101 Miles, 3 Bottles, 1 Pop Tart

I had a pretty mellow week. After my great ride on Tuesday I was a little sore and wanted to rest for the weekend, because I planned on doing a 90 mile ride. My commute on Thursday in to work was only 9 miles and the same 9 miles after work.

Friday night we spent the night down in San Diego because George was doing the San Diego Brevet Series 300k the next morning. Like I had two weekends before, I stranded myself far from home and vowed to start in the wee hours of the frigid morning and make it home before noon, when the kids were coming home.

The alarm went off around 4:08 and I slowly got myself out of bed and started getting ready. Food didn't sound appetizing at that point, so I made myself a bottle of Interphase mixed with CarboPro and called it breakfast. George helped me get ready to roll, ushered me out the door at 4:42 a.m. and I was off. I realized within the first mile that I had left my flask of CarboPro 1200 behind in the room and there went my plans for not having to stop and buy anything. Rather than turn around, I decided I'd just stop off buy something when my bottles were empty, which is easy when you're riding on the coast.

I was a little nervous in the beginning section since I had never been on this stretch, it was dark and I was alone. I had 11.3 miles to get to Doyle Park, an area I was familiar with and from there it would be a route I knew. The first two hours that I was on the bike, my feet and legs were so cold that I felt like I could hardly turn the pedals. I was remembering back to doing this route two weeks before in the rain, and thinking to myself, that I'd take rain over the cold anyday. At least on that day I was rolling at a faster pace!

By the time I made it to San Onofre it was beginning to warm up a bit and I started to see some other cyclists on the road. I was also through both of my bottles and kicking myself for leaving that flask behind. I was really enjoying the CarboPro that was in my bottles and knew that my only alternative when I hit 7-11 in San Clemente would be something like Gatorade. On the stretch before 7-11 I was getting really warm in my wool baselayer and jersey so when I pulled in, I ditched the base layer and shoved it in a pocket. I went into the store, bought some dreaded Gatorade and a Pop-Tart for some quick energy, since I had been running on very few calories since leaving San Diego. I only managed to eat one of the two in the package, filled my bottles and I was off again.

After going through the State Park in Dana Point I was waiting for the left turn light to change and two cyclists came up behind me. We ended up talking and keeping a good pace on the rollers through Laguna when one had to break off. The other was trying to get some mileage in, so he continued north to Huntington Beach with me. I said goodbye when I turned off at Brookhurst, fully intending to head home and call it a day at my planned 91 miles. I looked at my watch and noticed that I had at least a full hour before the kids were supposed to be home, so I took it easy for another 10 miles so I could get a century in.

All said and done, 6 hours 58 minutes, 101 miles, 3 bottles and 1 Pop Tart.