Everyone Craves a Little Madness Once In a While

Strava:  https://www.strava.com/activities/571933279

Attendees:  Shannon, Vince, Hiroshi, Mitchell, Adrian, Jaffe, Steve M., me and Saurabh

As with fight club, there are rules one should know when riding with this crew:

1. If you're new to the ride, expect that everyone is going to try and drop you.
2. If you haven't ridden with this group for a while, expect that everyone is going to try and drop you.
3. If you ride with this crew often, expect that everyone is going to try and drop you.

While all of the above are true, 1 and 2 are ESPECIALLY true.   And when you COMBINE 1 and 2 on the same ride,  add "...as soon as possible."  The bottom line here is that these boys have a serious passion for pain and anyone else who dares to join them will be collateral damage.  Period.

Now I didn't think I would want to ride with these guys anytime soon given my other personal pursuits, but you can't help but miss them.  Call is masochism, but looking at their Strava posts gave me an itch that only other alphas can scratch.   I just didn't expect them to use a steel rake while doing so.

Saurabh came out to join today after hearing about rides on Tuesday and Thursdays.  As we met him while congregating outside the gym waiting to depart, I felt obligated to welcome him to the ride as well as set his expectations as stated above.  What's funny is that I'm now considered a "visitor," but I guess old habits are hard to break.  Saurabh said he would try to draft as much as possible, but I guess that didn't work out too well given he dropped even before the first underpass on the bike trail.  At least he was warned.  I hope he continues to come out, but he'll have to eventually drop the rearview mirror (Yes, Vince...I used to wear one too) and get some real pedals vs. cages.  Just some words of advise from an old timer....

With Hiroshi giving me fair warning that everyone was getting faster and faster before I came out, I knew exactly what I had to do:  Make like a caboose and constantly ask my Maker not to let me get unhinged.  Sure as shit, Hiroshi was right.  These guys were ridiculous today!  They were definitely applying rule #2 above, which required me to apply rule #5 but from a different set of rules.  If you have to ask....

What was great about today's ride was that everyone was taking turns up front except me.  I was the cycling 'coxswain' directing those rotating out from the front to latch on to the guy in front of me.  I'm not used to this group allowing me to do this, so being a visitor does have its perks.  Some definitely did more work than others, but from my view, everyone pushed up at some point.  Awesome!  As a result, they were killin' it...and me in the process.  To see all the Strava bling people received, including myself, just shows they were out for blood.  

Here are the results from what I could see in the challenges I created for this route:

KOMs

Top of Bike Trail at Portola - Vince with Steve M. nipping at his heels...or was it the other way around?

Top of Orchard Hills - Vince with Shannon in hot pursuit and making a pass down the hill.

Top of California  - Shannon with a powerful breakaway leaving Vince to chase and me to feel old

Sprint

To California - Repeat of Bike Trail at Portola where once again I couldn't tell for sure.

Now that I've had a taste of the crew's "alpha-ness," I think I'm good for another month (or more) before riding with this crew again.    I'll have to do some covert training in preparation for it as I'll bet they'll even get faster.  I'm sure of this.

Thanks for letting me tag along today, gents!  I really appreciate the workout albeit being more than 500 more calories I prefer to burn for my cardio.  Looking forward to the next time.

Team BRCM (not AVGO) Lunch Ride - The End of my BAM Era

Strava:  https://www.strava.com/activities/524073233

Attendees:  Shannon, Vince, Todd, Adrian, Hiroshi, Mitchell, Steve M., Jaffe,  PV and Seon

When I was getting my bike ready for today's lunch ride after announcing yesterday it would be my last,  I have to admit I felt a little emotional.   Aside from the normal anxiety of riding with  this nutty group, reflecting on all my experiences with them over the years definitely tugged at some of the heartstrings.   On top of that, I wondered if anyone was even going to show up!

Before I go into the ride (which thankfully a lot of guys showed up for), let me take you down memory lane with me to highlight some of crazy memorable events with this crew.  I'll call it "Remember When...."

Remember when...

