Orange County 300k

The start.  About 20 riders.

Everyone comes into a brevet with a different set of expectations and goals.  I always try to keep those two things lined up with my current level of fitness, rest and course difficulty.  For this 300k, I was still sticking to my early season training.  That meant keeping my HR well below my lactate threshold and not even thinking about my finishing time or even setting a goal for finishing time.  Planning to take it easy and actually doing it are sometimes two different things.  When we bombed down the San Diego Creek Trail to Newport Back Bay I've found the combination of the slight downhill grade and the early morning lack of an on-shore breeze can make for some nice high speed runs to the coast.  This day I resisted and cruised along at around 30 km/h.  Later on the route heading up the Santa Ana River Trail a scraggly looking paceline of randonneurs passed me and I again resisted the temptation to jump on.  Some people might call it sandbagging, I think of it as pacing myself.

We rolled out a couple of minutes after 0600.  I had been busy in the convenience store that shares space in the Ralphs parking so I didn't have a chance for the usual pre-ride talk with friends.  As we climbed out over Glenn Ranch, Saddleback Ranch, and then Santiago Canyon I started to warm up.  With the early departure we didn't get to see much of the sunrise from the Canyon.  The fishermen were up and out in force on the Irvine Lake and the vapor over the lake made me a feel a chill.  I've spent many, many chilly mornings at trout streams watching the vapor rise as the sun rise begins warming the day.  This day I'd left my fishing gear at home and kept on peddling.  Willie Hunt met us at the top of the last grade on Santiago Canyon to sign our brevets so we could pass on the convenience store control just a mile down the road if we didn't need anything.  The ride west to Newport and then north to Santa Ana River Trail (SART) was pleasant and uneventful.

As I started inland on SART I hoped I'd find the beauty of the river trail.  It is sort of a bicycle freeway from the beach to the mountains.  It's not the esthetics of the trail I find uninteresting.  I just find the riding a bit monotonous, which is saying something when you consider that as a native of Illinois, I have ridden all over that great flat state and enjoyed it.  This day I amused myself by biker watching.  There was a steady stream of coast bound riders to keep my attention.  The detour on SART just inland of Gypsum Canyon was very nice.   I do hope they decide to leave the trail as detoured running next to the golf course rather than close, within 20 yards for quite a ways, to the 91 as it was originally paved.

At the fourth control I found the paceline that had rolled by on SART departing and another group trickled in as I left.  Molly and Jerry Cook were part of the group.  It wouldn't be the last time that we'd run into one another through the day.  The route through Corona was new to me and I found it entirely pleasant to be up in residential areas on nice wide empty streets rather than hugging the freeway below.  After a brief wrong turn adding a couple of kilometers to my day I ran into Molly and Jerry again.  Navigating according to the route sheet we were eventually dumped out onto Temescal Canyon for the hop down to Lake Elsinore.  Two things really caught my attention on Temescal Canyon.  The first was an enormous dog that had been hit and was still laying in the road.  The second was "Skull Canyon Eco-Experience."  I wondered if the pioneers who settled the area actually named it Skull Canyon or if this was a commercial enterprise's vision of the best marketable name.

As I rode south, paralleling the 15 at some distance, I stopped at a Circle K to top up my bottles and buy some food.  We were heading to Clinton Kieth Road and following it east across the Santa Rosa Plateau into territory with few services.  At the Circle K, Molly and Jerry arrived moments after me and then to my surprise Kelly DeBore, Jaime Gurolla, and a fellow I've not met pulled in to fuel up.  Kelly, Jaime and crew were out riding the Toughrider 200k permanent.  I was surprised to see Kelly and Jaime because, according to my navigational devices, we were located approximately 15 miles due west of the middle of nowhere.

Clinton Keith Road was a good warm up for the coming terrain.  After about 6 or 8 km of steady climbing at 6 to 8% the grades came down to a more gentle 2-3%.  The climb, although shorter, reminded me a good bit of San Julian Road out of Lompoc.

The Santa Rosa Plateau is a unique ecosystem.  Primarily a basalt formation from volcanic eruptions eons ago the Plateau's grass lands and Scrub Oak are quite striking after the dirt and rock landscape of the 15 corridor.  At 2000 feet elevation it must be much cooler in the summer than the Temecula Valley below.  On this day the temps were perfect which makes hard work much easier.  After crossing the plateau a sign sets the tone for the next 10 or 12 miles.

It says "GRADE" not "GRADES".  The grades were innumerable.

Dropping off the plateau on a bombing run that drops 700 or so feet at 20%+ grades is spectacular.  This was one of the few descents where I've drug my brakes for almost it's entirety.  The terrain that followed was almost surreal.  I would not have been surprised to find a Rolls Royce Cabriolet full of cabbages or a clocks dripping from trees.  To prepare for paving hills sides are usually cut and hill tops chopped off to reduce the grade.  Not here.  These roads have been layered on top of the terrain as is and where is.  I can only imagine the task involved in paving this type of terrain and the vision required to hike or fly across the hills and picture paved roads in place of game trails and farm roads.  Riding through here was sublime.  The roads were terrible, cracked and potholed, and the grades were impossible.  To describe the roads as rolling is to understate their nature.  To me rolling hills implies that a rhythm of give a take can be found with the terrain.  Riding in Missouri is like that.  This terrain is mostly take, with occasional downhills that will make your eyes water.  The pitches are so steep that no rhythm can be found.  You are not in control here.  The surfaces; they were rough farm road paving jobs.  There's hardly any point in striving for perfect surfaces in a place like this.  If I saw 10 vehicles after from Avocado Mesa Road  to DeLuz road at Fallbrook I'd be surprised.  You have to ride these roads and pay attention.  This was some of the best, most enjoyable riding I've had since leaving the midwest in '96.  To see the terrain we crossed I've attached a google map link in terrain mode.  You can clearly see where the route climbs up to the plateau and then drops off heading south to Fallbrook.

The last bit of wild terrain is south of Fallbrook.  We rode Olive Hill to Burma and Sleeping Indian out to N. River Road.  I was reminded of the last time I had been on Sleeping Indian:

As I climbed up the last little grade before the big descent to the river I could see a rider up ahead at the side of the road.  As I approached she asked if there were any more hills up ahead.  I could see another rider stopped at the top of the hill.  I had to tell the truth:  it's all hills in that area.  I don't know what they decided to do.

I got to Oceanside just before dark and started north towards Rancho Santa Margarita (RSM).  Riding the 5 always has a traffic generated tailwind.  At Las Pulgas road it was dark, dark, dark.  All the way through to San Onofre I had the only mobile light.  At Christianitos Road, Molly and Jerry caught me as I was scanning the route sheet.  I wanted to see where the last 20 miles of the route lay.  From Dana Point we turned well inland and headed to and up Margarite Parkway.  I can't recall ever riding Margarite all the way up to RSM.  There are some pretty decent grades on that road.  I started getting that "I'm not having any fun" feeling which means I need to eat.  I popped a gel as Molly and Jerry passed and I started feeling better almost immediately.  The ride started to be fun again.

I want to thank Willie Hunt for putting together a fantastic route.  It was challenging but I never felt cheated which is quite an achievement.  I also want to thank Patricia for cooking tortellini and spaghetti with a choice of marinara and basil dressing.  It was delicious.

OC 300k Ride Stats:
Distance: 312 km
Riding Speed Average: 23.0 km/h
Ascent 2910 m
Time 15:20 hh:mm