Thursday Night Flight and Bike to Work Day

Been trying to get some extra miles in this week. Thursday was another night of climbing at Soledad Mountain. Met up with Lisa and Natalie at DeAnza cove for a couple of climbs before we lost daylight. First pass was the 3.5 miles long 800 foot grind up Mount Soledad road. Most of the route has a grade somewhere around 5-6% but it pitches up a to 9% for short sections. I felt much more comfortable this week than I did last week. Probably has something to do with all the climbing we did last Saturday. We stop at the top to catch our breath and enjoy the view. It's a little windy and the temperature has dropped at least 5 degrees. Having a sweaty jersey wasn't helping matters. Natalie decides to head home as she has already done some riding today and wants to save her "legs" for Saturdays long mileage.

Lisa and I chat with some other Team in Training alumi we meet at the top before we head back down for another pass. We decide to ride down Cardeno blvd. I've only ever done this ascent one other time. The last time was when I was training for the Tahoe last year. I remember it as being a very tough climb. The descent down is a lot of fun. Zero traffic and the road winds and rolls nicely. The last little bit drops down very quickly. We make the u-turn at the bottom of the hill and start the climb back up. Wow, this is steep! My bike computer says that this is an 11% grade. Nothing to it but to do it so I start humming and try to keep a steady cadence. We get past the big hump and then the rest of the road is a series of steadily rising rollers with nothing more than 4-5%. Back to the top of the mountain and than another speedy chilly decent back to our cars. Total are 1550 feet of climbing in 10.5 miles.

Today was bike to work day. I'm strongly in favor of cycling to work and would do it a lot more often if I could. I've got a 90 mile ride tomorrow and two repeats up Soledad Mountain took a bit of work but I still decide to ride. There were a few regular commuters with lots of first timers. I had to smile a little as I saw them struggling up the big pitch on Ruffin road crossing Aero drive. That was me a couple of years back. Today, I just flew up the hill. I've come a long way in the last couple of years of steady riding.