Team BRCM at Como Street

GPS stats:  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/88880259

It was a little iffy this morning as to whether or not we would make it out today given the wet roads when I awoke.  However, Verm, Shannon, Gary and I met at the BJ's parking lot in Irvine to decide whether we were going to go out.  It was still a little wet, so we decided we would go ahead and take a chance but if it did rain, we would find cover and/or make our way back.  About a minute after making this decision, it began pouring as we sat in our cars seeing if it would go away.  Fortunately, it didn't last and would not be a factor today. 

Just to be certain we don't freeze again, we opted for arm warmers and a base layer.  Shannon as usual even had a spare base layer for Gary.  McGyver I tell ya.  Verm ended up wearing a wind breaker since he didn't have arm warmers, but did end up taking it off and pocketing it 10 miles into the ride.

We started off waiting for the peloton to join us at one of the intersections on Bryan Ave. after Jamboree.  We started off rolling off and leading the peloton temporarily in the typical mellow warm up pace.  I had warmed Verm that the pace stays pretty mellow until we hit Irvine Blvd off of Jeffrey.  As expected, the peloton surged and caught Verm a little off guard.  I saw him and Gary start to fall back in the pack a little during one of the 30 mph surges, but they recovered and stayed in. 

Once we got to the light to El Toro, we were all pretty much together, but with a lot of people in front of us as usual.  I was again trying to let Verm know that we need to move up in the pack as we go up towards Cooks, or it will be hard to latch on to the front if they get away.  Once we were off from the light, I ended up riding with Shannon on the traffic side of the pack, but we weren't moving up too quickly.  I figured we still had plenty of time given we can work together if we needed to. 

After one of the lights (Santa Margarita?), we started moving forward and the next thing you know, I was in front with Shannon and the rest of the peloton behind me.  I had found a decent cadence and rhythm going up, and somehow managed to get up front.  This was not the plan, but I went with it. 

At the next light, I was glad that another guy decided to push the pace a little where Shannon followed.  I was going to suggest not to chase him down too much and let the peloton chase him down, but when I tried to clip in, I was having problems doing so.  I actually spent a good amount of time trying to clip in where Verm had passed me at one point asking if I was okay.  When I finally clipped in and looked back, I found that I had fallen all the way to the end of the peloton.  This was NOT where I wanted to be.  Plus, I was hoping to be Shannon's wing man on the hill after Cook's. 

I started making my way forward, but by the time we started ascending on the hill, I was still only midway in the pack.  I had passed Verm, who had given me a little cheer as I went by, but I knew I had to keep moving forward and see if I could get in a good group on the way up where if not the front, at least a group that can chase the front. 

I made my way past Todd Blaser, the guy who'd come out and ride with us on occasion, and said hi as I passed.  He was busy working though, so he didn't respond at the time.  As I was nearing the first crest, I saw Shannon just off the back of the front group trying to make up ground.  He was, however, too far away for me, and I was starting to tire based on my rate of ascent where others started to pass me just before the 2nd crest.  Todd was one of them, and at that point did return my "hi."

I turned myself inside out just to pick up the guy behind him where I did manage to get in this 2nd group of about 8-9 guys letting the first group and Shannon get away from us.  Unlike last week, this group of guys were a lot more organized and we were able to work very efficiently performing fast rotations and keeping the pace very high.  If anyone did not get up soon enough, someone from the back would call them out and say get up there.  Fortunately, I didn't have that happen to me, but on one of the small climbs, the guy who just rotated out was still keeping the pace real high where I had a hard time getting in front of him.  Todd hooked me up with a little push, and I ended up standing for a sprint just to get ahead of him.  I didn't feel so bad needing this, as some of the others had skipped a turn at this point.

We kept the pace moving fast, and at one point, we ended up picking Shannon up as he had just missed the front group also, but had been working with one other guy who he says was pretty strong also.  According to Shannon, the other guy was actually doing more of the pulling than he was.  Holy smokes!  Unfortunately, the guy ended up getting a flat leaving Shannon to fend for himself. 

After a few rotation, one of the guys in the group had gotten a flat and all of his team mates stopped to give him a hand.  We just kept going at this point, and made our way to dump hill.  I was still working the rotation at this point, but on dump hill, I decided to just try to keep a good pace and not fall off.  It was a little tough as the guys were still pushing it, but Shannon was behind me still recovering from his solo effort so I couldn't let us drop.  Thankfully, we did manage to hit the crest behind the others and also stayed in the pack on the downhill to Jamboree.  I was trying to make my way up toward the front after one of the guys broke away, but there was just not enough runway.

On Jamboree, everyone still kept mixing it up and it looked like we ran into some of the front guys after Portola.  There were no more breakaways, and it was just everyone going 100+% all the way until we got to Irvine Blvd to where we turned left to regroup at the p-lot. 

Shannon and I waited on his truck with Verm coming in a few minutes later.  At this time, no one was really too interested in doing any extra credit based on how hard the ride was today, and I agreed.  Gary came in much later as he had gotten yet another flat (this time on the front tire) on El Toro that he had fallen off at that point.  Shannon and I didn't see it happen, but Verm had tried to wait for him only to be waved on to go by Gary.  That was one of the reasons why Verm had been toward the back of the pack when I first saw him after trying to clip in.  Gary made it back safely though, but had to do it solo.

Overall, it was a pretty tough ride today.  It was rather windy through some sections and personally, my clip in failure just took me out of trying to see if I could have worked with Shannon to jump on the front pack.  The road conditions were pretty wet in some sections as well, just making it less than ideal like last week.  Average speed dropped over half a  mile per hour, but the intensity was more given I actually had to work up front more during the rotations rather than letting the front group tow me the whole time until the hills.

Verm had to take off right after, but it was nice to finally get to sit, drink and eat with my buddies Shannon and Gary.  It seems like it's been a long time! 

Good ride today...guess we do it again next week?