79.8 miles, 5:26 moving time, 2,533 ft ascent

Lynda, Bill, Alvin, Eric, Ryan, Marisa, Gregg S., San, Raoul, Rick, Peter, Greg M., Kirk, Mark M., Mark G., Carrie, Kevin, Burt, Jeff B., Kevin B., Paul G., Brennan, Sue, Gary, Julian, Joe

Great Day. Sunny morning. On the crisp side.

Mile 0: We met up at the Anaheim Multi-Modal. Amtrak station. Lucas was our SAG driver. He drove the Sprinter Van with the PTC trailer. We dropped off our day bag with a change of clothes into the trailer. We could drop off more stuff later, then change our clothes at the end. Great logistics. We took a group picture and hopped on the Anaheim River Trail. We Rode by the Anaheim Angels Stadium.

MIle 13: The Anaheim River Trail ends at Pacific Coast Hwy. The underpass was flooded, so we rode on the sidewalk for 1 block.

Mile 14: FIRST STOP. Potty stop at Newport Beach. I peeled off a layer and dropped it in the trailer.

Mile 18: Ferry ride across San Diego Creek to Balboa Island. Beauty neighborhoods all dressed up for the holidays.

Mile 20: Ride along Ocean Blvd inn Newport Beach, along the bluffs above the beach. Sparkling spectacular views of the Corona Del Mar Beach. We swim there sometimes. It’s great. This is a ritzy neighborhood.

Mile 23: Got back on PCH. Rode through Lagunga Beach. Crystal Cove. Amazing views. Rollers along the beach side cities.

Mile 33: SECOND STOP. Donut shop. I peeled off another layer. Sun was out for a perfect day of riding. Coffee, apple fritter. Pics and friends.

Mile 34: Turned right off PCH onto Green Lantern in Dana Point. Dropped down to the marina. Really nice ride. Not too much traffic. Riding right on the water.

Mile 40: Turned onto the streets in San Clemente and wiggled through the town. This is the toughest part to navigate. The streets are marked pretty good with BIKE ROUTE. But, there are a lot of turns and rollers up and down

Mile 43: Pop out of the residential neighborhoods and go onto the Pacific Coast Bikepath. It runs alongs side the coast and the I5 fwy, through San Onofre. We passed the big nuclear power plant (offline). Riding along the campgrounds on the beach. Flat flat flat. Not too windy.

Mile 54: Camp Pendleton is closed to bikes now. So, we got on the FREEWAY for about 7 miles. The auto traffic was slowing. Sometimes we were even passing cars. There was a rear ender in the traffic and three cars pulled into the shoulder. At the time the traffic was less than 20 mph, so I gingerly passed the fender benders. But, as I moved from the shoulder to the first lane, the seam was rutted and rough. I was 1/4 mile from our offramp and got a flat. The sidewall of my tire was ripped a bit. I put a boot in and fresh tube. Had to do it twice. Andrenaline was pumping while changing tires on the freeway shoulder, but it was fine. Rick and San supervised.

Mile 62: THIRD STOP. Mobil gas station right in Oceanside at the first freeway offramp. Everyone was waiting for me. B Group took off with me. Thanks for waiting. Awesome crew. From Oceanside it was a fairly straight shot south to Solana Beach. Through Oceanside, we dropped down to Pacific St. This is the run course for the 70.3 Oceanside race.

Mile 65: Got back on PCH and rode down Carlsbad, Leucadia, Encinitas and to Solana Beach. The road was right next to the beach. Sun was shining. Great.

Mile 80: Pizza Port. Loaded bike into Trailer. Thanks, Lucas! Changed clothes. Pizza, Beer, Friends. We saw Johnna and Barry. Some old PTC’ers, with daughter and baby! Kevin connected with friend from SD, who shared frightening shark pics from cage adventures. Chartered bus picked us up at 3:30p. Drove back to Anaheim. Whew! Big beautiful day. Epic ride with the Club. Thanks to Lynda and Lucas for doing a lot of the leg work to make this happen. $65/person to cover the SAG and Bus, and trailer.