An early ride to beat the heat

A heat wave arrived a few days ago, so this morning I got up at 5:00 and just as the sun was coming up, pedaled up my steep driveway and out onto Skyline Truck Trail. The sun was in my eyes, and in the eyes of drivers behind me, so I was cautious and vigilant at checking the rear view mirror attached to the temple of my sunglasses.

At the fire station road, the road descends steeply, and as I continued down, the temperature got a lot cooler. Before I started out, I thought I would ride to the Japatul intersection, but that section of the road was in the sun, so instead of going north on Lyons Valley Road, I turned right and rode past the driveway to the Jamul Castle, past the Trading Post, and past the Morgan Horse boarding facility. The road got steeper, and steeper. I had never ridden this road in this direction. The extreme descent surprised me. Because of the tight turns, I rode the brakes fairly consistently, attempting to maintain a less-than-frightening speed.

Almost a year ago when I rode this route in the other direction, I went up this hill, glad I wasn't pedaling up the other side because it looked so steep when I looked back at it.

What was I thinking . . . ?

At the bottom of the descent where a sign warns "Subject to Flooding," I had to shift to my lowest gear quickly. The bike I was riding, my "Wonder Pony," has a titanium frame. I built it up recently with vintage DuraAce parts, only has 16 speeds. I could have used all 30 gears on my Klein to make it up that short, steep stretch. Ultimately, I had to stand up in order to conquer it.

Across Lee Valley, there are many horse ranches. The smell of horse manure is prevalent, but for me it brings back pleasant memories of the seven years of my life that were organized around my horses.

After making the turn onto Lawson Valley Road, I watched a beautiful coyote cross the road less than 100 feet in front of me. I whistled, the way I used to whistle at my horses, and the coyote turned and posed for me. Too bad I didn't have my camera.

I pedaled steadily, in my lowest gear, up the long hill of Skyline Truck Trail, keeping my eye on the house to the northeast. That was my goal. Shortly after it, the steep ascent ends followed by a short downhill section into a half-mile long saddle. There was a bit of a headwind, so I didn't get to rest completely before the climb up to my driveway began.

I made it back safely, using a lot of care descending the steep half-mile-long driveway.

After I parked the bike, I checked the Garmin Edge and was surprised I got up to 40 mph somewhere along the way. Perhaps that was on the descent after the fire station. That is the only part of the route I would have trusted enough to let the bike roll that fast. Here is the Profile of today's ride:



The heatwave will continue this coming week, so to get my bike rides in, I'll have to maintain my early-to-bed-early-to-rise routine.