...Tim organized the first BBR I attended where Vince dominated all the years before? This was how I got into road bikes.

...we started riding at lunch as a bunch of individuals then got our first BRCM jerseys and became a more uniform-looking bunch of individuals?

...there was a Wednesday/Friday crew (consisting of Vin and Hiroshi at the time) who we would love to join for recovery days?  

...I crashed due to a pine cone but was able to take out a Honda Civic on a different ride?

...Gary and Todd got new bikes and transformed into different riders overnight having everyone else follow their lead soon after...except Vince who waited and waited and waited but now is super dangerous on his Cervelo?

...Adrian wore mountain bike shorts to his first ride but conformed after realizing it was a disadvantage?

...we did our first century (Stagecoach) only to subsequently dominate their team time trials for several years with Vince, Todd, Shannon and Noah setting the tone?

...we did our first race ever in Camp Pendleton (the bulldog) in the rain yielding some wins and good placements?

...Vince didn't try to break away?  Me neither.

...we jumped at every opportunity to do a hill climb challenge (Alpine, San Diego, OCGF, LeTaupe) and doing very well in them?

...Galen broke his collar bone at the 2nd OCGF but never broke his spirit?

...Jaffe was a menace to cycling society and rode like he was British (wrong side of road)?  

...our post events became why we rode rather than the ride itself?  I think our first Big Bear outing set the baseline for the rest to follow.

...we all experienced mild to severe hypothermia at the San Diego Gran Fondo?  

...Mitch called Shannon an amateur and how we all gasped in fear of the ensuing punishment to follow?

...riding was somewhat normal until Strava ruined our lives?

...Jeremy bought a bike, then another, then one after that, etc., etc?

...we celebrated weddings by trying to kill ourselves on a ride days before?

...we piled into Shannon's truck for the Death Ride and nearly experienced death after getting in it post his flatulence?  Oh and that handlebar dance....

...people used to look at us and say "who's Broadcom?" only to later on say "Oh no, Broadcom's here?"  

...we thought it was a good idea to carry a water bottle with ~10 lbs of sand in it for training purposes?  This, of course, had to be outdone by Verm who would wear a 40 lbs. vest during his training.

...Noah was the only one with a Power Meter where now those who don't are the minority?

Oh man, there are so many memories that I could go on and on, but in the interest of Internet storage space, I'll leave you with the ones above.  Hell, you can always read my prior blogs if you want to know more.  That's why they're there!

As for today's ride, I was pleasantly surprised by the turnout especially since I hardly get out anymore.   Along with the current "regular" riders, we had the likes of Seon, PV (on a TT bike) and Adrian join us (I should include Todd since he doesn't ride much nowadays too).  Plus we had Shawn, Tim and Jeremy come out to say goodbye and join us in the picture taking.  Needless to say, I was touched and rather thankful for the honor.

The ride was everything I could have wanted in my last lunch ride with this group:  we maintained a manageable pace for most of it with multiple people working together, regrouped here and there and sprinkled in some BAM in to keep it interesting for everyone.  My OCD didn't mind that we were not all uniform kit-wise too.  It was still a sight to see with 11 of us riding together and Shawn leading us out of the parking lot with his beach cruiser.  Sweet!

Here are some pictures from today:

Staging area 1

Just in time

Staging area 2

Surrounded by black kits

PC - Jeremy

Today's riding crew

Today's full goodbye crew

Always badass in bunches

In closing, I want to say that it has been an incredible 8+ years of riding with this group.   Everyone has grown so much, especially me, and I know people will continue to grow even in my absence.   I'm really sorry I haven't been here throughout (life happens), but I know that I'm only a small piece of the equation (okay, maybe an important piece but still).  You guys have made me the cyclist and competitor I am today...humble but hungry.   I'm so thankful for getting to know each and every one of you, whether we've ridden once or literally fought cycling battles in the trenches multiple times.   I asked myself if I should continue donning our kit after I leave, but I just can't imagine not representing the best group of guys (not the company) out there.  While I may not have the badge, I'll always be a BAMMER for life.

