BRCM Lunch - BB Bayside Ocean PCH NPC Pelican Vista Bonita Cyn McArhur Loop

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!