GPS stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/95926699
Okay, so the title of the ride is Gary's' extended ride, but I'll be the first to say I didn't do it all. Thus, my GPS stats are minus the extra 1000 feet of climbing they did after I headed back to the locker room. I had to get back for a meeting while the rest of the animals kept climbing.
It started out with Gary leading 9 of us out pretty much all the way up to the top of NPC with a perfect pace. No one wanted to get up front given the amount of climbing expected for the day. The group strung out just a little heading up NPC, but a good portion of us made the left turn to Ridge Park together.
On Ridge Park, I was a little surprised Todd and Shannon didn't begin the assault right away. I think they either have been riding a lot the last couple days (be it on actual bike or virtually) and/or they did leg training this morning. Since they didn't, I took the opportunity to go ahead and see if I can stand up for the length of the climb and see what that would feel like. Once I did, Shannon got behind me to pace me up the hill...quite daunting I must say. I didn't know he was behind me right away, but when he encouraged me to keep going with one more bend, I knew I had to keep going. Although I didn't make it to the top off the seat, I did keep pushing where it was enough to get me 2nd spot on Strava for that segment. As Shannon could have passed me easily at any time, my position will be short-lived for sure.
At the top, we decided to head down Vista where we would end up at the bottom hitting the light. Shortly after, Adrian rolled up behind us. I hear he rode up with Todd where at the top, he told Todd we went straight for extra credit. Yet, Adrian turned left at Vista and caught up to us. Nice strategy.
The 3 of us went down toward the first Pelican together with me at the front. As we got closer to the top of the rise on Pelican, Adrian blew by me in the manner we're all accustomed to. We chased him down where he didn't get too far away on the downhill. On the first hill up, I tried to pass him, but he wasn't having it. He kicked on the turbo and started charging up the hill and made it to the top of the first. We got past him right after, but he got up front for one additional exchange.
When we got on NPC after a light, we rode together for the most part. I rode abreast with the 2 at first, but then it was just Shannon and me. I didn't think the pace was too high, but it eventually wore on me where Shannon started to pull away. It's such a helpless feeling to see him pedaling without any reduced cadence or intensity as he pulls away. I tried pedaling both on and off the seat, and the only thing they helped with was not letting him get too far away.
As we approached Vista for a climb, the thought of him having the KOM for that hill on Strava popped in my head. Since he was well over 1 mph ahead of everyone else on the site, I figured my fate was sealed. I did round the corner from NPC not too far behind him, and even got in front for just a little bit. However, as I was trying to find a good gear to be in, I realized I was out of gears and Shannon again rode by me with that consistent intense cadence. Maddening!
I think Shannon must have been either bored or saving some for the rest of his climbing, where near the top, I had closed on him some where we were able to ride down together on Ridge Park. It was a good charge down, and although I wished I could have joined them for more climbing, I was mostly glad I had to get back.
It was a great training ride despite the warm weather, and I expect more of the same tomorrow. Thanks, guys!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
BRCM Lunch - NPC Pelican PCH Ocean and BB the Fast Way
Strava stats: http://app.strava.com/rides/830316
Garmin Connect: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/95521267
Finally, a good sized group came out again today with 10 of us out there. I guess when Shannon sends an invite, people come out. I see how it is. HA HA.
Hiroshi, Steve and Jaffe (I think) were the ones to lead us out on E. Peltason, but we got split up at a light on Anteater since Jaffe's chain dropped where Todd, Shannon and Verm got away from us. I thought we'd have time to catch up to them before NPC, but they just caught the green light while the rest of us got stopped. Good thing Shannon set a regroup point at the top of Pelican. We didn't see them until then.
Going up NPC, Hiroshi took an initial charge up the hill, but Mitchell and I got by him before the 2nd light. I don't know if it was just me, but the wind was beating me up pretty good. Mitchell was behind me the whole time, and he seemed to feel the same way when we got to the top.
At the regroup point on Pelican, we all took off together and Shannon led everyone down the hill. Todd was going to jump up front on the uphill, but I had come from the 5th back to take a stab up front since this was one of my favorite rollers. Todd eventually relieved me and led us down toward PCH.
