# Another long ride report Temecula Challenge



## Hairy Palms (Feb 8, 2010)

Tough century ride with some great downhill.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/82601408

We got an early start as usual but we were still running a half hour later then we originally had planned. The group was supposed to be 4 (Brent,Jose,Cindy and myself) of us but we had a new rider jump (Rick) in so we lost one of the group because he was going to go with him on the 50 and to show him how to do it. So now we are down to 3. On the way to pick up our other rider (Cindy), Brent gets a call and Cindy tells us that she is concerned about the winds. She and Jose had a bad crash a few years back because of the winds. So she elects to do the shorter ride with Jose and Rick. None of us had done this ride before and it's not a beginner friendly ride with 100 miles and 10,000 feet of climbing. We get to the start and it's cold, very cold for me. Brent didn't even bring a shell. The winds were howling here in Fontana when we left but were basically non-existent in Temecula. I don't know why but I thought this was a large event but it turned out to be rather small. I was told they only had 136 century riders and 30 seventy-five mile riders and 26 fifty mile riders.

So the ride started off a little quickly because we wanted to warm up. Five miles out I got a gash in my tire and a flat, so we had to boot the tire and it held up until the end of the ride but the tire was flat by the end of the day. Got going again and I just wasn't able to hold Brents pace. It wasn't even a very fast speed but I felt very tired. Brent backed off a little and I gave it some extra effort hoping that this would pass and we could ride like we usually do but it just wasn't to be. We got to the first SAG and they told us there was just another two riders ahead of us. I'd seen them climbing away when we were riding into the SAG. So we stay a little to long but not to bad and off we go trying to catch 1 & 2. Now as the stats will attest there's some climbing on this ride and up we go. But the real climbing doesn't start until about mile 35 at the bottom of Mt Palomar. We eventually got caught by a handful of riders so we backed off and I went into survival mode instead of race mode. Brent pulled away on the climb, I'd told him to just go ahead and I'd see him up top.

Now neither one of us have ever rode Palomar but it's been on my list for years. I'd just always thought we'd get down there to try it but never had. I'd been told it was similar to GMR/GRR but as we started climbing instead of a balanced 6% climb I find we are seeing mostly 8% and more. Still being a new route and climb for me, I got a lot to look at so the climb went relatively quickly but it's a tough climb. Towards the top I was running out of gas and I was getting picked off by a handful of riders. It's a 16 mile climb with about an 8% average, no walk in the park but very doable. I now see a few riders ahead and make the effort to catch them. I worked my arse off and finally catch them a few miles from the top. Brent had already been there 15 minutes.

I wasn't cramping or anything just a very sore back and a lack of energy. I was wondering why I was so freekin tired and then I realized what was the reason. Earlier in the week my wife told me about her diet she was going on and it was supposed to make you feel great and give you more energy. It was all vegetables for the first 4 days and I thought that would be great. So I tried it and it did make me feel good but I wasn't considering what I needed for my ride. This diet had no protein. I was training during the week with a run on Tuesday, a 38 mile ride with 3K of climbing on Wednesday and another 3 mile run on Thursday. I felt fine on my first run but on my bike ride I was really dragging. Thursdays run was excruciating and I was only running a 10 minute mile. So I stopped the diet but I now know the damage was done. And this is why I believe I was so tired during this ride. But looking back over the stats we did pretty good and although not one of my better efforts it's still a respectable ride. On the way back down we go out and soon see a few other riders who had left quite a while before us. We usually blast the downhills and very few can catch us and we usually catch a lot of people on the descents. Some would call us nuts but we love it. Now going down we get in with some motorcycles and in the turns we can hang right with them. The only way they can get away is on the straights. So we race them down and what a blast this is. Most are surprised we can go this fast. I hit 43 in one of the turns but your concentration has to be 100% here so you don't spend a lot of time looking at the computer. Later in the day on another descent Brent had got away from me and was about quarter mile ahead. We were once again mixed in with the moto's. I was hanging with a couple on a full dress Harley and I thought I might try to draft off them. So on one of the turns I tuck in behind them and wow, I watch as my speed goes up. I wasn't even pedaling but my speed went up to 35 from 27 then to 37 to 40 to 43 and I had yet to pedal!. We go around a wide turn and Brent is right there. Now with the momentum I had from the draft and the moto slowing for the turn I shoot through and now I'm going faster then they are. What a trip, that was a lot of fun.


We get back and find our 50 mile riders at the start/finish getting ready to eat so we get our tickets for a burger and it was just what I needed. I can't eat very well on a bike ride and usually stick with all liquids until after the ride. My problem this time was I forgot to shake my food bottle when I put the water in it and the powder turned into a brick and never mixed very well with the water. So I thought I was replacing calories during the ride but not very many. When I got to a SAG with about 20 miles left I opened my bottle to find the brick in there. I had to borrow a knife to get the stuff out of there.

Now with 20 miles left to go they throw a couple climbs at you (Couser and Rice canyons) they've got a few 14% climbs here,ouch!. I've done both these climbs before when the had to reroute the Hemet double century so I knew what to expect but with my tried body it was down right torture, thankfully my bud Brent was feeling it too and I could now keep him in sight. This was the most climbing I'd done on a single ride in over 2 years and it was tough. but it was still a fun ride and I'll do it again.


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## Bob E (Feb 17, 2011)

I am suprised you did not mention Cole Grade Road. I thought that was worst than climbing Palomar. My legs got pretty stiff coming down Palomar have to climb Cole, that was a challenge.


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