Our first time up Palomar!

And it couldn't have been a better day, it was a little chilly and sometimes the breeze was a little strong, but it was lovely and cool. We started off at Kit Carson Park, wound our way through escondido, then past Lake Wolford and the casinos, then started the long climb up the mountain. Everyone did brilliantly, it was hard for those of us who hadnt done quite as long a sustained climb before but everyone made it all the way up the mountain and 14 miles of continuous climb.

There was a sneaky little extra of a climb up to the observatory, where we started to notice the rarified air a little more (all good training!!) but its a really fun downhill and got us ready for the long descent.

For anyone on the edge of their chair, we did a total of 8619 ft of climbing and 71.24 miles.

Thanks so much to Kevin for helping us with SAG and cheering us on. He even helped other cyclists along the way, giving one guy a lift back to Lake Wolford.

Hot like a furnace!

Here is fern resting up at Rainbow Market, it seemed to really sum the day up with the trippyness of it. Cooel!






We had a really hot day, but everyone did really well and tried their hardest. We were joined by our awesome coach, DJ who kept us smiling and cheered us on all day.

And thanks so much to Tom for helping us out with SAG. He really was wonderful, picking up tons of people to take back, and bringing us the most delicious rosemary potatoes. On a hot day its really hard to keep up with eating, but these were so delicious that we couldnt resist!!



We were treated to a lovely view of the flower fields on our final part of our ride, we were almost too tired to enjoy it!!

Congratulations to Christine in particular, who was really suffering but finished the whole ride with a smile!

Couzer Canyon

Well, this week was another hard week, with 84.3 miles and 6700 ft of climbing. Quite a jump really, we did a few less miles than last week and an extra 3000ft of climbing! It took a very long time and we finally made it into the parking lot tired but happy!




The day's excitement started with us seeing a helicopter landing on the old 395 and nearly knocking some of us over with its force, we then wound our way up hill after hill, enjoying a lovely sag in Bonsall with the main team, which was nice.

We then started up the lovely climb of Couzer Canyon, rewarded with SAG at the top. As we enjoyed our PB and J's, we got to watch tom climb up an impossible hill, 'check his shoes' and then race back down. He's an unbelievable athlete and we're in awe.

More delights awaited us, the lovely Joanie rushed up champagne and rewarded us with a strawberry at the top!

Yay! Interstate 5!

This week I didnt take any photos as I was being a bit of a grouch again. We rode 90 miles up the coast from UCSD to San Clemente, and we werent allowed on the military base because of the ironman, so we had to ride on the I5, which sucked.

It was an important training ride, to get our speed up on the flats and get some good miles in. I just dont really care for that ride, so I was a bit miserable.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of beautiful east county and getting some hills in. It seems to suit me better mixing things up with some hills, it gives me a chance to rest on the downhills, then work hard on the uphills, then it seems to be different muscles on the flat.

Everyone did really well though, the team spirit was there, so thats good news!

I managed to do a couple of spins this week, so I kept nice and fit.