GPS stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/76385306
It was the warmest it's been for a while, and while I thought I couldn't wait until it warmed up, officially I take that back. The warm weather just added another element to making these rides even harder. Further, reaching down to grab water at the pace we run nowadays is almost impossible until we hit the stop lights.
On BB, Vince, Adrian and I were keeping the pace up despite the head winds with everyone staying in the pack throughout. Adrian looked for a sprint at the end of Back Bay and after consideration, I finally obliged but he was able to finish just ahead of me. Good job! Vince kept the pace up through the trailer park, and by the time we got to the light at Jamboree and Bayside, the average speed was 22.3 mph. The pace stayed up through Bayside but slowed a little as we went through Ocean (nice scenery - ahem).
As we got on Poppy and neared PCH, Vince and Adrian got on the sidewalk to make the right turn but Hiroshi and Mitchell got squeezed out by an SUV turning right with the rest of us behind them on the road. Once we were finally able to squeeze through, Vince and Adrian had gotten a pretty good gap on us.
At first, I was hoping to have us all reel them in, but after passing Hiroshi, I thought I'd go ahead and close the gap. When I stood to do so, I guess my pace stuttered where Marc rolled into my rear wheel. Marc apologized and I accepted. That's twice in one week for me, so I wonder who'll try again next week. HA HA
I did manage to jump on Adrian and Vince's draft and thought I had everyone else behind me, but when I turned around to look back, there was a gap. I got pretty winded doing so, so I stayed behind these guys to catch my breath. Ultimately, Shannon pulled everyone up to catch the light to go left on NPC with us where we were all able to start together the hills together.
Shannon led the charge up NPC with Vince, Hiroshi and me in tow. Shannon decided to cross Pelican from the light across from it and I stayed with him thinking it would turn green before the left turn lane. Vince and the rest took the left turn lane and did a TLB to start Pelican ahead of us.
When the light turned green, either Shannon was pissed or it was just that time so he decided to light the hill up and pass everyone catching Vince at the top on NPC. He continued to charge up Vista and just broke away after that. I'm not sure if he and Vince rode together at some point since both were out of sight after the first steep pitch on Vista Ridge. Aside from pulling everyone on PCH, Shannon had been spinning most of the ride to let others do the work today. It kind of reminded me of when Skynet finally decided that humans were dangerous whereas Shannon realized pulling the whole ride was not to his advantage on the hills. In both cases, termination was in order. Friggin' machines.
I was able to reel in Marc and Jaffe on Pelican with Shannon but fell off his crazy ass pace after. On the last hill, it took a while but I was able to get to the top just behind Mitchell and Adrian with Hiroshi not too far behind. Eddie came behind after but missed the light on NPC.
I guess we didn't make it clear to Mitchell that we were all doing Vista (no wonder he didn't seem to have set up a line to make the right turn), so when he went straight, Adrian, Hiroshi and I were caught off guard and turned before being able to tell him to turn around. I actually thought Mitchell had decided to go back, so no one called out to him about missing the turn. Sorry, Mitchell.
On Vista, Adrian and Hiroshi were ahead of me in the beginning, but I was able to break away on the hill. I saw Hiroshi was behind me at one point, but I didn't see them by the time I started up the last pitch before Park Ridge. I heard Adrian was able to pass Hiroshi before the top though. (Edit: Adrian confirmed he didn't catch Hiroshi until the bottom of Ridge Park). Good job, Hiroshi!
Jaffe had caught Eddie on Vista and the two worked together and eventually caught up to Hiroshi on Bonita Canyon. Adrian missed the memo about skipping Summit, so I guess he did some extra credit today. It's not like he couldn't use it (wink wink).
In the locker room, Vince was talking about how the group is just getting crazier and crazier. When Vince starts talking this way, you really have to worry. As do I, he too wants to start looking for new friends.
Good warm trainer today, but weather doesn't look like it'll stay this way (thank goodness). Thanks for coming out!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Wednesday Ride with a few of the Tuesday Crew
GPS stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/76221947
I think we're beginning to disrupt the regular Wednesday rides with more of the Tuesday crew coming out on these days. Tues/Thur regulars Vince, Todd, Mitchell, Eddie, Jaffe and now Hiroshi and Seon came out today, and we were joined by Vin (still ducking the Type A's), David, Jeremy and Peter. The 2 latter had not ridden with us before, so I think they weren't expecting that pace.
Todd and Vince set the pace early once on the bike trail and Eddie and I took some pulls as well. By the time we got to Laguna Canyon, the average was over 23 mph. We were trying to regroup with the others who dropped off by this point, but we suspected they may have taken Sand Canyon for a short cut. Nice that Vin, Seon, Jaffe, and Hiroshi were still in the pack.
Hiroshi took the initial lead out once we got going, and I took a pull after. I think we saw PV and Shawn going the opposite way saying something, but I'm not sure. Once atop Quail hill, Jaffe gets up front and decides to do a traffic light breakaway (TLB for short from now on). However, we were all able to regroup at the turnabout.
Hiroshi and Seon took off followed by Mitchell and Eddie once on the bike trail to University. Eddie and Mitchell passed the two ahead of them as we did eventually as well. Then, Eddie starts to sprint away as we all watched to see how well he'do against himself. HA HA. When he slowed up (which turns out was because his seat moved down), we passed and heckled him for going too early not realizing the seat problem.
On Ridgeline, we regrouped at the bottom, which is unusual. Either Mitchell or Hiroshi started up the hill first and then Todd took over. When I got up front, I thought I'd keep the pace up and didn't realize people weren't in my draft until after the first section that pitched up. Todd, Vince and Mitchell caught up by the stop sign, and Todd and Vince laughed at me for pushing too hard initially. I got on Vince's wheel and rode with them up but once it pitched up at the end, I was cooked. Thankfully, we had another regroup point on Summit Court where the others joined us. We did look for Eddie, but he probaby turned off due to his seat problem.
