Ready Freddy

Today's ride was the longest scheduled ride of the season. Next week we taper off to around 40-miles, take our team photo and have a little picnic.

We started in UCSD in La Jolla and rode up the coast all the way to San Clemente with the overall mileage totalling 94-miles!

Last week our ride was 88-miles and involved a lot of climbing. This week's ride was just a few more miles but almost flat. Consequently, I thought the ride would be much easier.

Not so...

I hadn't considered a couple of factors:

1) Flat means increased speed. We were regularly hitting 22-24 MPH. Longer, more intense cardio.
2) Flat means less stopping and therefore less resting. With no hills in the way our stops were few and far between.
3) Flat means my position on the bike was much more static than usual. I had the tightest back and sorest butt at the end of the session. My shoulders and neck were also much tighter than usual.

When climbing hills, I vary my position quite a bit including sometimes going into a standing climb position. Also, since I tend to be faster up the hills, I usually have to wait for teammates at the top which gives me a moment to get out of the saddle and stand up. No such luck on the flats. It's just hammer, hammer and more hammer.

Our ride took us through Camp Pendleton, a Marine Corps base. I hadn't realized that we were allowed to ride there with the only requirements being that we have photo ID and be wearing a bike helmet. It was nice to be someplace with less road traffic and this also gave us a way to make it up the coast without having to ride along Interstate 5.

SAG (support, aid, gear) was at the San Clemente Carl's Jr. This is apparently a Team tradition. We invaded that place. Mentor Jay came back with a tray full of salty french fries that really hit the spot.

We had some bad luck on our way back through the Base on our way home when one of our mentors, Jack took a very bad spill while rounding a corner at speed. I was a few riders back and saw it unfold in all it's ugliness. He turned the corner, and his back tire somehow rolled off his rim causing his tube to burst. Next thing you know, his bike flew from under him and he landed HARD on his butt, then his shoulder. He bounced up trying to sound calm and positive but you could tell something was wrong. One of my teammates, Mike is a former fire fighter and was instantly on the scene. He was pulling everything from reflective blankets, rubber gloves, disinfectant wipes to aspirin out his bike bag. It was like Mary Poppins. He sat Jack down and starting inspecting him. He quickly determined that he had a broken clavicle. Ouch. Liz and I were tasked with standing above him, providing shade and keeping the sun off of him. We had a scary moment where he went very light-headed and looked like he was going to pass out. Mike laid him down, put the reflective blanket on him and sent Amanda back to the Base gate for help. Also at that time, we called for an ambulance. He was instantly better once he laid down and caught his breath. The ambulance showed up a few minutes later and took him away. By that time, he looked and sounded much better.

After that somber event, we continued on and after a few more hours made it back to the parking lot and who should we see?...You guessed it, Jack. In an arm sling, wearing a sexy little backless hospital robe. Thankfully he had pants on underneath. He was chipper and it seemed a little loopy from the pain pills but was there to cheer us on and let us know that he was ok. That guy is a rock. Sadly, it's looking like he will have to miss the Tahoe ride :(

At the end of the day, I definitely could have kept going the extra 6-miles to hit the Century mark. Looks like I'm ready, Freddy.