Bike path day

The ride Sunday was my first in two weeks. I felt strong though. Sometimes a nice break like that is just what the body needs. I was going out with the group I rode with two weeks ago from the Tressles ride and one of the riders discovered they had left their ID at home, so there was no chance that we were all going to get on to Camp Pendleton without everyone's IDs, so we just rode the San Luis River trail back and forth. Since I rode from my house on the trail to the harbor, I had already done this route once, so by the time I finished up at the harbor, had an after ride coffee with the group and back home again, i had been up and down the River trail four times. It is not the most exciting ride and with the strong headwinds, it made for a very mellow ride. The six of us made the most out of it though and was quite fun riding in a group again. I forgot how fast and strong you ride inside a draft; eventhough it was 2-3 riders in a group at a time. Like the ride a couple of weeks ago, I felt strong, so I led the group most of the time. I didn't mind as I'm sure the riders behind me didn't either. Riding in my draft is like driving a Chevy Sprint behind a semi truck on the freeway. No effort is required. It was a rewarding ride in many ways, none the least is how much easier it is getting back home up Mesa and Avenida De La Plata. Some of those hills will seem like they go on forever at up to 14% grades. Eventhough Im not riding the distances I was last year, I feel like I'm in better shape physically and mentally for the MS ride in October. Hopefully soon, I will be able to talk one of the group riders to take a trip to Anaheim on the train and back on bike soon as that is always a good test of distance and covers a big portion of the MS ride. Speaking of long rides... I was discussing the possibility of the boarder to boarder Iowa ride with another rider that has already done it. That ride is next June. That would absolutely be one feather in the cap of my bucket list of rides to do before I can't anymore. I also have a couple of century rides that I have penciled in for the next twelve months. One is the San Diego century and the other is the Solvang century.