BRCM Lunch - Anteater TurtleRock Shady Ridgeline Bonita Cyn Jamboree Loop

Garmin stats:  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/73251191


14 guys came out today at the beginning; 15 including Verm who we saw going the wrong way on Ridgeline but probably turned around to join the others.  He probably just missed coming out with us as we saw him come down the stairs to head toward the locker room.  However, we weren't sure he was going to make it out, so off we went.


Mitchell came out with some new shoes on his Colnago succumbing to peer pressure with just about everyone else sporting carbon clinchers on the ride.  His Campy Boras tubies are probably just a little much for our training rides.  Surprisingly, he didn't get a Powertap, but he's got 4 other bikes at home to put one on.

Gary and Adrian did a good amount of the pulling in the beginning out to Culver and onto Campus...at least from my vantage point near the back.  Everyone seemed to be doing better sticking together through Anteater and out through Campus.  Nice to see Mike Z., Hiroshi, Marc, Jaffe and Seon keeping up through that point.  After we got on Turtle Rock, the Vince/Todd/Shannon show was on and the rest of us (Noah, Mitchell, Eddie and me) just hung on as best as we could.  The others were not as lucky.

Going up Shady was pretty much the same thing where Noah followed the 3 and me and Eddie were behind him.  I'm not sure if Mitchell was still on by the time we neared the top.

On the downhill, the front three started to gap a little especially as we went on and off the sidewalks and then started to break off on the bike trail.  As the rest of us rounded to go parallel to the 405, I decided I better close the gap and not let them get away or they'll be gone on Ridgeline.  Noah got in my draft and I think cheered me on as we latched back on to the front.  I think Vince was looking back to see if I would sprint at this point, but I knew my place and thought not to try it given the upcoming Ridgeline.  He and Shannon ended up duking it out for a close finish under the bridge.  I'm not sure who took it though.

On Ridgeline, Shannon was up front pulling the rest of us as we were going up on the sidewalk to the left.  Maybe Vince started, but he ended up jumping off the sidewalk going to the right side of the road to go up alone.  Todd eventually jumped to the front on the sidewalk, and Noah ended up going off to join Vince on the other side.  Shannon and I got held up by some trucks turning right on one of the side streets, and only because I asserted did I get ahead and try to give chase to the others.  By this time, Noah was pushing the pace with Vince and Todd in tow.

They never got too far ahead on the 2nd stretch of the Ridgeline, but far enough that once they got to Hillcrest, got away from me.  when I got to Hillcrest, I was hoping that they waited at Summit (like planned) but of course, so I rolled by it thinking they were just in the cul-de-sac.  Once I realized they were gone, I followed with Shannon not too far behind.

I ended up seeing Noah once I saw the bottom of Starcrest, and we ended up closing the gap on him by the time we got to Campus.  It turned out, however, that Noah bumped his knee after ghost shifting on the way up Ridgeline and almost ate it almost taking Vince with him.  I guess payback from Vince and Todd was just to leave him behind.  Plus...it was downhill from there anyway so....

We did see Todd and Vince as they turned left on Culver from Campus, but Noah, Shannon and I got caught at the red.  Once it turned green, the chase to see if we can catch them was on.  Noah was up front first, and then I took over for a bit.  Then, Shannon got up front and in my opinion, lit it up going up that hill.  I tried to take over at one point, but he wasn't having any of that.  Then, I entered survival mode and was going from standing to sitting just to keep up.  Once we saw we were closing on Vince and Todd, he turned it up even more.  I took some turns up front but I'd say he did 80% of the work to where we finally caught Vince/Todd at McArthur.  Noah's knee got the best of him where he dropped off before Shady.

Vince and Todd took off up Ford and I jumped on but Shannon, I think, missed a clip in.  As we were nearing Jamboree with the light red, I checked up a little bit before the turn since there was a motorcycle cop sitting at the light.  Fortunately, our light turned green before we made the turn and Vince and Todd took off.  I sprinted to get on Vince's draft with Todd leading him up the hill and managed to stay on to the top until he sprinted past Todd before the crest.

We all turned onto Bison but had to get around a car also turning left where Todd and I were on the outside, but Vince came around from the other side.  Both of them were still pushing the pace down the hill but the light to the gated community turned yellow as they were approaching.  I wasn't sure if they were going or not, but once I saw they took off, I was a couple ticks behind them and probably didn't clear the light like I'd hoped to.  Vince pointed out that it was probably not the smartest move on my part as we sat at the red light to cross McArthur.  Ironic that 1) they jumped knowing I was there behind them and 2) this coming from Vince.  HA HA.  Just kidding.

Also at the light, they tried to pull a Todd again by telling me they weren't going to sprint any more to the gate.  Fool me once....  As we were approaching the first light going over the 73, I guess Todd was looking back to see where I was at and ended up running over something metallic flatting his rear tire.  Vince and I stopped to help, but Shannon had to get to meeting.  I would have offered to change the tube out, but 1) I didn't want to mess with his new wheels and 2) I sat and held his bike up for the 5 minutes he spent changing his tire.  After waiting a while for him to get the inner tube in properly, I had to ask him what exactly is he a Director of as it obviously isn't related to fast flat repairs.

My Garmin showed a 21.4 average when we were fixing his flat , but it dropped to 21.3 by the time I hit the gate.  I kid about the guys above, but I know my place and am truly humbled just to ride with such talent.

Looks like everyone else made it back safely, but may have taken some detours given we saw them turning on Bison from McArthur.  We really need to think about honoring regroup points.  It may make the workout even that much more interesting.

Thanks for the workout, gents!