Solitude

Did repeats on Mt. Soledad again today. Only had time for two because traffic was BAD. I got to the DeAnza Cove parking lot just in time to join the last group heading out and up.

Same route as last week. First time up the hill along Mt. Soledad road I was feeling pretty blah. I hadn't slept well the night before so I was pretty tired. The route is basically all uphill and I ended up riding alone for almost the entire way. At the top, I tried very hard to talk myself out of doing a repeat but I just couldn't do it. A few others were going to squeeze in another climb and I bowed to peer pressure and joined them. I'm glad I did because we did Nautilus face again. The downhill is a screamer and I got up to 37 MPH. We regroup at the bottom and then make the long steady climb back up and then head back in.

The all uphill routes are tough for me because as a heavier rider, I get no breaks from hauling my butt up the hill. It's just grind, grind, stand and grind. I do much better on the routes that mix in a small bit of down to go with all that up as I can use my weight to my advantage and get some momentum going on the brief downhills that gives me a head start on the uphills.

It was a weird session for me as I ended up riding alone almost the entire way. Come to think about it, it's very appropriate for Mt. Soledad as Soledad means solitude in Spanish. Totals were 15.5 miles with 1680 feet of elevation.




















Worth the climb.