Anaheim to Oceanside permanent populaire

I was planning on riding the Malibu Coastal Cruise 200k brevet on January 1st with the club but when I took the Serotta in for a new chain the mechanic told me my rear rim was full of cracks. The bad news is it wouldn't be ready for the ride and would cost me $220. The good news is that the wheel didn't collapse while I was riding it.

I have a spare Trek 520 touring bike set up with mudguards, rack, and rack bag. It has a un-broken-in Brooks B17 on it and weight about 30lbs more than the Serotta. So I decided to skip the Coastal Cruise and rode my Anaheim to Oceanside permanent populaire instead. It's a lovely ride that starts with a stiff climb over Santiago Canyon and then a long slow descent down to the coast and heads to Oceanside on the usual route.

We had headwind all the way. Normally this route is very wind friendly but we had a 15mph headwind freshening to 20mph. Lugging the Trek up Santiago canyon is hard enough without a headwind. We got Cook's Corner too late for breakfast but the lunch menu is almost as good. It was a lovely day so there were lots of bikers there. Last time we did this ride the weather sucked and all the bikers stayed at home - I reckon that's how they keep their motorbikes so clean! Pussies!

It was very cold on the descent to the coast especially with the headwind but the sun came out once we were in Dana Point. I had iced coffee when we got to San Clemente but Amber was still so chilled she needed hot coffee. We weren't making great time so we headed out quickly with Amber's coffee in a water bottle. Really didn't work out very well.

There is a sign at Las Pulgas road that says the shoulder of the I5 is still closed to cyclists and there is a shuttle. It was there last year. I need to figure out if CalTrans simply forgot to remove it or if the restriction is still in place. Last year Camp Pendleton was allowing cyclists through all night.

We got to Oceanside with an hour to spare before the train so we ate at Angelo's as usual. I go my breakfast burrito fix there. Not as good as Cook's Corner. At least the wi-fi was working on the train and we managed to get seats this time.

I need to start planing the staff ride for the 300k Fiver Rivers brevet which is coming up in a few weeks.