Yours truly,
Rich

Team Lunch Ride - Chapman OAB (the last 2015 lunch ride for me)

Strava:  https://www.strava.com/activities/451888576

Rather than going straight into the details of today's ride, I think I'll take this opportunity to recognize and appreciate the Broadcom guys (past and present) I've ridden with over the years:  Shannon, Todd, Vince, Gary, Noah, Adrian, Galen, Eddie, Tim, PV, Zierhut, Mitchell, Verm, Jaffe, Hiroshi, Steve M., Vin, Jeremy, James, David Liu, Seon, John, Andy, Shawn, Eric, Peter and Trevor.  As you can see, it's a pretty big effing list!  Whether it was a ride during lunch or on the weekend, a century ride or a race, thank you for allowing me to ride with you.  More importantly, thank you for representing to those fortunate enough to don the BRCM kit.   If some question whether we ride legit, at least we looked the part.

I don't mean to get all sentimental, but I can't believe 2015 is almost behind us.  I'm sure we'll continue to ride beyond this year, but it's questionable whether we'll do it in the same fashion as we've done for so long.   We've done some amazing rides (and post rides too), gents, and I'll always be thankful for the fond memories that came from doing them with you.

How the above relates to today's ride was that I really wanted to BAM up today's ride if anything else.  I wanted to again experience what it was like to really push the boundaries of what I can do and let the pieces fall where they may.   While I could have ridden with the same intensity on my road bike, I opted to bring my TT bike to help everyone else push their limits with me.  Unfortunately, the guys are too strong nowadays, but it was definitely hella fun going for it.  Now if only my legs would stop hurting....

I was open to take the front for the whole ride because I was in serious self-punishment mode.  However, it was nice to see others push up when they did.  Shannon and Steve even broke away on Jamboree, so it was nice to push and see what it would take to catch them.  Shannon was not catchable as expected, but Steve surprised me by taking my wheel after I caught him and pushing his pace up again after he dropped off of Shannon's.  Pretty impressive stuff!

Even McNinch took a pull on the bike trail early on.  Since he doesn't have a BRCM kit, however, I was not comfortable for him leading us too long though.  :)  Still, good job!

We saw Vince and Vin on our way back as they came out later than us, and it was nice that they turned around and met us at the top of the bike trail on Portola.  Once we all regrouped, Mr. Toad's wild ride resumed and we pushed all the way back.   It was definitely fast coming back, and it was a good team effort to do so.  I'm just annoyed I accidentally paused my Garmin and lost 5 miles, but I think the pace was fairly consistent throughout.

Thank you guys for coming out today, and hopefully we can get some riding in over the holidays.  I'm not sure I'll be up for one at lunch next week, but let's get some miles in before the end of the year for sure.

Lunch Ride - It Never Gets Easier, Just Faster

Strava:  https://www.strava.com/activities/404353281

Attendees:  Vince, Shannon, Galen (wha?), Mitchell, Vin, Jaffe and Steve M.

Route:  Orchard Hills OAB

I really don't have a lot of time to blog nowadays, but given Galen's return, the manner in which he did so, and the multiple requests for it today, here you go.  I told Galen before the ride that I wasn't going to, but I say a lot of things I don't mean.  He was thankful if I didn't, so I guess I'll have to cash in on that thank you another time.

I chose today's route anticipating Galen was going to ride after his wife, yes...his wife, was inciting some BAM rivalry on his behalf yesterday by issuing a challenge.  I'll not delve into that challenge, but from the way the ride went today, I may have to take her up on it.  You have to wonder what her motivation was though.  It's easy to wonder if his stamina is suspect outside of cycling, but I'll just leave that where it is.

Aside from Galen, we had a pretty full crew today.  GTJ made it to the gym, but opted to not join us.  Wise.  Still could be a bigger crew, but I'll leave the call outs for another blog.  I'll be dishing out enough trash in this one.

