Well today was Mount Palomar. That's a 26 mile ride from the valley floor to the top. A bunch of us rode to the observatory to round it out at an even 36 miles. Seeing the observatory on the climb up is really cool. The climb is long, hot, and painful. There are great views as you round the switchbacks, but mostly it's a big suffer-fest. As usual, we had great support from the Qualcomm Million Dollar Challenge girls, accompanied by "Pete", coach Mari's Yorkie. After a quick regroup after returning from the observatory, it was time for the descent. Please see this youtube video for a taste of what it's like. I just happened to find it while looking for pictures of Palomar.
Now for the bad news. After descending about 500 feet down, Alex, one of our Scott and BR Cycling Team members crashed after his front tire blew out. Alex is a really strong rider and like he said, there was nothing he could do when the tire blew. I was about 150 feet in back of his group when it happened, and he was the trailing rider in the group, so no one else was involved. The parametics took care of him until the ambulance came. I just now heard that Alex fractured his collar bone and separated his shoulder. Yikes. Get well fast!
The rest of the ride down was uneventful although I got dropped by my group on the descent (being extra cautious). So I rode back to the valley pretty much solo. Tough ride. Tough day. Looking forward to next week. Once again, get well fast, Alex!
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