Good Climb Day (Thursday)

Today, I think I was still feeling the benefits of altitude at our lunch time Urban Assault ride. Maybe another reason I felt so strong was I didn’t run in the morning. We rode the Highland Valley climb (the same Tour of California climb we watched) and I felt like I couldn’t ride hard enough, or the climb couldn’t get steep enough. The legs just went. The rest of the ride went like that with every climb. I got to be king of the mountains today. Woohoo!

Black Mountain is a pretty significant landmark in the Rancho Bernardo area. It seems no matter which direction you approach Rancho Bernardo, Black Mountain and it’s microwave towers can be seen for miles. I’ve wanted to either ride or run to the top since I’ve been here. So this evening, after work, I ran to the top. It was kind of a disappointment. It wasn’t near as hard as I thought it would be, even after such a high intensity lunch ride. Rather than run the service road up, I ran a trail that was much steeper. Many parts of the trail were too steep to run, so it was more like hiking. I was just getting warmed up when I reached the top. I ran the service road down, then some surrounding hilly trails until it was too dark to see. Good climbing day today

Bike: 1.3 hours, 22 miles, 1,319' climbing
Run: 1.4 hours, 7.5 miles, 1,401' climbing

Black Mountain

At the Top

View from the Top