RR: SDMBA Cuyamaca Night Ride

Tonight I had the opportunity to do my first night ride, courtesy of the SDMBA and their biannual Cuyamaca Night Ride. I had this circled on my calendar ever since I heard about it more than a month ago, because at that time I had never ridden Cuyamaca, and had wanted to try a night ride for a while now. Plus I would be able to cross another goal off of my 2008 Goal List.

I had planned on driving up to Cuyamaca by myself, since I didn't know anyone else who was going to this event. However I received a private message on STR from Sol, another San Diego rider who was planning on doing the ride and had lost his carpool partner. We arranged to meet up at a park and ride in Mira Mesa, and were under way around 5:30 or so.

Sol is a neat guy, and as I would find out, an excellent rider. We got to know one another during the drive up to Cuyamaca, and we got there around 6:40 or so. We parked in a dirt lot about a half mile before where Billy and I started for this same ride a couple weeks ago. I was already dressed, and after getting my demo light from the folks at SDMBA and signing in, I was excited to get started.

Sol helped me get my light attached to my bike and set up properly, and then the group gathered for some last minute instructions about the buddy system and ride rules.

Sol had his game face on. After the brief spiel, we were off. There were about 35 people there, and about 30 of us started out in one huge "intermediate" group. Behind us a few guys stayed to form an expert group that planned on getting going a few minutes later.

We crossed Sunrise Highway and headed for some singletrack that Billy and I hadn't ridden two weeks ago. It was a fun section, with some relatively easy up and downs and a couple of switchbacks. I was just happy to be riding singletrack, because I knew a large portion of the rest of the ride would be fire road. The singletrack meandered for about a mile or so, and then we emerged from the tree covering and crossed back over Sunrise Highway and entered the parking lot that Billy and I had parked in before.

At that point, the route the group intended to take was identical to my ride a couple of weeks earlier, but circumstances dictated a slight deviation for me tonight.

We crossed through the campground and over to the main fire road that would take us up the first climb. Sol took this shot over his shoulder of me and a guy from SDMBA chatting as we rode along the fire road.

Here was my angle:

As we rode the fire road along toward Soapstone, I was generally feeling like crap. I was tired, my stomach was a mess, and I was drifting from the first third of the pack farther and farther back. I couldn't figure out why I felt as bad as I did. I hadn't eaten dinner, but had eaten a MetRx meal replacement bar right before we had started riding, so maybe that had something to do with it. I had actually had a very strong ride at this same trail just two weeks earlier, so something was definitely amiss.

On top of my own struggles, the pace of the group was pretty fast, at least compared to what I'm used to. We weren't regrouping/resting as often as I had two weeks ago, and the pace even on the flats was pretty brisk.

I kept falling farther back in the pack, and by the time the group stopped at the Soapstone intersection, I was one of the last 5 or 6 riders and seriously considered turning back. If I had driven myself, I probably would have. The most frustrating thing was that on this very route just weeks earlier, I had felt like I was making some strides with my riding and conditioning. Now tonight I was falling apart.

Here we were at the regroup:

I really didn't want to quit, but with the way I felt I couldn't imagine doing the sustained climb up Soapstone to the right which lead to the fun singletrack. One of the SDMBA leaders offered to lead anyone who wanted to cut some of the ride short up Soapstone to the left, which was steeper than the main route but considerably shorter. I wasn't excited about the humiliation of riding with the beginner group, and even less excited about riding up something steeper than the trail to the right, but I was not going to hang with the intermediate crowd tonight.

So I and three others took Soapstone left, while the rest of the riders headed straight up the hill to the fun section. In retrospect, it turned out to be the right choice.

The climb up Soapstone was brutal for me, and I ended up HABing the last half of it or so. The other four people with me were able to ride the whole thing, solidifying my role as the weakest link. I HABed as fast as I could, and the last rider before me was on the bike but pedaling slow, and I made it to the top of Soapstone just a few minutes after she did. Daylight was waning at that point, and I took this picture to the south during the middle of the climb, and the one after it just before the summit.

After a 30 second rest at the top, I was back on the bike and we were off and riding again. From there the route was identical to my ride with Billy a couple weeks ago, until the very end.