We went down Hillcrest to Starcrest and then right on Turtle Rock, and as I tried to keep the pace up toward the stop sign, my left calf gave me a hint that it wasn't happy whereby I had to sit down at that point. Vince took over up front after the stop sign, and once we got to Sunnyhill, my left calf wasn't just unhappy, it was downright complaining. I signaled Mitch and Todd to jump on Vince's wheel from then on.
By the time I was going up Shady, both calves were actually complaining at that point where all I could do was spin up on the small front ring. Even that hurt. The others passed me at that point, so the rest of the ride was just solo for me and not reflective of the others.
All-in-all, it was still a good training ride despite my calf problems. I'll have to be more aware of who's coming out on Wed/Fri moving forward. I did write the following on my personal training blog this morning:
For lunch today, I will be riding again and hope my legs hold up. They typically blow up a lot sooner, especially my calves, when I ride on a day when I trained my legs in the morning. I guess it'll depend on who comes out and what the route is. Looking forward to it nonetheless.
I guess I'm psychic.
Thanks for workout, gents! Should be good for tomorrow.
I think we're beginning to disrupt the regular Wednesday rides with more of the Tuesday crew coming out on these days. Tues/Thur regulars Vince, Todd, Mitchell, Eddie, Jaffe and now Hiroshi and Seon came out today, and we were joined by Vin (still ducking the Type A's), David, Jeremy and Peter. The 2 latter had not ridden with us before, so I think they weren't expecting that pace.
Todd and Vince set the pace early once on the bike trail and Eddie and I took some pulls as well. By the time we got to Laguna Canyon, the average was over 23 mph. We were trying to regroup with the others who dropped off by this point, but we suspected they may have taken Sand Canyon for a short cut. Nice that Vin, Seon, Jaffe, and Hiroshi were still in the pack.
Hiroshi took the initial lead out once we got going, and I took a pull after. I think we saw PV and Shawn going the opposite way saying something, but I'm not sure. Once atop Quail hill, Jaffe gets up front and decides to do a traffic light breakaway (TLB for short from now on). However, we were all able to regroup at the turnabout.
Hiroshi and Seon took off followed by Mitchell and Eddie once on the bike trail to University. Eddie and Mitchell passed the two ahead of them as we did eventually as well. Then, Eddie starts to sprint away as we all watched to see how well he'do against himself. HA HA. When he slowed up (which turns out was because his seat moved down), we passed and heckled him for going too early not realizing the seat problem.
On Ridgeline, we regrouped at the bottom, which is unusual. Either Mitchell or Hiroshi started up the hill first and then Todd took over. When I got up front, I thought I'd keep the pace up and didn't realize people weren't in my draft until after the first section that pitched up. Todd, Vince and Mitchell caught up by the stop sign, and Todd and Vince laughed at me for pushing too hard initially. I got on Vince's wheel and rode with them up but once it pitched up at the end, I was cooked. Thankfully, we had another regroup point on Summit Court where the others joined us. We did look for Eddie, but he probaby turned off due to his seat problem.
We went down Hillcrest to Starcrest and then right on Turtle Rock, and as I tried to keep the pace up toward the stop sign, my left calf gave me a hint that it wasn't happy whereby I had to sit down at that point. Vince took over up front after the stop sign, and once we got to Sunnyhill, my left calf wasn't just unhappy, it was downright complaining. I signaled Mitch and Todd to jump on Vince's wheel from then on.
By the time I was going up Shady, both calves were actually complaining at that point where all I could do was spin up on the small front ring. Even that hurt. The others passed me at that point, so the rest of the ride was just solo for me and not reflective of the others.
All-in-all, it was still a good training ride despite my calf problems. I'll have to be more aware of who's coming out on Wed/Fri moving forward. I did write the following on my personal training blog this morning:
For lunch today, I will be riding again and hope my legs hold up. They typically blow up a lot sooner, especially my calves, when I ride on a day when I trained my legs in the morning. I guess it'll depend on who comes out and what the route is. Looking forward to it nonetheless.
I guess I'm psychic.
Thanks for workout, gents! Should be good for tomorrow.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
BRCM Lunch - NPC Pelican PCH BB University CA (point system in effect)
GPS stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/76027670
Today's ride involved our regular NPC Back Bay loop, but certain sections were setup for points to make it interesting. Here was the route and the rules:
Route – Anteater > NPC > Pelican (down) > NPC > PCH > Poppy > Ocean > Avocado > PCH > Bayside > Bike Trail > Back Bay >Bike trail to University > CA
Point system
1st – 5
2nd – 4
3rd- - 3
Point Sections
- First to 73 underpass entrance on NPC
- NPC Crest (before San Joaquin)
- Last crest on Pelican before hitting NPC again
- On Back Bay at San Joaquin intersection
- Top of Back Bay
- University Bike Trail to CA light
- Top of CA (before Bison)
- To BRCM Gate (safely)
Additional Points
- Longest up front (pulling, not broken away) – 5 pts
- Stop sign/Red light breakaway (minus 5 pts)
- Rubbing on someone’s rear wheel (minus 5 pts) ‘cough, Adrian, cough’
Rather than going out fast in the beginning, it seemed all 8 of us were setting up for the points on this ride. It was definitely not our fastest pace going out through Anteater, but it was still a good clip.
On NPC, I believe Mitchell took the lead initially with all of us going at a fairly good pace. After the first light, Shannon decided it was time to pick the pace up, and some of us decided to join. Of course, trying to ride his wheel up hill is not necessarily a smart thing to do, so others started to drop off. I managed to stay on for a bit longer, but he busted it before the underpass and got the win. I was 2nd and Adrian 3rd.
I was able to get behind him (or he let me) as we came out from under the 73 freeway, and I even got up front for a bit with him in tow. As expected, he kept the pressure up and passed me after a while. I tried to hang on, but after looking back and seeing no one on my draft, decided it wasn't worth it to keep up and dropped before the crest. Shannon gets the win here with me in 2nd again and Adrian in 3rd.
Now we were all suppose to re-group at the top, so Shannon and I were unclipped waiting after the San Joaquin intersection as promised. When the others started to roll up, all but Adrian stopped or slowed down where Adrian got a pretty sizable lead as a result. This will haunt him though in the next point section based on the judges' evaluation...keep reading.
