Plan "B"

Last week, I talked my friend Anne into ditching a race she was going to do and joining me on a road trip to do the Solvang Prelude ride. My goal is to spend this year doing all kinds of riding and building up some endurance in these stems of mine. Anne is a perfect partner in crime for this (but we're recruiting!) as she loves a challenging ride as much as I do and doesn't seem to mind turning on her autopilot while I huff and puff behind her. When the logistics of travel and hotel accommodations started to get complicated, we decided to hold off on the Solvang ride until the spring. (Thinking it would also give us time to gather more victims for the Solvang Century) As it turns out, the "Plan B" ride we found was incredible and will definitely be on the agenda for next year.

We opted to do the Tour de Julian ride which was a well organized, challenging, 55 mile ride with a promise of apple pie at the finish.  We knew it was going to be a great day of riding when the sunrise revealed scenes of the course. This is Lake Cuyamaca in full fall form. Beautiful! 

There were wild turkeys everywhere and a family of deer cruising around behind us but I'm not proficient enough on the Blackberry camera features to capture the action, yet.  Regardless, it was just an awesome crisp, fall morning that made getting up at 4:30 am well worth it. 

A little further up the road the ride began at the Menghini Winery, just outside the town of Julian. Here's Anne and I at the start: 

I'm mad at myself for not noticing the guy in the background of Anne's picture. Look at him! He wanted his picture taken too and obviously responds well when he hears someone say, "Smile!"

For the second weekend in a row, we were excited about pushing ourselves on a ride that we knew was going to be tough but just had to tackle. Last weekend, it was the Great Western Loop backwards and up Lyons Valley (I've been dancing around that version of the ride for a year now so I finally sucked it up and went for it.) This weekend, we were a lotta bit nervous because the ride profile for the Tour de Julian looked something like this:

(You can click on the image for a larger view if you're an elevation nerd)

I hate even referring to rides as being "difficult" because I know many people who cover these type of miles on a regular basis but seriously, it was tough! We knew it was going to be difficult because we had done part of the course earlier this year with the Qualcomm group but this particular course included the notorious "Engineers Road." It turned out to be long and steep, as promised...and we loved it! Honestly, the entire course felt like more uphills than down and there was a special cross wind treat with gusts that made me want to ride in the middle of the road so I wouldn't fall off the mountain. Motorists love this type of logic from people riding Christmas ornaments. 

The Tour de Julian included a 28 mile option. I was warned by a couple other riders that I might be heading the wrong way when we made the turn for the climb up Sunrise Highway. One guy passed and said, "Are you sure you're going the right way?!" Sounding like the dork that I am, I said,  "Hells yeah!" and I told Anne that even if we weren't planning on doing the 55 mile ride, at that point, we were now! She's as stubborn as I am so she totally understood my logic.  In hindsight, I'm thinking that guy was probably the course "sweeper" in charge of making sure everyone made it back okay by the end of the ride and in seeing us, thought, "Oh crap, I'm going to be out here all day waiting for those two!" He probably called his wife right after and told her to go ahead and start the wine tasting without him. Make believe story destroying a man's good intentions aside, here are some pictures from our fabulous tour:

Anne checking the course map. I tend to surround myself with people that know what they're doing. It's a survival mechanism, I'm sure.  

I seriously need a smaller helmet for my melon, or maybe just a smaller melon. That's ridiculous. I wish the pictures showed the golds and oranges of the landscape. For some reason everything looks dry but it wasn't. If you live here, head up to Lake Cuyamaca and Julian soon for a real taste of fall in Southern California.

Climbing up Sunrise Hwy to the Mount Laguna Visitor's Center 

We have a lot of pictures of our backsides!

All this climbing makes me think of channeling my inner mountain goat and thinking of mountain goats reminds me of this song which is why it is ALWAYS stuck in my head when we're slogging away. Yesterday was no exception. No need to watch past the first two verses because that's all I pickin' know and it repeats over and over again in my head. Between this and the first two lines of the Beastie Boys "Let it Flow," I seriously get on my own nerves. I need a new soundtrack! But in the meantime, I hope to share my ear worms with you all! 

Here is one of the many views off Sunrise Hwy looking down at the Anza Borrego Desert. There's a century ride in the spring down there somewhere that I'd like to do next year. Any takers?

One last shot of my backside coming back down from Mount Laguna. The gusts were so strong up there, I'm honestly surprised no one crashed. 

Actually, one of us DID crash on this ride. Unfortunately, we don't have photo evidence because Anne is way nicer than I am and was more concerned with my well being than documenting my fall.  I did manage to lay out my bike just as we were pulling into the winery. I had to jump up quick as there was an SUV that looked like it was going to use me for a speed bump if I didn't clear out fast enough. Upon this dramatic arrival, we were greeted with a HUGE slice of apple pie as promised and it was ridiculous how good it tasted. 

I don't typically live my life making arrangements for "Plan B" as I prefer to just think of whatever happens as "Plan A," but in this case, it was definitely the better option when given the choice and I highly recommend this ride to anyone who enjoys a climb or two. I have no idea what to put on the agenda for next weekend but after every challenging ride, I'm left wanting more so feel free to suggest and thanks for stopping by!