This is the sixth of many daily logs that I'll make via my iPhone for Ride Across California (RAC), so excuse the spelling and formatting. Go to the day one post to find out what RAC is. My leader, Mari Lu, and I slept like babies last night. In addition, it looks like Mari Lu's health will allow her to ride today, that's the best news. My butt is no longer killing me (it only took 5 days to get to this point) and the trip is nearly over.
I haven't eaten since lunch the day before so I'm hungry. This AM's breakfast was the best. There's a lot of buzz about how nice the ride was going to be and people are really looking forward to it. There's bound to be some downhill given we are at 4100 ft. and we need to get to sea level.
We started with cool weather and were layered for much colder conditions. The countryside was very pretty and there was no hurry. We have a short ride today and all day to do it. The ride to Dudlies market was over too quick, a nice smooth decent over green country with very little traffic.
After having a bear-claw and coffee, and taking off a layer or two, it was another nice decent with some good hills to climb.
Mari Lu flew up the hills today like a deer jumping through tall grass, beating me after I took a break to adjust my pants. I know she's feeling better.
Next up (or should I say down) was a 3 mi decent through black canyon. It was a dirt road and I'm really glad I used a mountain bike for this trip. The segment included a couple of climbs, but they weren't too tough. I took a nice rollover to soft sand again today right as I was trying to get out of the way of an approaching car. I was moving about 2 mph and there was no danger so it was quite funny. Mari Lu really enjoyed herself through this segment. It ended into payment which we took to Ramona. Mari Lu's cycling skills are looking really good.
Lunch was tasty Mexican food at the Ramona Library and community center served by a local PTA.
After lunch, we took some back roads into San Pasquel and it had some really nice dissents but I wasn't able to enjoy them at the speed that I would prefer since I was breaking behind Mari Lu the entire time. I would love to come back here and do the ride again from Julian so that I could better enjoy the descents. I did all the climbing with no payback. But, this is the job of a domestique.
I really needed to be with Mari Lu as there was a lot of traffic and some very dangerous corners but she was a cautious rider and it went well. One rider took a nasty fall on a corner and may have fractured her wrist. Another rider started to fall into the road and jumped off. Shortly after, a trailer ran over her front tire. She was completely unharmed, thank goodness. Jeanette was ahead of us and took the opportunity to descend like it was meant to be ridden.
We arrived early at the San Diego Archaeological Society's facilities where we will spend our last night camping. The kids are having a good time playing and a bunch of the girls are all in a tent singing. It's a relaxing afternoon but is missing the red wine and cheese.
Everyone is looking forward to the ride to the beach tomorrow to dip their tire into the pacific.
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