On Pelican, I led up the hill and Shannon led on the way down but we were still a good distance behind Adrian. Once we started going up on the first hill, I passed Shannon to take the lead and out of nowhere, Seon comes by me and passes with some pretty serious authority. Nice! I was able to jump on his wheel and on the following descent, Shannon and I passed him closing on Adrian fast. At the crest (and point section of the road), Shannon was right beside Adrian and me just a little behind with Seon following just behind us. Based on the judges evaluation of the tape at NPC, the decision was to back out Adrian's lead that he gained when advancing at the mandatory regroup point. As a result, Shannon gets the win, I was 2nd, and Seon 3rd. I can't argue with the judges.
Adrian had managed to get up front again on the downhill, and was pushing the pace pretty hard. On the right turn to PCH, he and Shannon broke away for a little bit with Shannon ultimately taking the front. Although there was no point section here, I didn't want to drop off, so I sprinted to get back on their wheel and pretty much spent a boat load of energy doing so. I thought I'd be done for the rest of the ride.
Everyone else caught up by the time we got to Poppy, and we rode through CDM together with Adrian leading the group throughout. Once we got on PCH, he and some others were keeping the pace up and everyone honest. On the bike trail, Adrian had started it out but Shannon got up front and pulled us through the trailer section.
Once we got on Back Bay drive, Shannon, Adrian and Mitchell started to pick up the pace and gap the others, so I came around from behind Seon to join them. For the sprint, Shannon lead us out and Adrian attacked near the end where I was able to get behind him just as we came up on the intersection. There was a car making a U-turn at the bottom of San Joaquin, so we had to check up a little as we were coming towards the intersection. Nonetheless, Adrian got the win, me 2nd, and Shannon 3rd.
After that section, I got around Adrian and started the first pull...or so I thought. I had a pretty good rhythm going and didn't realized until after looking back that Shannon and Adrian weren't in my draft. Eventually, Shannon closed the gap with Adrian and Mitchell (I think) in tow. Both Adrian and Shannon had explosive pulls after and I did all I could just to not get dropped. We were bouncing off 30 mph for like 4 miles straight, so it was mad intense. Adrian took the 2nd to the last pull, but I wasn't going to come around too early and waited until the last bend before the hill to the top. Once I got around, I thought these guys were going to contest to the top, but I got this one with I believe Shannon 2nd and Adrian 3rd.
I kept going and the 2 others caught up and Adrian eventually passed me before going under Jamboree. As usual, he took the turn underneath pretty fast and gapped for a little, but I closed it before the bridge. Adrian led the rest of the way, but after passing a pedestrian, I decided to go ahead and break for CA for the win. Shannon got 2nd and Adrian 3rd.
The light to go across CA came pretty quickly, and Shannon got the jump and made it through the first light leaving Adrian and I behind. Neither of us wanted to lose points at that light. HA HA. When it turned green, I got ahead first and was passed by Adrian shortly after. Then, I came around him and was able to break away. Shannon was too far ahead so he got first, me 2nd, and Adrian 3rd.
I did manage to run into Shannon at the light on Bison, and although I tried to tell him that Adrian is going to set the light up for a pass, the light turned green and Adrian was off sprinting past us. We tried to contest after the stop sign, but a car had left also making it hard to do anything. Adrian got this one, me 2nd (by going to the left of the car) and Shannon 3rd.
For the most time up front points, I'm going to go ahead and reward this to Adrian. He was definitely up pushing the pace the most (well, maybe not on the hills) but everywhere else.
Here's how the points broke down:
Great interval training based on this point system. We'll have to try it out again with more people out there. Still managed 20.7 average with 21.2 moving. Animals!
Thanks for the workout!
Today's ride involved our regular NPC Back Bay loop, but certain sections were setup for points to make it interesting. Here was the route and the rules:
Route – Anteater > NPC > Pelican (down) > NPC > PCH > Poppy > Ocean > Avocado > PCH > Bayside > Bike Trail > Back Bay >Bike trail to University > CA
Point system
1st – 5
2nd – 4
3rd- - 3
Point Sections
- First to 73 underpass entrance on NPC
- NPC Crest (before San Joaquin)
- Last crest on Pelican before hitting NPC again
- On Back Bay at San Joaquin intersection
- Top of Back Bay
- University Bike Trail to CA light
- Top of CA (before Bison)
- To BRCM Gate (safely)
Additional Points
- Longest up front (pulling, not broken away) – 5 pts
- Stop sign/Red light breakaway (minus 5 pts)
- Rubbing on someone’s rear wheel (minus 5 pts) ‘cough, Adrian, cough’
Rather than going out fast in the beginning, it seemed all 8 of us were setting up for the points on this ride. It was definitely not our fastest pace going out through Anteater, but it was still a good clip.
On NPC, I believe Mitchell took the lead initially with all of us going at a fairly good pace. After the first light, Shannon decided it was time to pick the pace up, and some of us decided to join. Of course, trying to ride his wheel up hill is not necessarily a smart thing to do, so others started to drop off. I managed to stay on for a bit longer, but he busted it before the underpass and got the win. I was 2nd and Adrian 3rd.
I was able to get behind him (or he let me) as we came out from under the 73 freeway, and I even got up front for a bit with him in tow. As expected, he kept the pressure up and passed me after a while. I tried to hang on, but after looking back and seeing no one on my draft, decided it wasn't worth it to keep up and dropped before the crest. Shannon gets the win here with me in 2nd again and Adrian in 3rd.
Now we were all suppose to re-group at the top, so Shannon and I were unclipped waiting after the San Joaquin intersection as promised. When the others started to roll up, all but Adrian stopped or slowed down where Adrian got a pretty sizable lead as a result. This will haunt him though in the next point section based on the judges' evaluation...keep reading.
