Kat and me - on grill dutyTeam camp is moving right along here in SoCal and inevitably, a few of my teammates and our manager have developed nasty colds. I've been fortunate to stay well so we split the squad today and did separate rides. I went the climbing (snowy, icy, hailing, wet, windy) route with Anne, Yukie, Kat, Carrie and Amy while Kristin, Jessi and Lori rode down to San Diego and stayed mostly in the sun (see their blogs, linked below to the right, for the lowdown). Molly and Lee headed to Irvine for a special ride with their coach today. Paul was kind enough to drive support on our ride.
After yet another night of wakefulness (ugh) and some breakfast, we rolled out in the vans and headed inland to Ramona, our starting point for the day. The plan was for approximately 43mi, the first half being up (hello, 27 tooth cog - damn right I used it!) and the second half being down. I think we all brought every piece of clothing we had which was a good thing, as we encountered an interesting mix of rain, sun, clouds, fog, snow, hail (which was painful) and strong winds along the way. Paul stopped several times for us to remove and then replace garments as the conditions changed (thank you Paul!). We climbed to Julian and by the time we got there the temp had dropped to near 30 degrees, we were all soaked, there was a lot of snow on the ground and the wind was pretty severe. All of us had been climbing well to that point - even me, the "criterium specialist." I did suffer a little bit on the very last step into Julian but I made it into town withe everyone else and put on some more clothing for the descent back to Ramona.
As we headed down, the wind made it difficult for me to handle my bike - deep section wheels - not a good choice for today. I was wet and cold so I decided to be safe and put my bike in the van for the descent. I was completely bummed - I had good legs today and so wanted to ride back down to Ramona with my teammates. Carrie joined me in the follow vehicle not long after - shivering, wet and cold.
The route we took today was fantastic and incredibly scenic -good pavement, not too much traffic. Some of the area that we rode through had been profoundly affected by the wildfires that were burning a few months back so we saw a tremendous amount of destruction in some places. It would be great to return sometime when the sun is shining and the air is warm.
It's raining here now as I finish this post. I'm hoping things clear up in time for tomorrow's ride and that things back home start to warm up - I've had lots of reports of freezing brains from everyone in Chicago.
Thanks for reading - I'll be sure to check in tomorrow. Until then, wish me luck in escaping my teammates as they attempt to make me eat more cookies.
