The plan today was to do the Como St. ride and then hit up some hill training after, which in hindsight may have been a little overzealous on our part. We (Vince, Gary, and I) were to meet at BJ's restaurant in Irvine, and ride over to the Tustin Market shopping center to start. Gary and I showed up before 7:30 and the weather was cloudy but still dry. Walking over IHOP to use the restroom, however, you can feel just a tiny bit of drizzle. Gary did the same thing after and by the time he got back, that little bit of drizzle got a little heavier and the parking lot was all wet.
S-Gary, being the trooper that he is, was not about to let a little precipitation keep him from getting some training in. He'd been out on some trips over the week and really wanted (in his words...needed) to get a ride in today, so he was going out no matter what. He figured it should lighten up, and with the most recent weather forecast I saw before the ride, I believed him. I had considered calling it a day, but I couldn't let Gary ride alone and lose my wingman status. We did decide that we would not carry all our food and a full 2nd bottle and come back to the cars just in case the weather took a turn for the worse. Good call as it pretty much rained most of the ride, pouring through the canyons and at the end!
7:45 a.m. came and went and still no Vince, and since the ride started a couple blocks away, we made the decision shortly after that Vince was probably not going to make it given the weather conditions. It would have been the smart choice today for sure. After Gary and I had ridden off and looked for where they were starting (ultimately ending up at the Starbucks in the Tustin Market), my phone rings and lo and behold...it was Vince! He had just arrived at BJ's, so we tried to give him directions as to where we were starting from. However, it wasn't much longer after that the group started heading out (just had time for one more restroom break...a side effect from preparing for a 70 miler instead of a 30+).
When we took off, Gary and I were hoping to see Vince en route to the start point and corral him toward us, but we never did. When we went over Jamboree, we realized he probably didn't see us, so I ended up calling him (while riding...is there a law?) and trying to direct him to where he can hopefully intercept. The good thing about this ride is that they do warm up, so the pace was pretty mellow in the beginning where Vince, among the very few, would have a chance to catch us.
After turning left on Jeffrey and right on Irvine Blvd, the pace did start to pick up at some points, especially during the stretch. Gary and I had been toward the back in the beginning, but Gary worked his way up early on. At the stretch before Alton, the pace had increased pretty significantly, and I looked around to see if Vince had caught on, but still no sign of him. Bummer.
On El Toro, the group of 30-40 guys and gals stayed together and I started to recognize a couple people I've ridden with before. One was a tall silver haired guy on a Cervelo P3 that I had ridden with on my first/last Como St. outing where the 2 of us worked together by ourselves somewhere in between the front pack and others behind us. Another was the lady who I ran into on NPC once after leaving the Como St. ride because she flatted. Admittedly, this is the same lady who I observed climbing while holding the drops and giving me the idea to do so. I was curious to see how they'd do today, but both had fallen off during the charge up the hill past Cooks.
Gary was doing well considering he hadn't been riding as much, and he and I were trying to keep the front of the pack in sight through out middle of the ascent past Cooks. When people started to drop off, I found myself up with the first 5 as we hit the first crest after having navigated through a few others. I stayed with them on the small descent, but on the final ascent before the big downhill, their pace was just a little too high and they broke me off just before the crest. I was hoping that the slick roads (as it's been raining the whole time) would slow them down just enough to let me catch them, but they started working together so I was on my own.
On the way down, a couple of guys passed me, and their pace was pretty fast where I wasn't able to jump on. When the next guy passed me, however, I jumped on his draft and we worked together to reel the 2 in. We then took a couple turns with the front 2, but one of them was pulling pretty hard where he ended up breaking off from the rest of us. The 3 of us remaining then started rotating, and I was hoping that dump hill would be where we could catch him again since he never really got too far from us. I actually broke off from the 2 I was with inadvertently on one of the small climbs, but they caught me again and thankfully so.
Just before we got to dump, BAM, my rear tire flatted. I actually didn't know it was me until I could feel the stem bouncing off the pavement. I was up front, so the person behind me also called out to let me know it was me. He took off, but the other guy stayed and offered/insisted to help...one of the reasons I love cycling. I was a little disoriented from the pouring rain we hit through the canyons and my fingers were numb, so I really appreciated it. I was too out of it though to get his name.
I didn't realize how much trouble I would have changing a tire, but doing it soaking wet with heavy runoff made it a challenge. Even getting the tire off was tough as I only had 2 levers (I loaned the 3rd to someone but I forgot to get it back). I did end up being able to get it off eventually, and thankfully, Gary rolled up to offer me a 2nd co2, since the one I used froze up (sticking to my gloves) when I tried to dispense it. I did carry 2, but I had thought the first one got washed away along with one of the levers in the runoff...seriously, right? It turned out, however, that I had stuck the co2 in my pocket, which I didn't realize until after having rolled off.
Vince had rolled up on us on the tail end of when I was fixing my flat, so when we got going, we immediately started going up dump hill. The helper guy got going first, and Vince caught up and started to ride with him. I had gotten so cold from sitting idle and wet that all I wanted to do was charge up the hill to warm up again. I passed the 2, but Vince jumped on. When Vince started to pass, I heard the helper guy call out to us, and when I turned around, I saw Gary stopped below us. I was just able to call out to Vince to let him know, and we all made our way back to Gary.
Gary had similar problems changing his tire in the wet weather, but I did manage to help him get the tire off while helper guy held up Gary's bike as he did mine (thanks again!). Another nice gesture today was a guy with a Revo kit driving had stopped to help and offered his floor pump in lieu of using a co2, which I gave Gary back. 2 other Revo guys rolled up on their bikes shortly after, and according to Vince, they were all together earlier on.
Since I never really had a chance to warm up, I began shivering uncontrollably while Gary was still working on replacing the inner tube. Reminiscent of the San Diego Gran Fondo, I was hurting from the cold and just needed to start moving again. However, today hurt even more given we went out without a base layer, windbreaker, arm or leg warmers...my lighter weight probably didn't help either. The Revo guys were really cool as they offered to let me use arm warmers and subsequently a ride in the car if I wanted it. Since Vince had a raincoat stored in his pocket though, I took him up on letting me use it instead and just took off.
It was a pretty painful 7-8 miles back. I still tried to warm up by taking off hard, but I could never really get too much air in my lungs. Plus, my legs felt like they were frozen solid where they never warmed up anymore even as I tried to push hard to get back. I was on total survival mode all the way back. All I kept thinking was I hope I just make it back.
Arriving at the BJ's parking lot came with a big sigh of relief, but even then, I was light-headed and stumbled to make my way to the front seat of the car after putting my bike on the rack. I hadn't been able to drink but half a bottle for the whole ride, which probably didn't help my cause. It took me some time to change and was just able to do so...barely...after Vince and Gary got back. As I was just eager to just defrost in bed, I guess it was the same for the others since we all just went home from there.
Thanks again to all those who helped me get back today, including Gary and Vince. I owe you guys a beer. The drive home hurt and even a hot shower and a nap under some blankets took a while to take effect to I let me get back up and able to write this report. We'll have to do Como again in better conditions and with all of us together...just not in the rain!
P.S. My Garmin appears to have stopped working altogether, so no stats available.
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