For today's ride, I opted to use more of a "Como" or "race" approach rather than a "team" approach given how this ride could have gone.  I honestly didn't know where Galen was with his conditioning and given that he's pretty good at sandbagging (a common trait of Bammers), riding strategically was probably a better idea than riding cohesively.  For perspective, Shannon brought up Velominati rule#10 recently that stays "Training is like fighting with a gorilla.  You don't stop when you're tired.  You stop when the gorilla is tired."  In today's ride, we had 3 potential gorillas (figuratively speaking, of course - wink wink).

It started out fast enough going down California but it picked up even more once we got on the bike trail.  Unlike Tuesday's ride, however, I opted not to push up to the front for a bit to let the faster guys  get the anxiety out of their system.  I really would have liked to do it for the whole ride, but the look I get (or at least I feel i get) when I pass up a rotation gets to me after a while.  After all, I'm a lover...not a fighter.

We all know who's willing to push up and do the work (although I think Vince was even a little more strategic in today's approach), but would I surprise you by saying that Jaffe has now elevated himself to one of them?  This guy deserves some kudos since he is now consistently pushing to the front despite not being able to stay in the front group the whole time.  He's becoming more and more of a team player, and we have to recognize and appreciate this behavior.  I guess 7 years later is better than nothing, but still!

I had to warn Vin before the ride not to pull any of his shenanigans, and as usual he pretends to not know what I'm talking about.  There were some observed today, but it was less than usual so I think he actually listened.  He did take some turns up front, but he seemed to have learned some traits from Adrian where he'll soft pedal after 5 seconds as a sign he wants to be relieved.  Then as he's passed, he'll pedal off the seat requiring a lot of energy where it's obvious he had more to give.  I'm onto you, Monty.

Mitchell is Mitchell and we've all come to accept this.  Enough said.

Steve M, the newest and youngest rider of the crew, is definitely a good rider.  That said, at some point we're going to have to convince him to take some pulls...especially early on in the ride.  I don't think he's ridden with Mitchell enough to get some of his traits, but holding out the guy up front while riding #2 is no bueno.   Young man, you have youth on your side.  We can only give you so many KOMs from the draft, but eventually you'll have to earn your own.  HA HA.  Call this tough love.  We've ALL received it.

Coming back to Galen, I still like riding with the guy despite the lapse.  He is still willing to close the gaps when needed, and I took advantage of one of those when a gap was formed at one point.  Unfortunately, his box of matches isn't as full as it used to be.  When we were on the bike trail heading toward Portola, he was waving me on to relieve Vince while he sat in the #2 position and me #3.  I'm like...nuh uh, sucker.  First of all, Vince could use a few hold outs given his antics, and second it's been a really fast ride so far and I'm also just barely hanging on.  I didn't realize, however, that this was probably his way of saying take #2 spot vs. the front since I think it was shortly after that Galen dropped off and not to be seen again until the gym.  Knowing him though, he had plenty of time to think about what happened and hopefully will come back out again and again until he's back in full form.  I think that's what his wife wants anyway, so why not, right?

As I rode away with the breakaway group going up Portola, I was literally feeling like death.  However, I didn't want to give up on the idea that I could hang on if I played my cards right, so I just sucked it up and kept pedaling.  My eyes were literally about to pop out of their sockets at the top, so I seriously had to suck wind as we made our way to Orchard Hills.  I was hoping to get some rest at a light, but as luck would have it, it was green upon our approach.  Sigh.

Vince led up initially, but Shannon relieved him shorty after and started to pull away.  Vince could have easily jumped on Shannon's wheel but 1) he wanted me to push up so 2) he can pass and drop me shortly after.  I stuck with my Como approach though despite the glaring looks he gave me.  Of course, he ended up sprinting to break away from me but I was ready this time and hung on for dear life as we continued the climb making our way up to Shannon near the top.  Once we descended, Vince took off for a sprint and I felt obligated to contest it just to give him more of a real-life race scenario than anything else - wink wink.  Once he opted out, which I would have done too after that mad pull up OH, I was certain it was over when Shannon flashes by at top speed.  Nice.