On PCH, the pace got a little intense heading toward CDM where after a pull, I was barely able to get back and stay in the draft. Todd and Shannon kept the pace up and everyone honest until we got to Poppy for our little neighborhood detour.
Once we were getting back on PCH, we saw Hiroshi and Vin where I guess they took a detour. We tried to give chase once the light turned green from Avocado, but they ended up turning right on Jamboree while we went straight toward Bayside. Shannon wanted to do the full Back Bay and had also asked to do rotations on Back Bay (gate-to-gate) to see if we can take top honors on Strava.
Verm led everyone to Back Bay originally at a good pace where Shannon (about 5th or 6th back) didn't feel the need to move up front right away. I was behind him waiting as was Todd and Eddie.
As we were nearing San Joaquin, Shannon turned the screws and the pace got extremely hot. Eddie and Mitchell took some stabs up front after San Joaquin, but then the rotations trimmed down to just Shannon, Todd and me. Everyone was still hanging on though, which was awesome considering we pushed to keep the pace up and for 2 miles reaching averages of 29+ and 30+. There was one point I was trying to get by Shannon to take a pull, and I couldn't get around him for a while due to the pace. Verm was sitting in the #4 spot letting the 3 of us work together, but jumped to the front for the final lead out. As we were coming to the end of Back Bay, I went ahead and sprinted to the top to make sure we get top honors on Strava. So guess what? We did it: http://app.strava.com/segments/629775. 28.7 mph average from gate-to-gate. Damn, Gina! Awesome team effort!
You'd think after this we'd take it easy and roll for the rest of the ride. We still pushed the pace on the bike trail en route to CA. Even on CA, we charged up the hill as best we could despite the wind. Seon made the first attack, but I got by after a while with Steve in tow and just leaned into the headwind. It wasn't the best time going up it, but good enough.
Great workout today, gents!
Garmin Connect: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/95521267
Finally, a good sized group came out again today with 10 of us out there. I guess when Shannon sends an invite, people come out. I see how it is. HA HA.
Hiroshi, Steve and Jaffe (I think) were the ones to lead us out on E. Peltason, but we got split up at a light on Anteater since Jaffe's chain dropped where Todd, Shannon and Verm got away from us. I thought we'd have time to catch up to them before NPC, but they just caught the green light while the rest of us got stopped. Good thing Shannon set a regroup point at the top of Pelican. We didn't see them until then.
Going up NPC, Hiroshi took an initial charge up the hill, but Mitchell and I got by him before the 2nd light. I don't know if it was just me, but the wind was beating me up pretty good. Mitchell was behind me the whole time, and he seemed to feel the same way when we got to the top.
At the regroup point on Pelican, we all took off together and Shannon led everyone down the hill. Todd was going to jump up front on the uphill, but I had come from the 5th back to take a stab up front since this was one of my favorite rollers. Todd eventually relieved me and led us down toward PCH.
On PCH, the pace got a little intense heading toward CDM where after a pull, I was barely able to get back and stay in the draft. Todd and Shannon kept the pace up and everyone honest until we got to Poppy for our little neighborhood detour.
Once we were getting back on PCH, we saw Hiroshi and Vin where I guess they took a detour. We tried to give chase once the light turned green from Avocado, but they ended up turning right on Jamboree while we went straight toward Bayside. Shannon wanted to do the full Back Bay and had also asked to do rotations on Back Bay (gate-to-gate) to see if we can take top honors on Strava.
Verm led everyone to Back Bay originally at a good pace where Shannon (about 5th or 6th back) didn't feel the need to move up front right away. I was behind him waiting as was Todd and Eddie.
As we were nearing San Joaquin, Shannon turned the screws and the pace got extremely hot. Eddie and Mitchell took some stabs up front after San Joaquin, but then the rotations trimmed down to just Shannon, Todd and me. Everyone was still hanging on though, which was awesome considering we pushed to keep the pace up and for 2 miles reaching averages of 29+ and 30+. There was one point I was trying to get by Shannon to take a pull, and I couldn't get around him for a while due to the pace. Verm was sitting in the #4 spot letting the 3 of us work together, but jumped to the front for the final lead out. As we were coming to the end of Back Bay, I went ahead and sprinted to the top to make sure we get top honors on Strava. So guess what? We did it: http://app.strava.com/segments/629775. 28.7 mph average from gate-to-gate. Damn, Gina! Awesome team effort!
