Immunity and Ramona

Sunday 16 Aug - What a beautiful day for a ride. The weather was perfect with a high of 74 expected near the ocean and in Ramona, our turn around point, no more than 84. We couldn't have planned it better.

But first, Immunity for the xx1090 Radio Contestants. (By the way you can view their Pics and blogs by clicking the link for XX1090). Math skills were an important part of today's test. A clear container was filled with Accel Gel and the job of the contestants was to guess the number of calories. They had 5 minutes to do their calculations. Since the group is made up of variety of people from all walks of life it was very interesting to see each go about the process.

The winner was Patrick Thomas who missed the real count by only 270 calories. Great job Pat. He is immune from elimination this week and will be responsible for adding something special to the Immunity Pump. But, 2 people will be eliminated from the contest. Tune into XX1090, The Scott and BR Show, to hear who.

Onto the ride. We started in Flower Hill Mall and headed south to the 56 bike path where we turned east. At the top of the path we turned right on Black Mountain Rd and had a nice fast down hill to Mercey/Scripps Poway Parkway which we then took again heading east. This is really the base of the climbing of the day. We took that to the top where we had a chance to refuel and regroup at our 1st SAG stop. On the way up I had a flat and used both my spare tubes, Steve a radio contestant from last year along with Pat Thomas and Mark VanDierendonck, stopped to help.

We then took the 67 into Ramona, rode around the town and then took Highland Valley Rd back toward the coast. There is a screaming down hill in there where I hit 56 MPH on my new Trek Madone 6.9. I love this bike.

We popped out on Pomerado Rd and went over the I-15 to a park where we connected with our second SAG stop. There we waited a few minutes for a Rob Lindbloom, one of the radio contestants, and Mike Hower, Ride Leader, who had a flat. Only 20 miles left at this point.

As we started to head back to our starting point I notices a few less people in Group 3. Apparently some had taken a wrong turn in Ramona and skipped the around town section. As miles clicked by a few riders where starting to slow down. We did a lot of climbing and that depletes your energy especially if you don't eat and drink on the road. Mike Hower, Doctor Mike and I split up to work with small groups which had formed.

Back at the start I saw a lot of smiles. It was a challenge but everyone did great. See you next week.