On Pelican, I led up the hill and Shannon led on the way down but we were still a good distance behind Adrian. Once we started going up on the first hill, I passed Shannon to take the lead and out of nowhere, Seon comes by me and passes with some pretty serious authority. Nice! I was able to jump on his wheel and on the following descent, Shannon and I passed him closing on Adrian fast. At the crest (and point section of the road), Shannon was right beside Adrian and me just a little behind with Seon following just behind us. Based on the judges evaluation of the tape at NPC, the decision was to back out Adrian's lead that he gained when advancing at the mandatory regroup point. As a result, Shannon gets the win, I was 2nd, and Seon 3rd. I can't argue with the judges.
Adrian had managed to get up front again on the downhill, and was pushing the pace pretty hard. On the right turn to PCH, he and Shannon broke away for a little bit with Shannon ultimately taking the front. Although there was no point section here, I didn't want to drop off, so I sprinted to get back on their wheel and pretty much spent a boat load of energy doing so. I thought I'd be done for the rest of the ride.
Everyone else caught up by the time we got to Poppy, and we rode through CDM together with Adrian leading the group throughout. Once we got on PCH, he and some others were keeping the pace up and everyone honest. On the bike trail, Adrian had started it out but Shannon got up front and pulled us through the trailer section.
Once we got on Back Bay drive, Shannon, Adrian and Mitchell started to pick up the pace and gap the others, so I came around from behind Seon to join them. For the sprint, Shannon lead us out and Adrian attacked near the end where I was able to get behind him just as we came up on the intersection. There was a car making a U-turn at the bottom of San Joaquin, so we had to check up a little as we were coming towards the intersection. Nonetheless, Adrian got the win, me 2nd, and Shannon 3rd.
After that section, I got around Adrian and started the first pull...or so I thought. I had a pretty good rhythm going and didn't realized until after looking back that Shannon and Adrian weren't in my draft. Eventually, Shannon closed the gap with Adrian and Mitchell (I think) in tow. Both Adrian and Shannon had explosive pulls after and I did all I could just to not get dropped. We were bouncing off 30 mph for like 4 miles straight, so it was mad intense. Adrian took the 2nd to the last pull, but I wasn't going to come around too early and waited until the last bend before the hill to the top. Once I got around, I thought these guys were going to contest to the top, but I got this one with I believe Shannon 2nd and Adrian 3rd.
I kept going and the 2 others caught up and Adrian eventually passed me before going under Jamboree. As usual, he took the turn underneath pretty fast and gapped for a little, but I closed it before the bridge. Adrian led the rest of the way, but after passing a pedestrian, I decided to go ahead and break for CA for the win. Shannon got 2nd and Adrian 3rd.
The light to go across CA came pretty quickly, and Shannon got the jump and made it through the first light leaving Adrian and I behind. Neither of us wanted to lose points at that light. HA HA. When it turned green, I got ahead first and was passed by Adrian shortly after. Then, I came around him and was able to break away. Shannon was too far ahead so he got first, me 2nd, and Adrian 3rd.
I did manage to run into Shannon at the light on Bison, and although I tried to tell him that Adrian is going to set the light up for a pass, the light turned green and Adrian was off sprinting past us. We tried to contest after the stop sign, but a car had left also making it hard to do anything. Adrian got this one, me 2nd (by going to the left of the car) and Shannon 3rd.
For the most time up front points, I'm going to go ahead and reward this to Adrian. He was definitely up pushing the pace the most (well, maybe not on the hills) but everywhere else.
Here's how the points broke down:
|
Great interval training based on this point system. We'll have to try it out again with more people out there. Still managed 20.7 average with 21.2 moving. Animals!
Thanks for the workout!
Gary's 2011 Fontana Race Report
I had a lot of learning opportunities for this race.
I knew the start was key, but thought I would have a chance to make up some time later in the course if I did not get a good jump at the beginning. This turned out to be a big mistake. There were guys bumping shoulders right at the start, and I wondered why they were being so aggressive to get position when I knew it opened up in a little bit, but I now know why. Even though it opened up, it went into a ST quickly after so my chance of passing was removed.
On the first ST, I got stuck behind a few slower riders. I was able to get around them when we hit the first road section. I started making ground up on another group ahead of me, but just before the next ST section I was questioning if I should red line it and get in front of them before the ST. I again thought that I would have time to make up this time, and again a big mistake. The next section of ST killed my time and any chance of catching the lead group.
The rest of the race I passed riders were I could but did not have a good feeling about my chances of placing in the top since I had so much time to make up. Also, it was not until the last lap that I got comfortable on the down sections. I was slow on the first two laps which cost me a lot of time.
Monday, March 28, 2011
PV's 2011 Fontana Race Report
Yesterday was time to load up the coolers and bikes yet once again and head out to Fontucky for some race action. This would be #3 of the Kenda Cup series, it's always a good one and this time did not disappoint.
I had attempted to pre-ride Friday morning in the rain and got kicked off the course, so Gary and I headed out early yesterday before our race to squeeze in a pre-ride before Cat1 started. The weather was a bit iffy with dark clouds hovering over the hills. We got in our pre-ride and then it started lightly drizzling for the Cat1 start. This would soon stop however and we would wind up with the best conditions I have ever seen for the Fontana National.
Even though we had gotten there early the time flew by and I wound up with no time to warm up, so just lined up in my Category and got ready. The temperature was cool enough to have me shivering while I waited, perfect for racing! The gun went off and as usual it was a super fast and furious start. I am not a sprinter, so I just held my pace and slowly picked people off to the top of the first big climb (water tank). I think we all pretty much held our position from there out amazingly enough.
Trail conditions were awesome with lots of traction and only two puddles I can remember. None of the infamous semi-toxic Fontucky dust was blowing around, so that was good. That stuff can make you cough for a week afterwards!
I picked off at least one more rider in my Cat but was holding steady with another that was unmarked. When we went through the start/finish on the 3rd lap I heard someone say 'Go Stan'. Aha, this might be Stan Potter, I recognize that name....2009 he was 3rd, I took 2nd 27 seconds ahead of him......2010, he was 2nd, I was 3rd, but by almost 3 full minutes behind (Bastard!! :) OK, it's ON!!