You'd think after this we'd take it easy and roll for the rest of the ride. We still pushed the pace on the bike trail en route to CA. Even on CA, we charged up the hill as best we could despite the wind. Seon made the first attack, but I got by after a while with Steve in tow and just leaned into the headwind. It wasn't the best time going up it, but good enough.
Great workout today, gents!
Sunday, June 26, 2011
6-26-11 BRCM Mt. Baldy Trainer - GMR, GRR, Baldy Village to Ski Lifts and Back
Shannon's GPS stats (look who's now hooked on Strava): http://app.strava.com/rides/816940
For average human results, click here: http://app.strava.com/rides/816917
For the Garmin connect devoted: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/95097358
For today's training participants, we had Shannon, Noah, Verm, Eddie, Jeremy and Kevin (Noah's buddy) come out to take on Mt. Baldy (again for most). The planned route was the same as the previous one we did with VeloViet last month, but this time there was no roving SAG support. Despite this, we were still able to achieve PRs in some sections over previous ones.
The plan was to meet up at 6 a.m. at the Peet's Coffee at Culver/Portola. Eddie and I were a little worried Jeremy wasn't going to make it on time since he was coming from Long Beach and had to stop by work to pick up his helmet and shoes. However, he arrived shortly after 5:45 a.m., and we were off shortly after. We meet up with Shannon and Verm first, and Noah and Kevin met us shortly after for a caravan to Glendora High School. We made it there shortly before 7 as planned (although I did miss a turn), and were out on the road by 7:13 a.m. after a few last minute bio breaks.
It was a pretty mellow pace starting out as we made our way towards Sierra Madre and onto first part of GMR. We were actually all still together when we made our way past the gate where the start of the first KOM was from L'Etape du CA. I thought the pace was going to pick up after, so when it didn't, I decided to break off and see if I can improve over my previous time...a side effect of having a Strava account. After all, we were out there to train, weren't we?
I was certain that Shannon and Noah were going to blow by me at some point early on. I must have looked back several times expecting to see them coming up behind me. Apparently, I hear only Jeremy charged after me initially, but he may have thought otherwise shortly after since he'd never been up this mountain before. At some point, two thoughts began circulating in my head as I kept looking back and seeing no one following: 1) did something happen to the others or 2) maybe I'm not doing too bad. I did hear a text message come in on my phone at one point where I thought it may be someone telling me something happened. Then I rationalized that if it was an emergency, they would have called instead...so I kept going. You can see how isolation can drive a man crazy, right?
After climbing a few miles and not seeing anyone behind me, I was beginning to think I would hit the end of the KOM section by myself. Then out of nowhere, I hear voices talking behind me and sure enough, Noah and Shannon were making their way to me. Of course, BAM syndrome kicked in where I thought I'd give it a shot and try to keep them at bay at least until the end of the KOM section. However, of all places to be passed with Noah at the front, it had to be on a downhill section right before the final climbs. AAARRGH! (on the inside). HA HA. I did manage to jump on their rear wheel and ride with them up to the KOM section and to where the SAG stop was between GMR and GRR. As a result, I improved over my L'Etape time. Sa-weet! Kevin and Verm followed shortly after, so they weren't too far off the back.
With no sign of Jeremy or Eddie, we decided to go ahead and spin through GRR and hope that they catch up....at least that's what Noah said. Although the pace was moderate, I didn't think it was as slow as it could have been. Shannon had mentioned that the power output through this section was higher than the last time thanks to Noah, and this was substantiated by another PR I received on Strava for this stretch of road. Nevertheless, the 5 of us stayed pretty much together to the village. Shannon did stop to pick up a bar end that had fallen off of Kevin's bike, and I dropped my chain going down the hill leading toward the village, but the two of us rode down together right behind the others.