We rode along a rutted fire road, along Sunrise Highway for a short bit, then up Milk Ranch Road to Azalea Springs. We didn't stop or rest at all until a 30 second break on the way up Milk Ranch Road when one of the rider's chain slipped off. Even without any breaks, I was feeling much better than I had at the beginning of the ride, and was keeping pace with my fellow members of the "B group." At the bottom of Milk Ranch we finally turned on our lights, and I was fairly impressed with the performance of my light. It cast a wide beam and illuminated the trail enough to ride confidently, especially uphill on a graded fire road.

I began to struggle a little bit during the climb up Azalea Springs, and had to HAB the short steep section at the beginning. From there I was able to stay on the bike, but my pace fell way off and the rest of the group opened up a small gap that forced me to rely on only my light for illumination. I just put my head down and chugged along, and made it to the top where the water was sooner than I expected. I found that in the dark, I couldn't see how much trail I had in front of me, and it was easier to just put my head down and pedal than during the day.

We rested for another 30 seconds at the water spot, then continued the climb up Azalea to the top of the mountain. This was the spot where Billy had his mechanical last time, and it was nice to just ride by and start the downhill without hanging out up there for an hour.

The downhill was a nice change after all of the climbing, and descending the rocky, rutted fire road in the dark was much more fun than it had been during the daylight two weeks earlier. I generally rode in second position, behind another rider who was flying down the hill. I kept pace for the most part, and finally it was me waiting for the others during the regroups rather than the other way around.

We rode down Azalea Springs fire road to Fern Flat fire road to Pipeline fire road. This time, instead of taking Pipeline directly to the 79 like we had two weeks ago, we took Pipeline south, and rode it for another mile and a half or so until it rejoined the singletrack we had ridden at the very beginning of the evening. We rode that singletrack for a short distance, and then found ourselves crossing over the 79 back at the parking lot.

It felt good to be done, and by the end of the ride I was generally upbeat. I had been a mess at the beginning, and while I was still slow overall, had rallied considerably to at least not be an anchor for the climbs in the middle and performed well on the downhill. This trail is still not a favorite of mine, and not one I'd ride again soon. It has way too much fire road, and way too much climbing without a real payoff.

The night riding aspect of this ride was interesting, however. For one thing, the weather was flawless, and I rode in a short sleeve jersey and baggy MTB shorts the whole time without ever getting cold. It wasn't difficult riding with the light, because it was pretty high powered and the collective lights of the group provided plenty of illumination. I didn't see any wildlife, though which was a bit of a disappointment.

The group riding aspect of this ride was another matter. I haven't done a lot of group rides with people I don't know, and after my last few experiences, I think I'll be avoiding them for a while. I just think that most of the people in group rides are considerably better riders than I am, and it makes for a pretty stressful experience for me trying to keep up.

For example, I struggled to keep up at Sweetwater earlier this month, and felt a little out of place with the speedsters in that group. I did have a good time with Sean and Dave G. at Hodges back in May, but felt bad holding them (especially Dave) back considerably on the ride back to the cars. Also, I hung pretty well at the SMaRT ride a couple of weeks ago with the STR crew, but still battled on some of the uphills and if not for one or two others I would have been the clear weak link. And lets not mention my poor showing at Calavera back in March and the debacle that was Daley in February.

To be clear, I enjoy riding with others, and have been fortunate to meet some really neat people through mountainbiking. And to the person, everyone I've ridden with has been gracious and encouraging when I've fallen behind or struggled to keep up. But being an anchor stresses me out, and I ride to escape the stress in my life, not create more. I'm also not accustomed to not excelling at something. Its hard for me to be at the back (or very end) of the pack. I'll continue to work on my conditioning, and will still join the occasional group ride if I know someone that is going or if the ride is specifically geared toward a more social (read: slower) crowd. I thought after a pretty good showing at Black Mountain two weeks ago and a strong ride at Cuyamaca right a few days later that I had begun to build some riding strength and ability. But tonight's ride seemed to be a setback, and I'll need to reevaluate where I need to go from here.

Here are the stats:

Total Distance: 17.81 miles
Total Time: 2:47:37
Ascent: 2256 feet
Average Speed: 6.4 mph
Top Speed: 29.1 mph
Bike: Specialized Enduro Elite
Map:

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