Saturday was our last "big" ride of the training season. The goal of our training program is to be able to complete the Tahoe Century, ie. 100 mile ride. Our training takes us very close to the 100 mile mark without actually hitting it. We save that completion of that milestone for event day.
The route is a straight out and back along the coast starting at on the UCSD campus out to San Clemente and back. We do this ride every program and it is pretty special. 95 miles of beautiful southern Cali coastline, a trip through the Camp Pendleton Marine Base and a stop at Carl's Jr for lunch at the turnaround point.
The last two programs, this has been historically one of my most difficult rides. We do 4000 feet of overall climbing but the course is mostly pretty flat. This makes for a lot different cycling than we normally do. The thing about very hilly courses is that you get to move your body position more while riding them. I sometimes scoot back on my seat or stand while climbing. When cresting the top, I can rest the legs and coast down with minimal pedaling. Not so on the flat climbs. It is pedal, pedal, pedal with no real chance to change body position or rest. 96 miles in the saddle usually results in a sore neck, stiff back and a sore butt. I was a little worried about it. Somehow, today's ride wasn't so bad.
I made a pretty radical change in my riding position this season after re-visting my bike fit at the beginning of the season. I raised my handle bars, raised and moved my saddle along with moving my shoe clips back towards my heels. The end result was a more upright riding position a smoother, more efficient pedal stroke. Magic.
The B3 group I mentor did very well and handled everything we threw at them today. They are ready for Tahoe. We had a nice surprise at the end of the ride. Our Team Coordinator, Laurie had champagne glasses of sparking apple cider at the end of the ride. Each group also took a team photo.
Totals for the day were 96 miles, 4100 feet of climb with 7 hours 12 minutes of riding time and over 9 hours on the road.
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