We regrouped at the top of the bike trail, and there was definitely more teamwork on the way back.  Vince broke that up a little after Barranca when back on the bike trail, but there was a collective effort to reel him in.  That and the headwind was just no fun.

The rotations continued, and I hated pushing up to the front in the wind, but I don't think there were any more holdouts.  As we got up to University, Vince was leading the way.  Now I could have held him out or waited for someone to try to sprint by so I can latch on, but I thought I'd light up all my matches and see what sprinting the distance of 2.5 football fields would be like in that headwind.   This is analogous to Noah mentioning how anyone could let themselves get kicked in the nuts, but in the end it would not be fun.  Well, I definitely got my nuts kicked in.  Shannon, Vince and Steve M. flew by me toward the end, and all I could do is wheeze at the intersection trying not to fall over and die.

The climb up California was supposed to be a cool down, but this crew likes to suffer and took me deep in the black by the top.  Gotta love them for it though.  If it doesn't kill ya...okay, enough with the sayings already, right?

Thanks for coming out, and a special thanks to Nicole for letting Galen play with us again.  Interesting last note though:  someone mentioned how he thought Galen should be lighter and faster on the bike given he no longer has nuts.   I'm paraphrasing, so don't kill the messenger.

The Hilly G Ride

Strava:  https://www.strava.com/activities/394394191

Attendees:  GTJ, GSM, GSJ and GML

With work and the weather getting in the way of riding the last week and a half, it was finally nice to get out with the troop.  We didn't have the numbers that we had during my last outing, but it was a good group and great training nonetheless.

One great thing about the ride was the humidity had finally become "normal" where it didn't feel like you were back east.  It was still warm, especially wearing the black kit that EVERYONE had donned, but slightly cooler as we rode toward the coast.  Winds weren't bad either, so the conditions were about as good as we can ask for compared to the last several weeks.

I was on my TT bike for this ride, and I originally had set the route to be a faster flatter route.  However, GTJ chimed in early on and wanted to do more hills so we ended up changing to the route he suggested despite the clear disadvantage it presented to my 20 pounder ride.  I go with the flow....

The ride started out fast enough with GTJ leading us down CA, me taking the first pull on the BT and GSM and GTJ getting us to Back Bay.  I had a little trouble with the uptick in the pace up the grades, but I managed to get back with the group after descending into BB and join the rotation.

Through BB, everyone was pushing up and rotating up front early on but it lessened as we got closer to the end with people pushing up front from toward the back.  This was okay as it allowed for us to stay together throughout.  This continued on PCH and through the CDM neighborhood including Ocean.  We almost got split up at an intersection, but I did a rolling regroup as we made our way up the steep kicker hill leading to Ocean.

When we came back to PCH from Poppy, GTJ and GSM pushed up to get the group going again, and I had to drop onto the aeros just to close the gap and help with the rotation.

At the bottom of NPC, I let the guys know not to wait for me given I expected I wouldn't be able to keep up on the climb.  When the light turned green, GTJ and GSJ took off and I just stood on the pedals and started my ascent.  I was surprised I didn't get too far behind during the first part of the climb, and upon approaching the first Pelican we were all pretty much together at that point.  Now I thought GTJ indicated we were going up Pelican, so I slowed thinking we had to cross the street.  The light turned green just shortly after our arrival, and I found myself watching them climbing up NPC wondering why.  Then I remember that GTJ indicated "Vista" and not Pelican, so off I went trailing everyone up the hill.

I started climbing and rolled up to GML thinking he was holding a good pace where I would have been content riding with him.   I ended up passing where he rolled up behind me, so I expected he would just sit on my wheel during the climb since this was his specialty as my "wingman."  However, he hadn't ridden with the group for a while, so dropped off some and onto the next person.

I rolled up to GSJ next, and I gotta say, this guy took off like a bat out of hell at the bottom of NPC with a cadence that seemed taken from the playbook of our cycling samurai, GHS.   I didn't think he would have a lot by the time I pulled beside him and expected he would try to stick my rear wheel as I passed.  Instead, he started spinning up faster contesting my pass and rode abreast with me a while even challenging my pace.  That went on for a bit and I had to actually look at him to make sure it was GSJ.  It was!  He ended up rolling off after a while, but it's nice to know that he's actually putting that R5 to work now.