We stopped at the ranger station to take a little BIO break, and surprisingly, no one needed any additional water at this point. We did start to fuel up at this point in preparation for the torturous climb to come. Kev and Verm decided to roll ahead of us and just as we were about to roll out, Jeremy and Eddie rolled up. This gave me the opportunity to pop a couple Shot Bloks again while Noah and Shannon fueled up a little more also.
The 3 of us decided to go ahead and finish off this hill. Near the start, I somehow managed to get up front passing Shannon where I announced to him and Noah that this was NOT an attack. When Shannon and Noah passed me after, I said "Now THAT'S an attack." I jumped on the rear wheel for a bit, but Vince's #1 fight club rule kept popping up in my head: under no circumstance should you try and stay with Shannon up a hill. Happily, I decided to heed this rule and decided that my own pace would be better. Noah looked like he was going to challenge this rule today, but according to him, Shannon snapped him off after the first switchback.
I was able to make my way past Verm and then Kevin eventually, both suffering the fate of the standard crank but charging nonetheless. Kevin also found out he had a flat at some point, and opted to head back down to the ranger station subsequently as a result. I arrived at the top with Shannon and Noah sitting under some shade taking a well deserved break. Verm followed after to report what happened to Kevin.
Noah was getting ready to go down, but upon finding out that they sold Coke at the little shop at the top, decided to stick around for a little bit. Thanks to Shannon who sprung for our Coke and waters. Ironman Eddie made it up in time to get some water as well. We wondered if Jeremy was going to make it up or opt to turn around, but the guy showed up after a while as well. This was a pretty incredible feat considering his longest ride prior to this was 30 miles. Good job!
Noah and Verm had taken off first to the ranger station and we thought the plan was to regroup there. Eddie and I followed with Shannon hanging back a little to probably make sure Jeremy was okay.
On the switchbacks down, I wasn't feeling too confident on the turns at the time so I let Eddie go ahead of me since he's a good descender. It's always nice to follow someone's lines vs. making up your own. Eddie got a little gap ahead of me for a bit, but I was able to get behind him as we entered the village. Although we didn't see anyone at the ranger station, we ended up waiting for Shannon and Jeremy before heading back up GRR.
Once on GRR, I sprung ahead a bit to get the last "long" hill of the day done. Thankfully, Shannon followed and we got to ride together to see if we can make our way to the other guys. Unlike the switchbacks, I was really enjoying the downhills. Shannon and I were together mostly, but we did run into some guys without helmets riding down together and splitting us up a little bit as we made our way past them. It wasn't long-lived though as we were back together again as we approached the GRR GMR transition.
On GMR, I was really getting comfortable with how my bike was handling where once it headed downhill after the initial climb, I was blazing downhill. Shannon must have given me a little space since I was taking the turns pretty fast and ultimately, I managed to get down to the bottom getting the 2nd best time on Strava on that section (http://app.strava.com/segments/671011). We did see Noah at one point, and I asked him to try and hop on but he didn't hear me until I passed. I was actually trying to make my way to Kevin and Verm, but I didn't see them until we were already on Foothill Dr. where I was able to roll in just behind them as we got back to the school parking lot. Shannon and Noah weren't far behind, and Eddie came along after.
We again wondered if Jeremy would be able to find his way back, and like the trooper that he was, he was back soon enough. Again...impressive outing for his first time out. That was 7400-7600 feet of climbing, bud!
It's always a delight to "liquid carb" replenish with the guys after, and yes, I did indulge in a couple as well. Overall, it was a great day out and a training route Shannon and I discussed we should do more often. Thanks to everyone who made it out today!
For average human results, click here: http://app.strava.com/rides/816917
For the Garmin connect devoted: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/95097358
For today's training participants, we had Shannon, Noah, Verm, Eddie, Jeremy and Kevin (Noah's buddy) come out to take on Mt. Baldy (again for most). The planned route was the same as the previous one we did with VeloViet last month, but this time there was no roving SAG support. Despite this, we were still able to achieve PRs in some sections over previous ones.