I stuck with him and was directly behind him at the top of the big water tank hill climb on lap 4. My plan was to try for a pass on the flat fence section close to the end. He blazed the down but got held up by a small pack of riders so I got close again. Then I got kinda screwed by a tandem bike who pulled over for the group (including Stan) on some singletrack.....I was a little too far behind to catch it. After this was more narrow ST I could not pass and had to wait a little while....finally got around the tandem and gunned it but he wound up 13 seconds ahead for 8th place, I came in 9th.
Oh well, I was really happy to even be in the top 10 in my category as we have some really tough competition this year!!
Great race and good times.
On to the pictures!!
First go this way........then go THAT way........
OK.....ready..........GO!!
Sho-Air MTB captain Tim getting ready to head up National Hill 4 times and spank the competition in the process!
National Hill, go up, up, keep going, when it gets really steep proceed further up, after that continue up.
Some places are steeper than it looks!
OK, this is a really serious race, race face time, who is the idiot in the back smiling and 'hanging loose'?? (it's me :)
chasing my buddy stan around the course
Gary went all Ansel Adams on me and snapped this B/W....... time for the post-race recovery drink!!
Gary's turn!!
Gary going by in a blaze of speed.......go Gary go!!
oh yes, it is always about the beer!!
stats:
next race; this Saturday is Counting Coup/Vision Quest
Gun goes off at 5:30 AM!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Vince's Double Sisters Report
I will refrain from saying "Great Ride", cuz I know someone will call BS on me.
The 2nd time up park almost did me in. My Garmin only collected partial data for elevation since 6.5 hours of riding maxed out it's battery. It had the distance right at 83.5 miles. Based on geoladders it should be around 11-12k of elevation gain with the bulk of the gain in ~53 miles.
Ride Highlights.
-Good to have some new faces to share the pain with. Steve and Craig had no problems with the sisters. From what I could tell, they actually enjoyed it. At one point I asked if they rode with PV so I could determine if they were down with the whole "I ride to smile well others suffer" VQ mentality.
-After we met at the 133 and Park, we started our ascent on Park. Noah took off at a pretty good pace with Shannon in tow. At this point, I was thinking "WTF I have to hit this twice?" His plan worked and I took the bait. I can truly say that Noah kicked my ass up Park the 2nd time and he wasn't even riding it with me (more on this later).
-Noah proceeded his reign of terror up Temple and again Shannon and I took the bait. Steve and Rich did as well. I heard Rich moan when he realized Temple has a few fake peaks.
-On our ascent up bluebird/summit, you guessed it, Noah took off again. Finally, some with brains said "F it, let him go". Someone without brains chased him down anyways only to realize he was soft pedaling. Then he jumps out of the saddle like some faggy Spanish beef eating TOF GC homo and builds a gap. I swear, if looked back at me I was going to throw my shoe at him.
-We came down Nyes and Contador got a flat. The reality that I had to do this twice set in and I told the guys I was going ahead well the "brown man" worked on his flat.
-I went up Nyes at more reasonable pace now that Lookador was fixing his flat.
-I went Solo onto PP to get my 2 Crown Valley side climbs in and then onto the backside PP climbs.
-I ran into the group on my first up on PP from Alicia. We rode up it, then I came back down while they guy's took a break. I headed over to hit Highland. On my way back down I saw the guy's racing up highland with Rich and Verm trying to kill each other. This pumped me up and it was really cool to see how strong they finished. Can't wait to see how it turned out.
-At this point, I had to go up Highland for the 2nd time, PP from Alicia for the 2nd, Nyes 2nd, BB/Summit 2nd, Temple 2nd, and PARK 2nd.
- Nyes, not bad. BB Summit, getting a little squirrely but made it work. Temple, pretty slow, first time I can remember seeing 2.8 mph on my Garmin. I hit a honey stinger gu pack and headed over to Park. I started to cramp just riding on flat road over to Park. Hit a cramp buster and started up Park. Immediately, I regretted the effort I gave chasing Lookador on the first pass up park. I was trying to propel my bike forward using my hips since my legs were done. At one point, I could not reel in a walker and knew I was heading south. I told myself that I needed stay on the pedals to make it count. At this same time I was pretty embarrassed that I was struggling to keep up an old guy walking his dog. I had to be mad at someone besides myself, so I projected my anger on Lookador. I imagined his integrated seat mast breaking off and spearing him in two like a well placed triton. This gave the motivation to make the right hander, but once I had, I was spent. At this point I was so far off the seat and over the saddle I could of licked ground. I was a poster boy for how not to look on a bike. I reminded myself of that girl at the BRCM gym that uses the Stairmaster like some sort cardio walker for people with no spine, hunching over the machine and laying all the weight on the bar in front of her as her legs just shadow boxed the steps producing zero energy. Once I could see the top I willed myself forward and finished the most embarrassing pathetic climb ever.
The end.
7 Sisters for 7 Dudes
Garmin stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/75269824
I woke up this morning and saw the wet roads where I wasn't quite sure how to feel about it. On one hand, I thought it sucked given that I finally decided to give the sisters a try only to have to do so another day. On the other hand, HELL YEAH! After all, I'm a sprinter, remember? After some text messages, e-mails, etc., we finally sorted out that we were ON for today.
The weather on the drive up still gave me reasons to think we may ultimately cancel. There was still some light rain here and there, but upon reach Mission Viejo, it was drier than a powdered baby's bottom. It remained cloudy throughout the day and just cool enough to not let us overheat going up the hills. Wind wasn't bad at all, so it was a good day weather-wise for this feat.
We were fashionably late taking off because 1) people waited out the weather a little, 2) Verm ran late, and 3) I thought I'd drop just a couple more ounces when IHOP opened. Sorry to Vince if he had to wait for us a little as a result since we met with him near the bottom of 133.
Mike's friends Craig and Steve (I'll refer to our Steve as Verm) came out with us, where both were introduced to our non-warmup way of starting a ride. Once we got on the bike trail, Steve and Shannon started it off with a less than casual pace. Shannon kept the pace up throughout Harvard and the rest of the bike trail with Steve and Mike in tow, and Noah and I hung back a little to stay in sight for Craig and Steve.
