L.A Tri Club Ride To San Diego

I have always wanted to ride my bike to San Diego, but have always been a little afraid to do it by myself. During my Ironman training, it seemed like a good idea, but I could never get someone to go with me on a weekend that I could go. The L.A Tri Club has done an annual ride to San Diego to attend the Endurance Sports Awards for the last three years. Last year I could not go for reasons I don't remember. This year I was free. The only problem was that I also signed up for the Surf City Half Marathon the following day. It seems like a lot to do in one weekend, but hey, I'm an Ironman, I can do a long bike ride and a long run in one weekend.

The Great Magnetic Wife dropped me off at the Irvine Amtrak station at about 7:00 on Saturday morning. Most of the riders were going to ride to one of three locations: Oceanside, Solana Beach or San Diego and take the train back to the Irvine station.  My plan was to ride to my parent's house in La Jolla, approximatly 75 miles. The Great Magnetic Wife would meet me there. We would spend the night, get up very early and get to Huntington Beach in the morning for the Surf City Half Marathon.

We were supposed to be riding by 7:30, but it was almost 7:50 before the first group went off. I heard someone announce that a slow group was leaving and anyone who wanted to join them should. A slow group sounded good to me. I have to admit though, that this group was slower than I would have liked. I was waiting for others to pass us so I could join slightly faster riders. There were well over a hundred riders, so I figured I would find a group that was my speed.

About four miles in a got a flat. Dang! Oh well, I had everything I needed. I pulled off to the side of the road and started changing my flat. Just then the rest of the riders started coming by. Almost everybody would call out, "do you have everything you need?" "Do you need any help?" etc. I assured everyone that I was okay. I am not very fast at changing flats, but I can do it. After the L.A. Tri folks passed me and I was almost finished (about fifteen minutes later) a group of about eight riders from Cinergy came up to me. The all stopped and wanted to make sure I was alright and that I had everything I need to change my tire. It was really quite nice. Most cyclists will call out to a rider on the side of the road, but I have never seen an entire group stop. There is something special about the cycling community. There is a bit of a "We're all in this together" kind of attitude.

I joined the Cinergy group for a while, I figured I could make up a little time by drafting off of them. It does make it easier to make up ground if you are at the back of a peloton. Eventually, they went one way and I went another. After some fairly hilly roads, I found my way to PCH and a nice, flat, protected bike path. I got in the aero position and went as fast as I could. It had been almost an hour since I had my flat and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to catch up. Finally I saw the group that I started out with. They were now at the back of everyone else, but I knew the rest couldn't be that far ahead. I hooked up with one of the riders and we were making pretty good time. In San Clemente we saw one of our group getting a ticket from a police officer. There was a much larger group about fifty yard ahead waiting. Apparently he was ticketed for running a red light. We made sure we made complete stops and did not run lights or stop signs. 

Finally we got to the bike path on what was once Old Highway 101. It goes from the south of San Clemente to Camp Pendleton. I had ridden this going the other way during the Oceanside Half Ironman last March. We had a stop just north of the gate to Camp Pendleton where the L.A. Tri SAG van had food and drink. By this time I was probably in the middle of the pack. I had made up a lot of time since the flat. I refilled my water bottles and after a quick ID check at the gate of Camp Pendleton, I took off. I met a fellow L.A. Tri Clubber who was a little nervous about finding her way. We all had route sheets, but they can be a little hard to follow. I told her that I had ridden in the area during a few triathlons and kind of knew my way and once we were on PCH in Oceanside I knew exactly where to go. So, being riders of about equal ability, she decided to follow me. We rode about the last 25 miles of the ride together.

Once out of Camp Pendleton, the ride in Oceanside can get a little hairy. PCH does not have a bike lane at that point and there is a lot of traffic. I was glad to finally get out of Oceanside and into Carlsbad where there is a bike lane on PCH for the rest of the way. While stopped at a traffic signal in Carlsbad, I heard my cell phone ring. I thought it was probably The Great Magnetic Wife and so I answered it. It was The Great Magnetic Wife. She was in Encinitas, about ten miles down the road. She was seeing L.A. Tri Clubbers ride by and wondered if I was close. I said I would call her when I got to Encinitas. 

The original plan was to ride to La Jolla, but as I was riding the ten miles or so from Carlsbad to Encinitas, I realized that my legs were getting pretty sore. I have not done much bike riding since the Ironman and I was feeling it. I was also aware that I had a half marathon the next day and probably the smart thing to do would be to stop in Encinitas when I met up with The Great Magnetic Wife and not do the last fifteen or so mile to La Jolla. She was waiting, appropriately enough, in front of Nytro, a great triathlon store. I hitched my bike to the bike rack on her car and waved to all of the L.A. Tri Clubbers as they rode by and was quite happy I did the ride and was even happier it was over.

John Thum