The plan was to meet up at 6 a.m. at the Peet's Coffee at Culver/Portola. Eddie and I were a little worried Jeremy wasn't going to make it on time since he was coming from Long Beach and had to stop by work to pick up his helmet and shoes. However, he arrived shortly after 5:45 a.m., and we were off shortly after. We meet up with Shannon and Verm first, and Noah and Kevin met us shortly after for a caravan to Glendora High School. We made it there shortly before 7 as planned (although I did miss a turn), and were out on the road by 7:13 a.m. after a few last minute bio breaks.
It was a pretty mellow pace starting out as we made our way towards Sierra Madre and onto first part of GMR. We were actually all still together when we made our way past the gate where the start of the first KOM was from L'Etape du CA. I thought the pace was going to pick up after, so when it didn't, I decided to break off and see if I can improve over my previous time...a side effect of having a Strava account. After all, we were out there to train, weren't we?
I was certain that Shannon and Noah were going to blow by me at some point early on. I must have looked back several times expecting to see them coming up behind me. Apparently, I hear only Jeremy charged after me initially, but he may have thought otherwise shortly after since he'd never been up this mountain before. At some point, two thoughts began circulating in my head as I kept looking back and seeing no one following: 1) did something happen to the others or 2) maybe I'm not doing too bad. I did hear a text message come in on my phone at one point where I thought it may be someone telling me something happened. Then I rationalized that if it was an emergency, they would have called instead...so I kept going. You can see how isolation can drive a man crazy, right?
After climbing a few miles and not seeing anyone behind me, I was beginning to think I would hit the end of the KOM section by myself. Then out of nowhere, I hear voices talking behind me and sure enough, Noah and Shannon were making their way to me. Of course, BAM syndrome kicked in where I thought I'd give it a shot and try to keep them at bay at least until the end of the KOM section. However, of all places to be passed with Noah at the front, it had to be on a downhill section right before the final climbs. AAARRGH! (on the inside). HA HA. I did manage to jump on their rear wheel and ride with them up to the KOM section and to where the SAG stop was between GMR and GRR. As a result, I improved over my L'Etape time. Sa-weet! Kevin and Verm followed shortly after, so they weren't too far off the back.
With no sign of Jeremy or Eddie, we decided to go ahead and spin through GRR and hope that they catch up....at least that's what Noah said. Although the pace was moderate, I didn't think it was as slow as it could have been. Shannon had mentioned that the power output through this section was higher than the last time thanks to Noah, and this was substantiated by another PR I received on Strava for this stretch of road. Nevertheless, the 5 of us stayed pretty much together to the village. Shannon did stop to pick up a bar end that had fallen off of Kevin's bike, and I dropped my chain going down the hill leading toward the village, but the two of us rode down together right behind the others.
We stopped at the ranger station to take a little BIO break, and surprisingly, no one needed any additional water at this point. We did start to fuel up at this point in preparation for the torturous climb to come. Kev and Verm decided to roll ahead of us and just as we were about to roll out, Jeremy and Eddie rolled up. This gave me the opportunity to pop a couple Shot Bloks again while Noah and Shannon fueled up a little more also.
The 3 of us decided to go ahead and finish off this hill. Near the start, I somehow managed to get up front passing Shannon where I announced to him and Noah that this was NOT an attack. When Shannon and Noah passed me after, I said "Now THAT'S an attack." I jumped on the rear wheel for a bit, but Vince's #1 fight club rule kept popping up in my head: under no circumstance should you try and stay with Shannon up a hill. Happily, I decided to heed this rule and decided that my own pace would be better. Noah looked like he was going to challenge this rule today, but according to him, Shannon snapped him off after the first switchback.
I was able to make my way past Verm and then Kevin eventually, both suffering the fate of the standard crank but charging nonetheless. Kevin also found out he had a flat at some point, and opted to head back down to the ranger station subsequently as a result. I arrived at the top with Shannon and Noah sitting under some shade taking a well deserved break. Verm followed after to report what happened to Kevin.
