Thursday Special: Ursa Major 200

Thursday's outing was once again dedicated to a randonneur-style ride: we did the Ursa Major 200KM route and it was a good one. The ridership consisted of Les, David, and me. Others who expressed interest (an additional five) had to bail for various reasons. Maybe next time for those who missed out!
 
There was some rain before the start, but all was well, apart from some gray clouds, as we rolled out at 7:00. In just an hour we had reached Solana Beach and begun the long section up the coast to San Juan Capistrano. 
 
The weather was great on the northward leg, with lots of blue sky and a welcome tailwind. We soon reached Oceanside, rolled through Camp Pendleton, and sailed past San Onofre.  In San Clemente, we played Good Samaritan and helped out a rider with a flat repair before continuing on.
 

North of San Clemente went quickly, with a downhill and zippy bike lanes bringing us to Doheny State Beach where we turned inland on the San Juan River bikepath. Traveling on the SJR bikepath was a first for each of us, and at the end of it we enjoyed a nice lunch at Mollie's Cafe in San Juan Capistrano.
 
We had to work a little on the return... mostly headwinds all the way back to Oceanside. But that turned into a tailwind as we headed inland on the San Luis Rey bikepath.  And the boost continued to help us past Bonsall, on Camino Del Rey, all the way to Old 395.
 
After that, it was a bit more headwind and rollers, until we had our final fun descent on Jesmond Dene Road. Our arrival in Escondido was a little later than hoped for (5:57), but the commuter traffic wasn't too bad, and we were elated to have the ride 'in the bag.'
 
Cheers,
Steve