BAM Cycling Group: 2011 San Diego Gran Fondo

Garmin stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/78497765

For today's ride, we met up at my house in the morning to head out to San Diego together at 5:24 a.m....only 9 minutes after our original designated time. Mike Z. ran a little behind in the morning, but more than made up for it by hauling Mitchell and Todd down to San Diego. Shannon went with me, and Eddie and Verm drove separately due to post ride plans. Verm had a little trouble getting his car started, but it wouldn't be Verm otherwise.   Overall, we managed to make it down to San Diego on time to park in the same area where we were last year.

It felt pretty cold when we got down there, so all of us started out wearing arm warmers. I had the leg warmers on, but stripped it off just before we left since no one else was wearing them. Mike Z. did have a wind breaker vest on, but it was thankfully not the tigger one that we have all grown to know and love. We were all pretty much shivering on India St. where it started, but fortunately we were able to go on the 2nd wave almost a half hour after we lined up.

Although we were all together when we started, Eddie rode off only to have us finally run into him at an intersection probably about 10 miles or so into the ride. Although we were passing a ton of people, our plan was to conserve power until the timed section so we weren't in any hurry to catch him. Verm and Mike Z. must have also missed the memo on conserving power as they were up ahead a lot where the rest of us hoped it wouldn't be detrimental to their timed effort. The rest of us let a couple ladies set the pace for most of the way to SAG at the Olympic Training center. For the most part, I think no one was truest to wanting to conserve power for the climb than Shannon. It was a little odd to see him pull back as much as he did, but it would pay off in the climb (more on this later).

At the SAG, everyone was fueling up and hydrating in preparation for the climb 10 miles away. It was still pretty chilly when we stopped, so I did not strip off my arm warmers...something I'd regret for the climb.

When we headed out to the climb through Telegraph Canyon, this was the most humbling experience of the ride. Here, we were allowing all these other riders to pass us while we held back. Verm and Mike Z. had pulled away and at some point, I found myself in between them and the others behind me. Given that I just wanted to sit in a draft, I caught up to the group Verm and Mike Z. were riding with. We then slowed up our pace and was able to get with the others about a mile away from the Honey Springs (aka the hill climb).

Once we got on Honey Springs, we looked for where the starting timer was at and a few cyclists were spread out across almost blocking us from being able to go over it. One guy had his bike sideways in front of it even...WTF?!?   Fortunately, we were able to go over it and then the "fun" began. Shannon lead and started taking turns with Todd with the plan to charge the initial section as fast as we can since the grade was pretty mild.    All I could do was hang on since this pace was "ridiculous" considering we had over 6 miles of climbing to go. At some point, Shannon's plan to save everything for the climb paid off and he ended up breaking away. Todd and I stayed together for a while, but after 3-4 miles in, I couldn't hold the pace anymore and Todd began to pull away at this point. Animals...the both of them. I continued to pass several riders nonetheless, but I did get passed by 3 riders...all seemingly not in my age group. Near the top, I actually zoned out for a bit looking at my Garmin and the route slip trying to see how much more torture was left. This led me off the road onto the side and almost over the edge, but fortunately I was able to keep the bike upright and go back on the road.

For Verm's climb, his chain dropped 2-3 times so it was a bummer that he couldn't have charged the hill incident free. Todd and I was certain that "an escaped African lion from the San Diego zoo attacked him on the way up where he had to fight it off with a water bottle" would have been a better "Verm-ism." He did come into the following SAG shortly after us, so he must have done really well on the hill as well.

Speaking of the following SAG, this year they changed the route where rather than riding mostly downhill to a nearby SAG after the climb, they decided to add some more climbs and pushed the SAG out 7 miles away. Also absent was going over the Coronado bridge. Based on the changes, the overall elevation gain from this ride jumped to 6100+ feet!

After we regrouped at the SAG (minus Mitchell who we thought ended up taking a different route), we had a major downhill run where everyone was jumping up front pushing the pace. Verm and Eddie were taking some good stabs up front and helped to mix it up with other riders who descended with us. One guy in an Active.com kept passing on the right and definitely represented his jersey very poorly given how dangerous he was.

At the following SAG, we finally found Mitchell who had gotten there ahead of us, so we'll need to see what shortcut he took to get there.   It was not likely that he passed us at the pace we were going. (Edit - come to find he did pass up the following SAG thinking we all skipped it as well and worked HARD with others to get to the next SAG) When we left, Mike Z. was still recovering so the rest of us took off.

Todd showed he still had some climb in him on the first hill after the SAG, but Shannon showed that he still had a ton of power (and pain) to dole out. He began to push a pace at some points where it was just too much for us to hang on. We would eventually catch back up to him but I think he broke away at least 2-3 times before we hit the SAG at the Olympic Training center. We did regroup for the 10 mile stretch leading back to it, and were taking turns keeping the pace up.   Shannon yelled at Mitchell for not taking a turn and preventing the others drafting us from getting up front with only Shannon, Todd and I doing most of the rotations. Finally, Mitchell pushed up along with the other riders, but we did eventually drop most of them after a while with only 1 guy being able to hang on.

As we neared the Olympic Training center, Shannon's monster pedaling took it's toll and the next thing you know, both his feet were at the bottom of the stroke. His crank had come off to end his ride here. Fortunately, it was walking distance to the SAG and he managed to get a ride back in a van from this point. Mitchell offered his "input" based on what happened to Shannon's crank here and at the parking lot not holding back as usual and not pulling any punches as usual. I started asking myself why he would do so given that Shannon is probably responsible for 80% of why his personal stats are what they are. I then realized that Mitchell's extreme connection with bikes must be the cause where he takes it personally (as a dog lover would seeing someone hurt another dog) whenever he sees some sort of mechanical malfunction. That's it!

For the rest of the ride back without Shannon, it was probably the toughest 20 miles in the wind we've ever done. Everyone was pretty much blowing up at different points, but overall, we all helped one another get back and came through for others when we could. Good BRCM teamwork. Speaking of dog lover, on the trail back, some dumbass was letting his dog walk freely and nearly took a couple of us out as we tried to get by. Todd nearly blew a gasket after we passed since not only could we have gotten hurt, the dog could have gotten hurt as well. Despite this, awesome job, everyone, and props to Eddie for being the first one back to get his medal. Stud.

The post ride celebration was fun, but we had a long drive back so there were still plenty of beers left after. I think we were all pretty tired and it was good to just get some refreshments in followed by their pasta lunch. I'll bring the beer out for the L'Etape, but I may not drive out to that one so I can get ridiculously drunk and provide post ride entertainment. Then again, Noah's going so that may not be necessary.

Thank you guys for coming out for this. Good job to everyone! I hope they post the stats soon.

Pics courtesy of Eddie: