BIKE: Sasha, Cervelo Soloist SL with Dura Ace Di2, SRM 7900 Wireless Power Meter and Power Control 7.  53/39 crankset and 11-28 cassette, Fizik Versus Arione Saddle

CLOTHING: Skins C400 Compression Long Sleeve Jersey and bib shorts, Swiftwick Merino 4″ socks

NUTRITION:  Infinit Nutrition customizable formulas.

1700 Calories consumed avg of 246 cal/hr

1180 Sodium avg 171 mg/hr

800 Potassium avg 116 mg/hr

426 g Carbs avg 62 g/hr

RESULT: I finished at 1:52 PM.  Total Time 6 hours 52 minutes.  I was second only to Jerry and Bal who came in together.  Five minutes faster than last year.  I find that remarkable because last year I rode with two other riders (Drew Peterson and Dave Elsberry) for the majority of the event and this year I rode alone from MILE 48 to MILE 120.

 

Red-Eyed Vireo and AdventureCORPS Race Director Chris Kostman

RED-EYED VIREO

Training Peaks Wko 3.0 Entire Workout 206 watts Normalized Power 3.00 w/kg

Training Peaks Wko 3.0 Best 60 Minutes 223 watts or 3.25 w/kg

Training Peaks Wko 3.0 Start in La Jolla to Control #1 San Elijo Rd  217 watts or 3.16 w/kg

The San Diego 200km is one of my favorite routes in San Diego.  It has some rolling terrain, good medium length climbs (3-5 miles) and some flat terrain to get that big ring rolling.  The brevet begins in La Jolla at Doyle Community Park and heads Northeast.  I believe there were 60 riders at the start.  It was a nice size field but being a Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP) year I expected a much larger group.  The pace was slow from the start which was fine by me.  I needed time to warm-up.  Rock Rabbit was on a tandem and I thought it would be good to catch up with him while sucking his wheel on the downhills.  Jerry Cook was the early rabbit and was fortunate to make it through a couple of lights were the main field had to stop.  It’s nice to have that early rabbit because then you have someone to chase throughout the day- if they last.

As we neared Del Dios Hwy in Rancho Santa Fe I thought we were bunching up too  much and we were  flaring out onto the road.  The roads in Rancho Santa Fe are very narrow and the fog line disappears often with chunks of road missing into the dirt.  It’s interesting to me that with all the wealth in that town the roads are in such a state of disrepair.  I knew the road would steepen sharply just before the right turn onto Del Dios Hwy.  We were about 45 minutes into the event and my legs were plenty warmed up.  I looked over at Bal and said “Right, well let’s get this party started shall we?” I surged and Bal followed.  We turned onto Del Dios Hwy and he took lead.  As we climbed Del Dios we had gone clear of the field but it was evident that Bal was much stronger than me.  This was my first time riding with Bal.  He started to gap me and of course mentally that slowed me down even more.  At one point he was at least 1/4 mile up the road.  I felt like I was going backwards so I looked back and saw a small group coming.  Bal was up the road, a group was closing on me and I was suffering so I sat up.

The group that caught be was Collin, Marty and his friend.  Bal was definitely the strongest climber of our group. Just before the group caught me he made a U-turn so that I could get back on his wheel– very classy move!  We worked together until the base of the San Elijo Climb (MILE 32.5).  I asked the control volunteer what was the time gap to Jerry- it was four minutes.

 

Training Peaks Wko 3.0 Control #1 San Elijo Rd  to Control @2 AM/PM Deer Springs 216 watts or 3.15 w/kg

I was the first to roll in, fill up and roll out.  I wasn’t trying to “attack” I just knew Bal could catch me at will and he did.  He reached the top first and waited for me and then we descended “together”.  At the base of San Elijo, on the San Marcos side, Bal and I were caught by Marty and his friend because of all the traffic signals.  Next up was the gradual climb up to Deer Springs Rd and the 15 freeway.  The four of us rotated a little and again Bal was able to pull away from us.  We got to AM/PM control and there was Jerry.  He had gone into the AM/PM to get a receipt thinking it was an unmanned control.  So now the early rabbit had been caught and there was five of us rolling from Deer Springs (MILE 42)

Training Peaks Wko 3.0 Control #2 AM/PM to Rainbow 211 watts or 3.08 w/kg

The five of us, Jerry, Bal, Marty, his friend and I, rolled from the AM/PM together.  I knew there was a pretty fast descent coming up and I positioned myself behind Jerry.  He was the heaviest rider, biggest rider and with his full-on TT bike set-up was arguably going to be the fastest descender.  I also thought he would try to do more than just descend.  Well I called that right because he surged really hard and then got into his aerobars.  I was fortunate to anticipate his move and tucked in nicely in his draft.  All was fine on the descent and on the first part of Old Castle Road.  And then again I felt like I was going backwards again.  Where were my climbing legs today?  I had to let Bal and Jerry go because I couldn’t keep their pace.

We were now at MILE 48 and I was dropped.  I rode the rest of the event alone.  I never saw Jerry or Bal again.  My legs felt really heavy and it was evident I had not done the winter base miles I usually do before the 200km.  I climbed Old Castle Rd, Couser Canyon and Rice Canyon at my pace.  I was loosing time to the “Jerry and Bal show”.  I figured those two were the perfect compliment to each other.  Bal, the better climber, would make Jerry work harder on the climbs.  Jerry, the powerful diesel, would provide a good draft for Bal (135lbs) I reached Rainbow and felt completely spent but relieved that the hard climbing was over.

Training Peaks Wko 3.0 Control # 3 Rainbow to La Jolla  192 watts or 2.80 w/kg

 

RAINBOW CONTROL MILE 67 APPROXIMATELY 11AM

While at the Rainbow control I saw my old friend Pete Penseyres.  I was so out of it that I didn’t capture the moment with a picture.  Tom and Tina Reynolds were manning that control.  Tom had snapped a picture of me just moments before I saw Pete.  I was trying to catch Bal and Jerry and that was exhausting me.  According to Tom the time gap was now six minutes.  I was pleased with that because I expected the time gap to be much more than only six minutes.  I left Rainbow at 11am.  The rest of the event is mainly downhill as you can see from the graph above but always with a little headwind.  I made my way from Rainbow to Oceanside and was feeling ok– considering.

Now the part of the ride I dislike, Pacific Coast Hwy on a Saturday midday.  It was a very nice day I would say high 70’s.   There were lots of people enjoying the beautiful day and that makes for sketchy fast riding on the coast.  I made it through without incident – meaning no close calls on that 20 mile stretch.  But the lights and congestion were annoying.  However, EVERYBODY has to deal with it so it all evens out in the end.  I climbed Torrey Pines feeling ok but fatigued of course.  I finished at 1:52 PM.  Total Time 6 hours 52 minutes.  I was second only to Jerry and Bal.  Five minutes faster than last year.  I find that remarkable because last year I rode with two other riders for the majority of the event and this year I rode alone from MILE 48 to MILE 120.

POST EVENT FROM L TO R: MARTY SEDLUK, RED-EYED VIREO, BAL SINGH AND JERRY COOK

Post event with my son

FURNACE CREEK 508 SOLO VETERANS FROM L TO R: GYRFALCON, BUTTERFLY, RED-EYED VIREO, ROCK RABBIT