We all finally started to ride together on Laguna Canyon...at least for a little bit anyway. Shannon likes the climb on the 133, so he towed us up the hill at a good pace ultimately leaving Craig, Steve and Mike Z behind. I was not about to relieve him here since I knew we had a bunch of hills coming up, so a tired Shannon (if that's possible) isn't a bad thing if we ever want to see him again. On the downhill though, we started trading pulls with Steve taking one too where we were hauling ass. Steve's pull worked him a little to where he fell off some, but Noah stayed with us on the downhill the whole time. Woo hoo!
We all met up on 3rd street and decided to start the climbing from there. Holy ish! What idiot city planner thought let's go ahead and build a wall, put a line in the middle, and have people go up and down it? I had to do some serious sidewinder action on the hill only to have the guy in the car waiting at the top look at me funny. What a good way to get the adrenalin going.
Going up Park, Noah charged it like a veteran only to further demoralize us by saying that was his first time up it. Shannon wasn't far behind, and Vince, Steve and I followed. Steve and Vince looked like they mixed it up a little just ahead of me, but I fell off enough not to see how it ended. Everyone else made it up the hill safely after with no one falling. Cool.
On the downhill, people were moving pretty quick where I think Shannon mentioned hitting over 50 mph. Mike Z. also charges the downhill and probably woke a few of the residents with his coyote like howl proclaiming his love for gravity. Noah, as expected, was not too fast on the downhill, but just like Joey on Friends finding his identical hand twin, I think we found Noah's identical downhill twin in the form of Steve. On the way down some hills, Verm's bike was howling for some reason (I'll get to why later), but it may have just been the sound of Noah's or Steve's brakes overheating.
For Temple, Noah led the charge up this muther also with Shannon and Vince behind. I decided I was going to stay on Vince's wheel this time knowing that he'll probably pull back a little given he was doing these gals twice today. I was actually doing okay most of the way up with Steve behind me. As we were nearing the top and rounding the corner, I looked up and saw how it pitched up near the end and thought, screw it where I decided not to stay on Vince's wheel. I kept pedaling but dropped the pace, so Steve came around at that point and followed Vince and the others up. When I started going up where it pitched, it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Thus, I realized it was more of a mental defeat than a physical one.
On the way to Summit, guys were charging down again and Vince actually missed the turn on Temple Terrace having to climb back up a little. That pales, however, in comparison to Verm actually rear-ending a car (mini-van?) at some point on the way down. Does Verm ever not have anything crazy happen on his ride? Of course, at some points during the ride, we would hear what we thought was his brakes or hub howling. He later indicated he felt like it was based on his chain rubbing on his tires. Maybe if he'd stop running into things, his bike may actually work right? Just sayin'.
Summit was a good hill too, but I felt pretty good on this one and was able to stay with Shannon. On Del Mar, I even gave one of the sections a good little sprint up the hill. Shannon seemed to have checked up on Del Mar a little, so I got to finish ahead of him and Steve on this one. Noah and Vince finished ahead of me here though...as expected. Everyone made it up this hill safely as well.
We went down Nyes only to have to come back up again, but Noah got a flat just as we reached the bottom. See what holding the brakes all the way down can do? Props to Reynolds for not melting as hot as his wheel must have been. Vince had taken off to start the hill since he had a long day, and after my brown guy tire services were rejected, I decided to go ahead too with Craig and Steve. Craig led us up the hill for that initial steep section and on the right turn, but Steve and I worked our way around him after a while. Steve was on my wheel for a bit and near the top, we mied it up a little and ended up climbing up to the stop sign at the top side by side. Vince had turned around already by the time we neared the top and we wouldn't see him again until Pacific. The rest of the guys made it up shortly after. 4 hills done! Again...woo hoo!
We made our way down Nyes again and ended up leaving Steve at the light on PCH. We all hung back a little to wait and then rode PCH together after a while. We also went up Crown Valley together and ended up starting the Pacific Island climb together. I thought I'd keep the pace up and went ahead letting Shannon know that I like climbing on my BMC better (mostly because of a couple toe overlap occurences). He said I was doing great, so I charged on. Noah stayed with me so I kept the pace up where I was trying to stretch out the power for the length of the hill. I thought we were alone going up, but more than 3/4 of the way up, Steve passed us both and charged the rest of the hill. With neither of us expecting it, we were not prepared to contest it. Good job, Steve!
There was no stopping at the top, so we kept going down to the other side. We thought we were suppose to pass Pacific, so we met up with Vince down there. However, when we saw Shannon and Verm bust a U-turn there, Noah and I were off. This time, I decided to let hillmaster, Noah, lead while I stay on his rear wheel. We were able to reel in Verm midway up or so, and I stayed with Noah even after a few off the seat charges he made. Near the top, he took one more charge and I'd had enough, so he made it up to where Shannon was waiting for us first. Everyone else followed after and still intact.
Vince went off to do Highland ahead of us, and Steve went his own way after. After we were all together, off we went to Highland. Shannon and Craig got down Pacific first and made the light on the left turn to Highland. The rest of us waited at the light only to have it not turn on us where we made our way through once traffic cleared. I think Noah was starting to feel the hills at this point, so I went ahead and managed to charge the first uphill on the big ring feeling pretty good. I managed to not be too far behind them when they u-turned near the bottom of the other side to start the climb with others with us as well.
We started the final climb together and it seemed like all were content to spin together. Cool. I then heard Verm talking to Shannon about something behind me where I heard Verm say semantics. When I asked what he meant, Shannon said I think Verm wants to sprint to the stop sign. As it had flattened out just a little, I thought why not? Little did we realize that the stop sign was still quite some distance away. Nonetheless, we were off. At any point, I would have been happy to return to spinning if Verm had stopped, but thee was no stop in him. I was starting to feel a cramp at one point, but his continuous charging kept me motivated. We even passed Vince on the way as he cheered us on, which helped even more. In the end, I was able to keep him off by just a little over a bike length to retain the sprinter status. Given Verm's not really a sprinter, I won't classify him as one of my children from that. He does owe me a beer though.
