In Oceanside, early in the rideJessi brought her camera along today and snapped some cool shots of us on an 80 mile ride that took us up the coast to Oceanside, inland to the moutains, down to Escondido and then back out to Encinitas and the Pacific Ocean (with lots of nice "little" UP sections along the way). There was a fair amount of relatively severe climbing today but everyone was up to the challenge and we had one fantastic ride. Temps were in the 60s with blue skies and no clouds to be seen. Perfect.
The best part of going up is of course going down, one of my most favorite things. The road surfaces were excellent and the scenery was awesome. We had the opportunity to scream downhill at 45+mph through an amazing valley into Escondido with about 20mi left and I have to admit it was by far the best part of the ride. I wanted to do it again!! But that would have entailed a LONG climb back up so I opted to continue back home, since climbing is not my forte.
My legs were great today and I felt amazing - good for some winter confidence and my fragile athlete psyche. Tomorrow's plan is for some easy miles, maybe 3hr total followed by a manicure/pedicure and a lot of relaxing/team bonding. I'm going to try my best to get some sleep and just 'live the dream' a bit.
Thanks for reading - hope y'all are staying warm and dry back home - I miss you!