As I continued to climb up the hill, I started closing on GSM and thought to myself, something is definitely going on here.  I'm going to have to look and see if he did a ride earlier in the morning that may explain this, but GTJ was already calling out earlier that GSM seemed to be holding back.  As I passed, I did expect GSM was going to just match my pace, but he continued on as though it didn't matter much that I passed.  Anyone who knows BAM, however, would know that this is not a characteristic typical of this group.  I know BAM, so I just kept going, dropped onto my aeros when it started flattening out, and just tried to get enough of a gap to make it interesting for him to pass me at some point.  That point was about 100 yards up Vista with a "Good job, Rich" to further demoralize me as it seemed too easy.  It turned out, he would also catch GTJ, who had been ahead of both of us the whole time, and get a couple top ten segment placings (not annual either) as he did so.

GTJ remained ahead of me the whole time and I only saw him until he reached the false flat only to be seen again waiting for me with GSM at the top.

Looking back, we didn't see the other guys coming up, so we decided to roll down to the bottom and wait there.  GSJ and GML pulled up shortly after.  After this, we all rolled down NPC together making our way to the last climb...Summit.

There were some cars making their way onto Summit upon our arrival, so we didn't get a lot of momentum going onto the road.  GTJ led initially, and I followed closely behind.  The next thing you know, GSJ pulls up and passes both of us with his newly found high cadence and caused Todd and I to have to push a little more.  We both managed to pass GSJ, but he stayed just between us as we rode abreast ahead of him.

GTJ started to pick up the pace and started to pull away from me.  It wasn't long before GSM came out of nowhere to pass me as well.  I tried to push hard toward the last part of the climb, but the two were just too far ahead.  I was happy I wasn't too far behind though as we made the u-turn and began descending.

We were all regrouped as we made our way onto Turtle Ridge and prepared to turn right onto Bonita Canyon.  We pushed the pace on Bonita Canyon together and managed to reel in a couple guys who had got caught at one of the lights.  The guy in the yellow jersey took off at the light and had us in his draft initially while his buddy was waiting to get onto the back of the train as the rest of us lined up.  Once GSM passed and elevated the pace again, the two dropped off.  Hell, I was off the back for a bit after the pass because it was pretty intense, so it was understandable.

With the lights on Bison made it challenging to setup a sprint, it was again GSJ who was up at the front toward the end pushing the pace.  It was only because I was fully tucked in and cranking that I was able to catch up, but someone needs to check what this guy is putting in his water bottle before the ride.  In any case, nice work!

Another good ride and great training for the books.  I'm sorry I won't be able to make next Tuesday's ride being that I'll be in San Diego, but I'm already looking forward to next Thursday.

Thanks for coming out, Gents!

BRCM Lunch - How Can I Not Write About Today?

Strava:  https://www.strava.com/activities/384281855

Attendees:  Shannon, Vince, Jaffe, Hiroshi, Vin, Steve N., Adrian, Jeremy and me

MIA:  Todd, Galen, Mitchell, Noah and Verm

Retired:  Eddie

Considering that the weather was almost perfect today (albeit windy at some spots) and there were NINE of us that made it out, I just had to write about it.

It all started with an invite this morning that had me asking the following questions:

• Will Adrian wait another six months before riding again?
• Who’s interested in betting on what part of Jaffe’s bike falls off next?
• Has Jeremy bought another bike already since Tuesday’s ride?
• Do Vince and Shannon need to take a remedial class on social cycling skills?
• Is Todd retired?  (someone actually asked me this)
• Does Mitchell think we’re too amateurish to ride with?
• Should we say we’re leaving at 11:35 so Vin can be out in time?
• If there was a segment leading from campus to Anthill Pub and Grill, who would win?  PV, Shawn or Tim?
• Will Steve N. (the new guy) continue to allow guys twice his age to drop him on hills?
• Is Noah waiting for Eddie to ride again before making another appearance so he can get another new bike?
• Did Rich bring his cheater bike today or his regular road bike?