With everyone not too far behind, there was not a lot of rest time and we were off and headed back. I was already spent but Craig wanted to show how fast his standard crank was going down so off I went with him. That almost did me in, and I couldn't help too much after as we were heading back. On the bike trail to Trabuco, all I could was hang on while Shannon did most of the work hauling us back. I did try and chase down one guy with a yellow Amgen jersey who passed us as we were waiting for Craig and Mike Z., but I couldn't do much as else.
Once we got on Trabuco, I started feeling more recovered, and I finally started to help relieve Shannon. I tried to pass at one point, but got caught at a light where once it turned green, Shannon was again leading the group. I figured then I'll try and wait until we get past most of the lights and start the rotation after with the others. I think I started a little early where we were still going uphill a little as I tried to pull for a bit. However, we then started working together at that point taking turns.
Once we got to the actual flat or slight downward grade, the pace got hotter and ultimately started to cook off some of the guys. Verm had started cramping, and although Shannon wanted to get him bak on time, there wasn't much we could do so we kept going. We kept the rotations and once it came back around to me, I was on a mission to close the gap on the rider in the Sho-Air kit ahead of us. We were hitting upwards of 27 and higher at that point, so we closed on him pretty good. Then, Craig came around with the others in tow and he and/or Shannon finally closed it where we passed him. However, he did jump on at that point.
We ended up keeping the pace up to totally cook our own legs before we arrived to the finish. Shannon took one super pull where he was really moving, and I held on to defend. Craig and the Sho-Air guy did get up front another time, but Shannon and I finished the ride up front.
Mike Z. and Craig finished with us and Verm was able to make his way back safely as well. Now as promised, I have to give props to Mike Z. for making it out today and getting these hills done and finishing strong to boot. We were all in awe that he finished all the sisters with us without incident. It's already amazing for anyone to complete a ride like this, but for someone his size, it's just downright astounding. And to keep up in the end...rock star!
For the post ride, Shannon, Mike, Craig and I were graciously hosted by Noah (and Sarah) with a mixture of exotic beers and the pizza we grabbed from BJ's We saw Eddie there and asked him to join, but he had somewhere to go. There's nothing like hanging out and having beers with the guys after. Todd missed this one, so there were no vows exchanged today. However, Noah's comedy show was entertaining as always as was learning more about Craig. :) Thanks for hosting.
Thanks to all who came out today as well. The 7 sisters gang lives!
P.S. As for Vince doing all the sisters twice today, I only have one thing to say: OVERACHIEVER! Just kidding. Props!
I woke up this morning and saw the wet roads where I wasn't quite sure how to feel about it. On one hand, I thought it sucked given that I finally decided to give the sisters a try only to have to do so another day. On the other hand, HELL YEAH! After all, I'm a sprinter, remember? After some text messages, e-mails, etc., we finally sorted out that we were ON for today.
The weather on the drive up still gave me reasons to think we may ultimately cancel. There was still some light rain here and there, but upon reach Mission Viejo, it was drier than a powdered baby's bottom. It remained cloudy throughout the day and just cool enough to not let us overheat going up the hills. Wind wasn't bad at all, so it was a good day weather-wise for this feat.
We were fashionably late taking off because 1) people waited out the weather a little, 2) Verm ran late, and 3) I thought I'd drop just a couple more ounces when IHOP opened. Sorry to Vince if he had to wait for us a little as a result since we met with him near the bottom of 133.
Mike's friends Craig and Steve (I'll refer to our Steve as Verm) came out with us, where both were introduced to our non-warmup way of starting a ride. Once we got on the bike trail, Steve and Shannon started it off with a less than casual pace. Shannon kept the pace up throughout Harvard and the rest of the bike trail with Steve and Mike in tow, and Noah and I hung back a little to stay in sight for Craig and Steve.
We all finally started to ride together on Laguna Canyon...at least for a little bit anyway. Shannon likes the climb on the 133, so he towed us up the hill at a good pace ultimately leaving Craig, Steve and Mike Z behind. I was not about to relieve him here since I knew we had a bunch of hills coming up, so a tired Shannon (if that's possible) isn't a bad thing if we ever want to see him again. On the downhill though, we started trading pulls with Steve taking one too where we were hauling ass. Steve's pull worked him a little to where he fell off some, but Noah stayed with us on the downhill the whole time. Woo hoo!
We all met up on 3rd street and decided to start the climbing from there. Holy ish! What idiot city planner thought let's go ahead and build a wall, put a line in the middle, and have people go up and down it? I had to do some serious sidewinder action on the hill only to have the guy in the car waiting at the top look at me funny. What a good way to get the adrenalin going.
Going up Park, Noah charged it like a veteran only to further demoralize us by saying that was his first time up it. Shannon wasn't far behind, and Vince, Steve and I followed. Steve and Vince looked like they mixed it up a little just ahead of me, but I fell off enough not to see how it ended. Everyone else made it up the hill safely after with no one falling. Cool.
On the downhill, people were moving pretty quick where I think Shannon mentioned hitting over 50 mph. Mike Z. also charges the downhill and probably woke a few of the residents with his coyote like howl proclaiming his love for gravity. Noah, as expected, was not too fast on the downhill, but just like Joey on Friends finding his identical hand twin, I think we found Noah's identical downhill twin in the form of Steve. On the way down some hills, Verm's bike was howling for some reason (I'll get to why later), but it may have just been the sound of Noah's or Steve's brakes overheating.
For Temple, Noah led the charge up this muther also with Shannon and Vince behind. I decided I was going to stay on Vince's wheel this time knowing that he'll probably pull back a little given he was doing these gals twice today. I was actually doing okay most of the way up with Steve behind me. As we were nearing the top and rounding the corner, I looked up and saw how it pitched up near the end and thought, screw it where I decided not to stay on Vince's wheel. I kept pedaling but dropped the pace, so Steve came around at that point and followed Vince and the others up. When I started going up where it pitched, it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Thus, I realized it was more of a mental defeat than a physical one.
On the way to Summit, guys were charging down again and Vince actually missed the turn on Temple Terrace having to climb back up a little. That pales, however, in comparison to Verm actually rear-ending a car (mini-van?) at some point on the way down. Does Verm ever not have anything crazy happen on his ride? Of course, at some points during the ride, we would hear what we thought was his brakes or hub howling. He later indicated he felt like it was based on his chain rubbing on his tires. Maybe if he'd stop running into things, his bike may actually work right? Just sayin'.
