I haven’t been riding my road bike since I bought a mountain bike last March. Yesterday I got on my Orbea road bike and headed out. I followed  another bicyclist – he looked to be a triathlete – for a few miles. Riding in his draft was a good way to warm up.

I rode to the Sea World bike path near the entrance to Fiesta Island. It felt good to be on a road bike again. I’d forgotten how fast this bike is. A mountain bike can do things that cannot be done on a road bike. However, a mountain bike will never match the speed of a road bike on the pavement.

I stopped at the crest of the West Mission Bay Drive bridge and shot a photo of boats on the bay.

View of Paradise Point from the West Mission Bay bridge

From there, I continued on to Mission Beach, then rode north to Pacific Beach. It was going to be a warm day and there were already lots of people at the beach.

I was out for little over an hour and put about 17 miles in. I need to take more rides like this and get back into shape. Then maybe Donna and I can start riding together again.

In the afternoon, Donna and I scootered over to Von’s grocery in Pacific Beach and stocked up on groceries. We had a full load coming back!

While we were at Von’s, I picked up a bottle of coffee stout from Coronado Brewing Company. It was indescribably good. Refreshing beer that tasted like a cup of good coffee is all I can say. They brew it with locally roasted coffee beans.

Coronado Brewing Company Blue Bridge Coffee Stout

We sat outside for cocktail hour and enjoyed the weather with fresh veggies and a sun-dried tomato and fresh basil hummus that Donna made. I grilled a rib-eye steak for dinner that we enjoyed with sauteed mushrooms and onions and a baked potato.

It was a great day – life is good.

This morning, we’ll go to a shop in Pacific Beach and pick up Donna’s race packet. She’s competing in a duathlon tomorrow morning. It’s a sprint race, starting with a 1.5-mile run, then 12.5 miles on the bike followed by another run of 2.5 miles.

After we pick up her race packet, we’ll go to the farmers’ market in the Little Italy district downtown with Donna’s sister, Linda.