BRCM Lunch - Bike Trail Laguna Ridgeline Turtle Rock Shady Bonita Canyon McArthur

GPS stats:  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/87805301

Pretty good turnout today with 12 of us out there.  S-Gary with the lead out down CA and onto the bike trail.  Vince, Todd and Adrian dropped the hammer at some point after one of the underpasses.  I watched from the back as Vin jumped up front and tried valiantly to bridge it, but when the gap kept increasing, I decided I needed to do so.  Unfortunately, no one latched on like I hoped, so it was just the 4 of us in the breakaway group with the rest in the chase group.

There was some sidewalk removed on the bike trail (again) while under construction, and we went through.  I forgot to bring up my rear tire as I jumped back on the trail from the dirt, and I believe this caused my rear tire to flat eventually after we got back on the bike trail on Jamboree.  I hear Vin met the same fate. Thanks to Adrian for helping me change flat while Vince and Todd waited, but rear tire is done.  I'm just glad it survived the rest of the ride.

We didn't see the others roll up on us while changing the flat, so we figured they took a shortcut.   We went ahead through original route planned, and pace was fairly high throughout.  No sprints on the 405 bike trail though, which I'm glad since this meant we could apply more intensity up Ridgeline.

Vince led up Ridgeline originally, and I took the next turn.  with the wind to our back, pace was in the 20's still as we were climbing.  Todd and I alternated again, but by Turtle Rock, I felt a little overcooked.  Todd and Vince broke away, and we ran into David going up the steep section.  David had a good pace going up, and for a while, I wasn't able to pass him.  I finally found my second wind on the last pitch up though and got by before we hit Hillcrest. 

On Turtle Rock going back up, I saw the chase group along with Vince and Todd and thought maybe there's a chance to catch them.  However, by the time I crossed Ridgeline, they were gone and out of sight until I got to the light on Bonita Canyon.  Thankfully, I just made it behind them.  I said hi to S-Gary, but I think he thought I was someone else.

On Bonita Canyon, Todd and Vince were still keeping the pace up, and I sat in the back for a bit to catch my breath.  Once we hit the hill after the 73 underpass, I thought I'd help out too and got up front with Todd asking "where did you come from?"  My obvious response at the moment was "the back." 

After stopping at one of the lights, S-Gary decided to drop the hammer and broke off from the group with Vince and Todd.  If you're not fast clipping in (or miss like me), it would take work to bridge the gap.  Everyone else was spinning up working to try and bridge, and it took a sprint for me just to be able to do so.  Vince kept the heat up with Todd and I behind him all the way to Bison, and it was all I could do just to hang on.  Todd took over on Bison and kept the pressure cooker on high all the way to CA.  In the end, the avg speed was 20.8 with a 21.2 moving.  I'm sure the Vince and Todd were a few ticks faster.

In the lockers, Jaffe told me about his little incident on McArthur where a truck stopped in front of him on the bike trail causing him to lock up the back and actually crashing onto some grass.  No cuts, no bruises (from what I could see), but his rear tire blew out requiring the ol' dollar bill repair to get him back (with Mitchell's help).  We both agreed that the best way to fix it would be to buy a Dogma with Di2. 

Good ride today despite all the incidents.  Thanks for the training!