Mount Palomar and the Murrieta Omnium Circuit Race

I decided to ride Mt. Palomar on Saturday instead of the Tour de Murrietta omnium's forty minute criterium.  It was a mixed choice.  The road from Temecula to the base of the climb had little or no shoulder and, although rural, had heavy and fast moving traffic.  Fwoom, fwoom, fwoom, huge SUVs and pickup trucks moving within inches of me at well over the 55 mph speed limit.  I persisted.  It was a slight uphill leading out of town starting at approximately 1000' of elevation, cresting at 1250' of elevation, and then a quick four mile descent to bottom out at about 390'.  The road climbs gradually from there to the base of the climb just past Pala and starts at approximately 1000' again.  The next five miles averages 6%, then one turns left onto the main climb up the mountain.  The next 6.8 miles averages 9% to the summit and tops out at 5270' at the saddle.  The road continues up to the observatory, but only climbs a couple of hundred feet over five miles, so the saddle is really the end of the serious climbing.  It's been compared to the Galibier climb often found in the Tour de France.  It was a great climb once I turned off highway 76 onto CR S6.  The road was good, traffic light, and the switchbacks were abundant.  What I found remarkable was that it showed that my climbing form is coming on well, in that I took a nearly seven mile climb at 9% in a 39x21 and 39x23 and didn't feel over geared.  I could have taken the climb even harder if I wasn't thinking of the road race I was going to ride the following day.  It was great.  So one more peak in the bag!  On the way back I also got to climb back up that four mile climb out of the low point, from 390' to 1250' at an average of 5%.  Total miles: 64

Murrietta Circuit Race:  39 rolling miles with approximately 30 55+ aged riders, and 56 45+ aged riders over a rolling 3.5 mile course with six turns.  My concern was riding in such a large field with an amazingly large number of 45+ riders, given how fast they drive a race, and no hills on the course to break things up.  There were riders of such reputation as Thurlow Rogers in the 45+ race, and Kenny Fuller in the 55+ race, and the list of the rest of the talent would fill this page.  As it turned out, I was doing well, sitting about a third of the way back coming into the half way point, and I had the course dialed in and had my eye on certain riders and was sure to be always either ahead of them, or slightly behind them so I could better read the race.  These were guys I knew who generally did well in fast, mostly flat races, so I figured if I was in their vicinity at all times, I'd be in a pretty good position.  Then disaster struck.  Coming around the end of the lap I began to think my rear tire was softening.  It was.  When we made the hard right turn over the brick intersection I began to feel my rim bouncing along the road way.  Flat!  By the time the wheel vehicle got to me the leaders were down the road moving at close the 30 miles an hour.  The race was over for me.  Damn!  This is the first flat I've had in a race since I returned to the scene nearly two and a half years ago.  Oh well.  Fortunately, it wasn't an important race for me.  I was viewing it as a glorified training ride, and that's what it ended up being.  From the finishing results, though, I was pretty well assured of a top ten position, barring misfortune.  And misfortune found me.  I'd rather it be in the form of a flat tire than a crash, though, so I count myself lucky.  It was a great weekend all around.  I went down with Ray Cook, a former runner turned bike racer and met up with some of his old runnning buddies, including Ruth Wysocki, the woman who beat Marry Dekker in the 1500 meter Olympic Trials amongst many other achievements as a world class runner.  It was great.