Summit was a good hill too, but I felt pretty good on this one and was able to stay with Shannon. On Del Mar, I even gave one of the sections a good little sprint up the hill. Shannon seemed to have checked up on Del Mar a little, so I got to finish ahead of him and Steve on this one. Noah and Vince finished ahead of me here though...as expected. Everyone made it up this hill safely as well.
We went down Nyes only to have to come back up again, but Noah got a flat just as we reached the bottom. See what holding the brakes all the way down can do? Props to Reynolds for not melting as hot as his wheel must have been. Vince had taken off to start the hill since he had a long day, and after my brown guy tire services were rejected, I decided to go ahead too with Craig and Steve. Craig led us up the hill for that initial steep section and on the right turn, but Steve and I worked our way around him after a while. Steve was on my wheel for a bit and near the top, we mied it up a little and ended up climbing up to the stop sign at the top side by side. Vince had turned around already by the time we neared the top and we wouldn't see him again until Pacific. The rest of the guys made it up shortly after. 4 hills done! Again...woo hoo!
We made our way down Nyes again and ended up leaving Steve at the light on PCH. We all hung back a little to wait and then rode PCH together after a while. We also went up Crown Valley together and ended up starting the Pacific Island climb together. I thought I'd keep the pace up and went ahead letting Shannon know that I like climbing on my BMC better (mostly because of a couple toe overlap occurences). He said I was doing great, so I charged on. Noah stayed with me so I kept the pace up where I was trying to stretch out the power for the length of the hill. I thought we were alone going up, but more than 3/4 of the way up, Steve passed us both and charged the rest of the hill. With neither of us expecting it, we were not prepared to contest it. Good job, Steve!
There was no stopping at the top, so we kept going down to the other side. We thought we were suppose to pass Pacific, so we met up with Vince down there. However, when we saw Shannon and Verm bust a U-turn there, Noah and I were off. This time, I decided to let hillmaster, Noah, lead while I stay on his rear wheel. We were able to reel in Verm midway up or so, and I stayed with Noah even after a few off the seat charges he made. Near the top, he took one more charge and I'd had enough, so he made it up to where Shannon was waiting for us first. Everyone else followed after and still intact.
Vince went off to do Highland ahead of us, and Steve went his own way after. After we were all together, off we went to Highland. Shannon and Craig got down Pacific first and made the light on the left turn to Highland. The rest of us waited at the light only to have it not turn on us where we made our way through once traffic cleared. I think Noah was starting to feel the hills at this point, so I went ahead and managed to charge the first uphill on the big ring feeling pretty good. I managed to not be too far behind them when they u-turned near the bottom of the other side to start the climb with others with us as well.
We started the final climb together and it seemed like all were content to spin together. Cool. I then heard Verm talking to Shannon about something behind me where I heard Verm say semantics. When I asked what he meant, Shannon said I think Verm wants to sprint to the stop sign. As it had flattened out just a little, I thought why not? Little did we realize that the stop sign was still quite some distance away. Nonetheless, we were off. At any point, I would have been happy to return to spinning if Verm had stopped, but thee was no stop in him. I was starting to feel a cramp at one point, but his continuous charging kept me motivated. We even passed Vince on the way as he cheered us on, which helped even more. In the end, I was able to keep him off by just a little over a bike length to retain the sprinter status. Given Verm's not really a sprinter, I won't classify him as one of my children from that. He does owe me a beer though.
With everyone not too far behind, there was not a lot of rest time and we were off and headed back. I was already spent but Craig wanted to show how fast his standard crank was going down so off I went with him. That almost did me in, and I couldn't help too much after as we were heading back. On the bike trail to Trabuco, all I could was hang on while Shannon did most of the work hauling us back. I did try and chase down one guy with a yellow Amgen jersey who passed us as we were waiting for Craig and Mike Z., but I couldn't do much as else.
Once we got on Trabuco, I started feeling more recovered, and I finally started to help relieve Shannon. I tried to pass at one point, but got caught at a light where once it turned green, Shannon was again leading the group. I figured then I'll try and wait until we get past most of the lights and start the rotation after with the others. I think I started a little early where we were still going uphill a little as I tried to pull for a bit. However, we then started working together at that point taking turns.
Once we got to the actual flat or slight downward grade, the pace got hotter and ultimately started to cook off some of the guys. Verm had started cramping, and although Shannon wanted to get him bak on time, there wasn't much we could do so we kept going. We kept the rotations and once it came back around to me, I was on a mission to close the gap on the rider in the Sho-Air kit ahead of us. We were hitting upwards of 27 and higher at that point, so we closed on him pretty good. Then, Craig came around with the others in tow and he and/or Shannon finally closed it where we passed him. However, he did jump on at that point.
We ended up keeping the pace up to totally cook our own legs before we arrived to the finish. Shannon took one super pull where he was really moving, and I held on to defend. Craig and the Sho-Air guy did get up front another time, but Shannon and I finished the ride up front.
Mike Z. and Craig finished with us and Verm was able to make his way back safely as well. Now as promised, I have to give props to Mike Z. for making it out today and getting these hills done and finishing strong to boot. We were all in awe that he finished all the sisters with us without incident. It's already amazing for anyone to complete a ride like this, but for someone his size, it's just downright astounding. And to keep up in the end...rock star!
For the post ride, Shannon, Mike, Craig and I were graciously hosted by Noah (and Sarah) with a mixture of exotic beers and the pizza we grabbed from BJ's We saw Eddie there and asked him to join, but he had somewhere to go. There's nothing like hanging out and having beers with the guys after. Todd missed this one, so there were no vows exchanged today. However, Noah's comedy show was entertaining as always as was learning more about Craig. :) Thanks for hosting.
Thanks to all who came out today as well. The 7 sisters gang lives!
P.S. As for Vince doing all the sisters twice today, I only have one thing to say: OVERACHIEVER! Just kidding. Props!
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