RAAM Recon - Day 1

Well, after a terrible day of travel yesterday (I'll only fly direct from now on), i finally got on the bike today in San Diego. Was a bit tired and slow, but it felt great to ride in shorts, arm warmers and a vest. I decided to ride the first 50 miles of the race course today from I15 to Lake Henshaw - tougher than i thought. After some rolling up for the first 20 miles, the climb to the base of Palomar was hard....then it was a gradual up from there into a pretty stiff headwind. I was really wondering why i was going so slow, but upon turning around i quickly realized how tough the climb out was.

On the way back i decide to climb the final portion of the Palomar climb that the T.O.C. will be using. The total climb is 12 miles, 4,100ft, 21 switchbacks, 6-8% grade and relentless. I was already at 2500 at that point, so i only had the final 7 miles, 25oo feet left. I was dehydrated and going slow - took me 45 minutes to get up (note: on the way back i ran into a guy who was telling me Floyd does it in 27 minutes when fit!). I had climbed this before with Dino and didn't remember it being so hard. After a quick Sobe energy and a microwave hotpocket, i was ready to get back to the car. It only took me 14 minutes to go back down what took me 45 to climb! The final 4 miles down off the mountain only took 6 minutes, and that was with my progress slowed by a semi...fun that can't be had in Minnesota!!
Good ride today with over 10,000 feet of climbing, in a 6hr effort. I was hoping for a little more volume, but the climbing was tough on me. Tomorrow, into the desert!