arriving in Coronado, are riding past Sea World, coming into the harbor area and the tourist attractions of the Star of India, and the USS Midway. You pass under the North end of the bridge and travel South past the Navy base. The route is pretty straight forward but look at it closely. Finding the first bike path can be a little tricky. On my map, it is between mile 23 and mile 24, at the end of 32nd street. It looks like I'm traveling on the 5 freeway but you'll be on a well constructed bike path to the west of I5. You want to cross some water (Sweetwater River) on the Gordy Shields' bridge (A San Diego Cyclo-Vet legend) so head straight for the I5 and avoid what looks like a bike path over water just west of Gordy's bridge.

Enjoy the ride!

I'm Ready

Bouquet Canyon Reservoir
Photo Credit: http://image14.webshots.com/14/5/67/57/159356757VieLLu_fs.jpg

(see other pics below)

I just finished punching the right buttons on my computer and paying for my entry into the Bakersfield Masters' Championships held in Bakersfield, California on Saturday, June 6th. Am I ever ready for this race. I've entered the Masters 50+ category in keeping with my blog's name. My race will be held 7:30 am and will be 31 miles long - check out my previous post for a map of the course.

How do I know I'm ready? I've been tearing up the club scene for a couple of weeks now. Granted, most of the club riders are not racers but you don't have to have a racing license to be a hammerhead on a bike. Last week I was riding with my Cyclo-Vets group on our usual Torry Pines ride and I was easily first to the park, the first race simulation. I was third going up Torry Pines where I'm usually around 7th to 10th, and I was first up the sprinter hill of Carroll Canyon (if you don't count Arnie and Janette on a racing tandem - I still find it hard to beat a 5 time National Champion in the captain's spot on the tandem, with a current pro-racer as his stoker.) I took 4th on the flat sprint at the end of the ride on Kearny Villa road but was actually first in the sprint with my chase group. A group of 3 guys, got off the front and I let them go as I felt they left too early - big mistake, they extended their gap and fought for the "podium" among themselves (and the damn tandem that I think won.) I fought it out with a large chase group, pulled away from the group with two other guys, and out sprinted them at the end.

Yesterday, with my Antelope Valley group, I found myself head to head with Eric, a usually unbeatable climber by me and the rest of our L & 20th group. Follow along with the map at the end of this post. Our first challenge is the small rise at mile 11 or so. This steady 2 mile, 3-5% climb starting at 70th street and topping out at 90th has always been treated by the L & 20th group as our first race simulation. Yesterday's ride was no exception. I easily powered away from Eric and took this first "preme". Not a real challenge, as Eric is not a sprinter and the 70th street hill is very much a sprinter's hill. Roger and Randy, both excellent sprinters, were not on this ride and either one would have given me a tough run. Eric and Roger are both ex-racers but don't let their lack of a current racing license fool anyone - both can dish out the pain in a ride.

The next race simulator starts at mile 19 and finishes at around mile 23. This is Munz Ranch Road and it's steady 6-8% grade is right up Eric's alley. Usually he reaches the top with me a hundred meters back but today (and for the last month actually) he fell behind me quickly and was never a challenge. He made one run at me at around mile 20 or so but I turned up the speed and drove hard up the hill. My current philosophy on hill climbing is that you are better to be the one leading the hill climb and dishing out the hurt rather than just sitting at the receiving end of someone else putting out the pain.

The next challenge came with the 3 Canyon's ride. Look at the map and you'll see 3 spikes right after mile 24 - those are the spikes of the 3 Canyons - San Francisquito Canyon, Spunky Canyon, and Bouquet Canyon. Francisquito, in this direction, is almost all downhill. You do have to crest a short 10-12% section before you crest and Eric is usually all business here. Again, I cranked hard and crested the hill in front and by myself - no challenge detected. We regrouped at the stop sign where we go left and head for Spunky Canyon. As we approached the climb up Spunky, at mile 28, Eric jumped into the lead and began to beat out a high tempo pace. I jumped on his wheel and then I dropped back 5 meters or so and matched his climb rate. He was pushing out the watts and I felt it was all I could do to stay on his tail but I wasn't going to let him get away. I didn't feel I had the power to pass him at this point so I stayed 5 meters back so nobody could say I was wheel sucking and allowing him to pull me up the hill. I have never beaten Eric up this hill in the several years we've been riding Spunky and it was clear from his cadence that he was not going to let me easily have this one. Somewhere around mile 30, with the crest of Spunky at mile 31, Eric increased his tempo in another bid to gap me. My heart rate was now above lactate threshold and was in the high 160's. I know from racing that I can go into the 170's for a short time so I said to myself that it was now my turn to dish out the pain. I accelerated on a steep part of the hill and passed Eric on his left side. I moved my hands as close to my stem as possible and began to drive hard with my legs using as full extension as possible. Eric tried to match my acceleration but with my heart rate passing 172 (my maximum rate is around 180) I began to lengthen my gap over him. With one last bump coming up, I stood on the petals and began to drive at maximum power - I felt great. My heart rate was in the mid 170s but I felt like I could continue this forever. What a strange sensation it is to be operating at near maximum heart rate and feeling good about it - in a few words; I'm ready to race again!

Spunky Canyon
Photo Credit: http://www.ridesaroundla.com/Rides/Spunky.jpg

As we neared the finish of the ride, Eric came up to me and said that he was sorry he didn't offer more competition on this ride. Of course, it was quite the opposite. Without him in the group I would never have pushed myself like I did. Had I been riding alone, I would have pushed hard up the canyons, I always do, but I would have stopped far short of blasting into the 170's as far as heart rate is concerned. In short, I would have worked hard but just put out enough power to feel good about my climbing workout. With Eric present, he turned an average workout into an exceptional one.

Spunky Canyon, South End
Photo Credit: http://www.pashnit.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=78062&d=1219024031


View of Bouquet Canyon Reservoir from looking South on Spunky
Photo Credit: http://lh6.ggpht.com/_dqiper7Fm7g/SDOy8YuVRUI/AAAAAAAAAyY/hvmQeahBLWI/highres_3588590.jpg

3 Canyons is going to be one of the courses I'm going to miss in the Antelope Valley. It has everything you can ask for in a training ride. In two months time I'll have moved on to the Napa Valley and the excellent rides provided by that area. The Antelope Valley is also an excellent place to train though. The draw backs are the extreme temperature in the summer and winter, and the ever present 20 - 40 mph winds in the afternoon (what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.) But in minutes you can be away from the city and riding hard over country roads with only a few cars to cause you any problems. If you get a chance to ride in the Antelope Valley, use my map below and ride the canyons.