The Malibu ride was great! The start temps were in the mid 50s, and the predicted weather was clear.
We started at about 8:20, and headed out to Latigo for the first climb of the day. Latigo is a fairly easy climb ... most of it is only 4-5%. It was a great choice for the first climb.
After we got to the top, the route took us back down to Pacific Coast Highway via Encinal, and then ... the first tough climb of the day ... Decker. Lately, I've been concentrating on my pedaling technique, and that has helped a lot with the climbing. The first mile or so is about 13%, and at the top, offers a good photo-op. I've forgotten this woman's name, but she climbs like a demon:
From the top of Decker, we took Mulholland over the to Yerba Buena and back to the coast.
Yerba is not a bad climb, but the road positively sucks. Check out the cracks:
Suckers go right where you'd like your front wheel to be.
Anyway, took that over Triunfo Pass:
And down to the beach again. From there, we boogied over to Deer Creek.
Oy, Deer Creek. Always kicks my arse. I have no picture of it, cuz it's too nasty of a climb for me to be snapping pix. And at the top, there are some nastly little 20%+ zingers before you descend back down to Yerba and then down Yerba back to the coast again.
From there, a long TAILWINDY ride along PCH to the strawberry fields of Oxnard, and then up Potrero. Potrero didn't seem nearly as nasty as usual, but I don't have any pix of that puppy either.
From there, over little Potrero, and through Hidden Valley again with a TAILWIND! The last climb of the day was up Westlake. Most of it is pretty pleasant:
But this section is flippin steep!
No photo essay of a Malibu ride would be complete without this:
And would you believe ... yet more TAILWINDS! You know how there are days when the wind seems to be in your face no matter the direction you go? Today, we had inscrutable tailwinds. Nice, eh? And of course, the obligatory self portrait.
No, I wasn't drinking, but it was a beautiful day ... lots to be happy about. I think fighting the wind 35 miles a day on that crappy hybrid is really whipping me into shape. 100 miles and about 11,000 feet of climbing, and I wasn't really tired at the end of it. Either that or it was the great company.
Cheers!