Noah was getting ready to go down, but upon finding out that they sold Coke at the little shop at the top, decided to stick around for a little bit. Thanks to Shannon who sprung for our Coke and waters. Ironman Eddie made it up in time to get some water as well. We wondered if Jeremy was going to make it up or opt to turn around, but the guy showed up after a while as well. This was a pretty incredible feat considering his longest ride prior to this was 30 miles. Good job!
Noah and Verm had taken off first to the ranger station and we thought the plan was to regroup there. Eddie and I followed with Shannon hanging back a little to probably make sure Jeremy was okay.
On the switchbacks down, I wasn't feeling too confident on the turns at the time so I let Eddie go ahead of me since he's a good descender. It's always nice to follow someone's lines vs. making up your own. Eddie got a little gap ahead of me for a bit, but I was able to get behind him as we entered the village. Although we didn't see anyone at the ranger station, we ended up waiting for Shannon and Jeremy before heading back up GRR.
Once on GRR, I sprung ahead a bit to get the last "long" hill of the day done. Thankfully, Shannon followed and we got to ride together to see if we can make our way to the other guys. Unlike the switchbacks, I was really enjoying the downhills. Shannon and I were together mostly, but we did run into some guys without helmets riding down together and splitting us up a little bit as we made our way past them. It wasn't long-lived though as we were back together again as we approached the GRR GMR transition.
On GMR, I was really getting comfortable with how my bike was handling where once it headed downhill after the initial climb, I was blazing downhill. Shannon must have given me a little space since I was taking the turns pretty fast and ultimately, I managed to get down to the bottom getting the 2nd best time on Strava on that section (http://app.strava.com/segments/671011). We did see Noah at one point, and I asked him to try and hop on but he didn't hear me until I passed. I was actually trying to make my way to Kevin and Verm, but I didn't see them until we were already on Foothill Dr. where I was able to roll in just behind them as we got back to the school parking lot. Shannon and Noah weren't far behind, and Eddie came along after.
We again wondered if Jeremy would be able to find his way back, and like the trooper that he was, he was back soon enough. Again...impressive outing for his first time out. That was 7400-7600 feet of climbing, bud!
It's always a delight to "liquid carb" replenish with the guys after, and yes, I did indulge in a couple as well. Overall, it was a great day out and a training route Shannon and I discussed we should do more often. Thanks to everyone who made it out today!
Friday, June 24, 2011
Early Morning Canyon Training Ride
GPS stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/94518541
The plan was to meet Gary and 5:45 a.m. and roll out to pick up Todd on Olympiad/Jeronimo at 6 a.m. Knowing that these guys are fast out of the gate, I was either going to ride from home or find a place where I can get a little warm up before picking Gary up at Antonio/Oso. Since there wasn't enough light, I ended up starting from Antonio/Crown Valley. I left a little too early though and ended up waiting a little for Gary (who was on time) where my HR dropped back down to 74 bpm. Sure enough, my HR was up to 160 within minutes of taking off. Damn that Gary!
Todd arrived just on time too, and soon enough, we were off. The planned route was to go up Vista del Lago off the bat, which is a pretty decent climb, and the alpha male syndrome we all shared had Todd charging up the hill. I tried to give it a little run near the top, but he wasn't having any of it so early in the morning.
We made our way to Trabuco all taking turns to keep the pace up. As we got on Irvine Blvd and making our way past Alton, we were nearing my favorite section where it's just fun to open it up. Just as we were getting ready to do so, Gary gets a flat. Lucky for him brown guy services were available today. After we failed the first attempt to fix it (not brown guy services fault), we were able to get it fixed with another spare. However, this would be where we would only have one more spare left among us and no more CO2. Todd did have a pump though.
2 guys passed us while we were changing the flat, and once we got going, I was hoping to chase them down and be able to mix it up. Either they hauled ass after they passed us or they turned somewhere, because as we headed down Irvine Blvd, we didn't see them anymore. I'm thinking it's the latter since we were moving at a pretty good clip throughout.