• How long will Steven N. take to get used to my sarcasm?

• When will Nicole let go of Galen’s nuts, so he can ride again?

• How much more training can Hiroshi do before he can stand sideways to hide behind a flag pole?

Here are the answers in order:

• No
• No one...too many possibilities.
• Nope but he should have bought new tires
• They were nice enough to wait at the top of NPC, so we'll give them a pass.  They still intentionally tried to hurt everyone (my calf, for example), and Vince STILL likes to shoot past me while I'm front.   Aaargghh!!!
• He said not fully with a promise to ride next week.  
• Probably
• Next time
• Shawn (no one else actually tracked it)
• Yes
• Probably
• He's only at phase 1 of relation with me (confused).  Phase 2 (hate) and 3 (tolerate) to follow.
• She's holding on pretty tight, but I ran into her a few weeks back where she indicated she may let them go soon
• Not sure, but he and I are both thinking about joining an Asian bobblehead gang.

Oh, so you wanted to hear about the ride?

I must say I haven't had that feeling of "excitement" riding in a big pack of BRCM'ers for a while until today.  To roll out with that many fellas is purdy cool.  I have to call out the obligatory non-kit conformance though with Jeremy wearing white and Adrian wearing I don't know what (Steve N. gets a bye given he's new and doesn't have our kit).  However, riding with the others donning black was reminiscent of our rides back in the day.

On E. Peltason, Jeremy suffered a flat and had our local McGyver help him replace the tube.  This led to a slight delay but also allowed for Vince to catch up to us since we left him at the gym to get ready knowing he'd catch us anyway.  

We rolled out together and unlike recent rides, I actually opted to take the front fearing that painful early breakaway if we didn't conform and try to help.  The funny thing is "the fast guys" didn't even get up front to help at the time, so I guess my e-mail worked.  

Going up NPC, Vin and Hiroshi took off from the light and I opted to jump on Hiroshi's wheel given he holds a great pace.  We got passed by the racers as expected, but we stayed and worked together on the climb with the others not too far behind (except Adrian...ha). 

After regrouping on San Joaquin, Vince started up the horseshoe already gapping the rest of us, but we managed to pull him in midway.  As I was up front for the last little rise before San Joaquin, Vince sprinted by and just kept going keeping the rest of us on our toes as we chased after him down the hill.  Adrian opted to fly by me showing his downhill speed as I chased Vince down, so that was pretty cool.  Now I just have find a route that's all downhill.

Unfortunately, Jeremy's tire started to bulge at the horseshoe and didn't get to stay with the rest of us opting to make it back to BRCM safely.   Keep coming out, and if you need new tires, we can all sign a petition for you to take to your fiancee to let you buy some.

It was nice to see some rotations going on today, but it was not in any organized fashion as usual.  Some where even breakaway-ish, but it wouldn't be a BRCM ride if it wasn't.  The only thing I wished was if people would rotate during the chases.  During a couple of the breakaways today, most would just sit back and hold out the person trying to close the gap...me!  I managed to do so a couple times, but that led to some disastrous results for me during the first and second pass through back bay.  I was literally left to die on the first pass where everyone passed me up leaving me for dead as they made their way to Jamboree.  

Fortunately, I was able to catch up to others due to lights and had planned to try and just stay with Shannon and Vin on the last pass.  However, they slowed down a little, and I decided to keep going to see if I can chase a guy down that I saw ahead of me on Back Bay.  It's how we roll, right?  I passed him.  

It didn't take long, however, for Shannon and Steve N. in tow to pass me (right after San Joaquin), and although I managed to latch on, trying to stay on was another story.  My right calf hinted of cramping even before the first pass, but then went into full lock mode where I couldn't even pedal.  This was when everyone passed me again leaving me for dead, including the guy I passed initially.  I caught and passed that guy again eventually, but there was no sign of any other BRCM'ers after him.  

