90 Miles to Oceanside

This could have been my first imperial century (not in the Chomsky sense in which case it is my second) but I got a flat and was concerned with the time so I turned around in downtown Oceanside.  Nice to still have that milestone for later anyway.  I knew that physical training makes the miles easier on my body but it's interesting the way in which riding familiar parts of a route speed it in my mind.  When I can visualize what is coming, the mind skips past them, almost jumping me forward.  Part of the discomfort on my hardest rides was definitely the element of not knowing what was ahead.  Something to look forward to on longer tours.  The unknown ups the intensity.

Another thing I've learned is how my heart rate increases based on the length of activity.  On this ride, I had already gone 65 miles before beginning my longest climb (just a mile and half, but the longest on the coast route) up Torrey Pines.  The combination of the long warm up with the climb gave me a nice long period close to my previous max.  I'll fix that fucking ticker yet.  If the Democrats weren't such fucking corporate sucking wimps, maybe I could afford the diagnostics to find out.  As it stands, it doesn't look they'll even provide a way for people like me with pre-existing conditions (hospitalization with heart disease) to get into a plan.  I haven't been saying much "I told you so" to the people who thought Obama and Democratic majority in both houses would push "progressive" policies but I did tell you that the fix was in on health care as soon as Obama put that whore Daschle out there.  This shit was dead before it even started.  Hail Aetna.

oceanside

Route 56 Bike Path

This was a pretty long ride of 65 miles.  Don't use the whole route-- I messed up coming down to the 8 and ended up way too far east and had to poke along Friars where I made some mistakes.  Convoy to Linda Vista is better.  I could have sucked it up and just climbed out of the valley on Texas but I was borderline bonked and headed for Old Town and down Kettner.

The 56 bike path is a little bumpy but pretty nice.  It starts at Carmel Valley Road and El Camino Real and goes east.  I bailed at Black Mountain Road but it keeps going.

Climbing up the mesa at Torrey Pines I got "one little, two little, three little Indians" stuck in my head.  Very annoying, but not as politically incorrect as you think.  I was actually dreaming of Padma Lakshmi.  Still potentially incorrect, but different.

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