The Death Road

On Tuesday, December 24th (Christmas Eve) I started day 1 of The Strava Festive 500 strong.  It's an eight day challenge to ride a total of 500 kilometers.  Since we don't use the metric system in the US of A, it's 310 miles.  It equates to a solid 40 mile bicycle ride each day for eight days straight.



A 40 mile bike ride isn't that big of a deal on its own.  Even a couple of days in a row of 40 miles each day is OK with little to moderate training leading up to the event.  However, 40 miles a day for eight days straight with little to no prior riding is a lot.  So, I'm just shooting for four days, non-consecutive, of 40 miles total each day.

On day 1, I headed out on San Diego's Hwy 78 towards The San Diego Zoo Safari Park.  The road is fine in some spots and extremely scary in others.  The shoulder goes from a car-lane's width to nothing and back for miles at a time.  The entire climb up to the quaint little town of Ramona is beautiful, but I feared for my life the entire time.

My worst fear was that at the top I'd have to simply turn around and descend the same road.  It'd be a test of my mental ability to descend because I am sure that the bike is way more capable physically than I am mentally to do a fast descent.

Thankfully, at the top I found a route that looped me back to home without having to put on my big-boy pants and drop back down Hwy 78.  Whew!  The loop was almost a perfect circle (as close as mountain roads are concerned).  All said, my ride was 42 miles and 3100 feet of climbing.

Here's to a complete 160 miles for me!
Clayton

Saturday Surf Session

Original photo by Clayton Plummer

This past Saturday the 7^th, I was back at my usual haunt of Anderson Street.  I met a buddy of mine for a little dawn patrol session before the rain came.  Nature had other plans.  By the time I was in my truck and headed to the beach it had started to rain.  Thankfully, it hadn’t been raining overnight.  So, the water wasn’t a toxic waste dump yet.

The air temperate was hovering around the 45°F mark as I made my way to the parking lot.  I snapped a cool picture of the rain hitting my window as the sun peeked through the clouds while waiting for my buddy to park.

 The surf was just OK.  Every now and then there was a waist-high wave.  Otherwise, the waves were little ankle breakers.  It was still fun chatting with my friend as the rain turned on and off.
  

Original photo by Clayton Plummer

I surfed my new Infinity SUP Phoenix V4 Asym board.  I know that’s a mouth full.  It is an AWESOME board.  I didn’t do any actually stand-up paddling this time out though.  I surfed it prone.  The board is 30” wide, so paddling it was really funny.  I did stand up on it while waiting between sets.  Stand-up surfing the board isn’t going to be as big of a learning curve as I had feared.   

This is my first custom board of any kind and my first “short” SUP board.  The board’s dimensions are  7’7” long x 30” wide x 4” thick. The asymmetric tail shape is subtle, but the performance is noticeable.

I’m really stoked my new board and I had a blast surfing in the rain with my friend. 

Until next time,
Clayton

RIding in the rain

Original photo by Clayton Plummer

For the Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend my girlfriend and I traveled down to her parent’s house in the San Diego area.  They live on a pretty significant hill that is close to a fun trail system at Lake Hodges.  So, in the spirit of being active I went mountain biking both Thanksgiving Thursday and Black Friday.

On both days I suited up at the house and bombed down the hill to the trail head.  Thursday’s ride was fun and it felt good to be riding yet again after my hernia surgery, though I took it really easy on the technical stuff.  I didn’t feel like risking an emergency visit to the doctor’s on Thanksgiving Day.  I bounced around the trails for about an hour and then headed home.  All said and done the ride was a solid hour and a half in the saddle.

On Friday, the ride started before I ever got suited up.  I was looking out of the windows at the looming storm clouds.  I made comment on the possibility of rain only to be beguiled by both my girlfriend and her mother about how it wasn’t going to rain and that those weren’t rain clouds.

I was skeptical to say the least.  At the same time, even the weather reports I was looking at said that the rain wasn’t going to happen until later in the day.  So, I bet on the rain holding off and went for my ride. I hadn’t made it to the start of my decent to the trail before the drops started to hit me. It was really sparse, so I didn’t think it was anything to worry about.

Just as my front wheel hit the dirt trail, the rain came.  It proceeded to rain the entire hour and change that I rode.  It was actually a lot of fun to ride in the rain, even if it isn’t the best trail etiquette to cause trail erosion.

I made it back home safe and sound, dirty and wet with a big smile on my face and in my heart.

Until next time,
Clayton