It was definitely a good day of riding today despite my apparent lack of electrolytes, conditioning, and most notably, intelligence.  The guys are all such different riders now, and the new kid fits right in showing his "legit-ness."  I'm thinking once we take him through the hill training I was put through, he'll be able to do equally well there.  

Thanks for coming out, gents!  Sorry for the long blog, but you better enjoy it as this won't happen al that often.  

Peace!

Team BRCM Weekend Hill Trainer

Strava:  https://www.strava.com/activities/375148008

It's been a while since I last blogged (I know, I know), but 1) I've been really busy at work and 2) the lunch ride blogs were getting a little repetitive to me with the same things happening from ride to ride.   With this being a weekend ride and one that was reminiscent of the ones we did as a group in the past, I thought there would be more interesting stuff to write about.  I'll let you decide....

Gary, as he had done in the past, was the original motivator for this ride.  He was interested in getting some good miles in, some good climbing, and some beer after.  It didn't take much to convince me, so I was definitely in.  It was a little challenging to get others to come out due to "life," so it ultimately ended up just being me, Gary and a new guy, Steve, who just joined Broadcom recently and was interested in riding with us.   Good enough.

We met at the BJ's parking lot, which brought back some good memories, and were ready to roll at the designated 7:45  departure time.   I almost forgot what I needed to bring in preparation for a group ride, but I managed to have everything I needed.  The most important items include the big bottle of water to rinse off after, and the change of clothing and my wallet for the beer.   Priorities.

There was a good amount of cloud cover but the temperature was perfect and the wind conditions were pretty mild.  It was pretty ideal for a group ride if you ask me, and the number of riders we saw out on the road substantiated this.  The clouds eventually dissipated midmorning, but it never got too warm even with the black kits we were wearing.  Even climbing up and descending Silverado was pretty mild.

Not having ridden with Steven before, we didn't know what kind of rider he would be.  He obviously was accustomed to riding in groups from what we can see, and he had the same attitude about riding making for a good fit.  He wasn't familiar with the route I had chosen, but that didn't stop him from charging ahead early on.  After hitting Cannon from Chapman, however, he realized he needed to pace himself a little more with the other climbs planned for the route.

It was good to be back on hills like Cannon (both the one from Chapman and the one after E. Santiago Canyon), Nohl, Dump hill, and Silverado.  Did I just say that?  They offered a lot of different types of climbing with Nohl probably being the roughest of the climbs.  In the end, we were able to get more than 4K vert in 55 miles, which is pretty damn good hill training in my opinion.  Every one of us got worked but with no one willing to give up.

Another thing reminiscent of our prior group rides is someone getting a flat.  This time, it was the new guy while we were going through the canyon headed toward Silverado.  Fortunately, he wasn't aware of brown guy flat repair services and was experienced enough to replace the flat himself.

Gary took off ahead of us on Silverado, so Steve and I made our way up together.  As we were approaching a couple of cyclists, I turned around and noticed the Canyon Velo group ride coming up quickly behind us.  Steve and I got pinned behind the couple, so we couldn't hop on until the tail end of the group.  I wasn't about to pass up the tow.  The pace definitely picked up as they passed, and it was cool to be able to jump on.  I was able to pick off some riders in the process, which was a fundamental requirement in a BAM ride, but at the end got passed again by Tracy Tilton (based on Strava flyby and as someone I follow).   I'm okay with it though since she's a pretty legit racer.

We took a break at the top not opting to continue riding with the CV group, and headed down after a lot of the riders cleared.  On my way down, I was stung by a bee (happens a lot up there I guess since I know Todd and Shannon have had their shares of this as well).  It was fun to take advantage of the adrenalin though.

We made our way toward Cooks after regrouping at the bottom, and we were all pretty cooked.  Despite this, we still mixed it up with a couple other riders on the way back.  Gary still had some fight in him at the end and took off for a sprint to the finish, with Steve and I right behind him.

It was a great ride and fun to be out in a group, albeit only 3.  Hanging out with the pizza and beer topped it off perfectly.  Hopefully, we can have more come out next time (late September or early October).