We made our way to Jamboree, and as we were coming up to Portola, I felt like my bike was turning a little slow. I reach down to check the front tire, and wouldn't you know it...soft. It wasn't fully flat, but it was definitely on its way. Since Eddie lived nearby, I was going to try and roll over there by myself and see if I can borrow stuff to get me up and running again. Todd and Gary didn't want to split up, so they ended up coming with me. We rolled pretty slowly over to Eddie's since I was almost riding on rim, but we made it without further incident.
I guess Eddie had overslept where he was intending to swim in the morning, so when his son woke up him after we knocked on the door, he came out looking like he was still half asleep. Nonetheless, he was able to loan us a couple tubes (1 for repair and another for spare) and a CO2 along with letting us use his pump. We tried to get him to come out and join us, but it was good enough just to have him help me get back on the road again. Thanks, Eddie!
As we made our way back to Jamboree, Todd gave us his general disclaimer where if we end up getting split up, we would regroup at the top of Dump hill. My plan thereon was to just try to stay on his wheel going up Jamboree and dump hill. Pretty ambitious, I know, but I just went into Como/crit mode mentally and managed to hang on. Just like Vista Del Lago, I showed him a wheel on Jamboree but he didn't have any of it. He did gap me a few feet as he sprinted to the top of Dump, but I don't think I did too bad. Gary wasn't too far behind once we got to the top, so we just rolled once he passed us.
We started alternating through the canyon and managed to keep a 20 mile per average throughout (per Strava...are you guys on this yet?). On the last hill before Cooks, Todd took the lead again and I was more than happy to just follow and stay on his wheel. The guy's a beast, so doing so is great training for Como. On the 2nd crest, I took the front with a sprint and pulled us over it. Todd and I took turns on the descent and peaked at just over 46 mph.
It was more of a BAM pace going down Marguerite and back onto Olympiad. Everyone was still keeping the pace up throughout with some charges on some of the climbs up Olympiad. Todd turned off there, and Gary and I made our way back to Oso and Crown Valley with no further incidents.
Great morning trainer with the guys despite the flats. My guilt from the Chinese food I had yesterday was pretty much gone after I got back. Thanks for the workout, gents!
The plan was to meet Gary and 5:45 a.m. and roll out to pick up Todd on Olympiad/Jeronimo at 6 a.m. Knowing that these guys are fast out of the gate, I was either going to ride from home or find a place where I can get a little warm up before picking Gary up at Antonio/Oso. Since there wasn't enough light, I ended up starting from Antonio/Crown Valley. I left a little too early though and ended up waiting a little for Gary (who was on time) where my HR dropped back down to 74 bpm. Sure enough, my HR was up to 160 within minutes of taking off. Damn that Gary!
Todd arrived just on time too, and soon enough, we were off. The planned route was to go up Vista del Lago off the bat, which is a pretty decent climb, and the alpha male syndrome we all shared had Todd charging up the hill. I tried to give it a little run near the top, but he wasn't having any of it so early in the morning.
We made our way to Trabuco all taking turns to keep the pace up. As we got on Irvine Blvd and making our way past Alton, we were nearing my favorite section where it's just fun to open it up. Just as we were getting ready to do so, Gary gets a flat. Lucky for him brown guy services were available today. After we failed the first attempt to fix it (not brown guy services fault), we were able to get it fixed with another spare. However, this would be where we would only have one more spare left among us and no more CO2. Todd did have a pump though.
2 guys passed us while we were changing the flat, and once we got going, I was hoping to chase them down and be able to mix it up. Either they hauled ass after they passed us or they turned somewhere, because as we headed down Irvine Blvd, we didn't see them anymore. I'm thinking it's the latter since we were moving at a pretty good clip throughout.
We made our way to Jamboree, and as we were coming up to Portola, I felt like my bike was turning a little slow. I reach down to check the front tire, and wouldn't you know it...soft. It wasn't fully flat, but it was definitely on its way. Since Eddie lived nearby, I was going to try and roll over there by myself and see if I can borrow stuff to get me up and running again. Todd and Gary didn't want to split up, so they ended up coming with me. We rolled pretty slowly over to Eddie's since I was almost riding on rim, but we made it without further incident.
I guess Eddie had overslept where he was intending to swim in the morning, so when his son woke up him after we knocked on the door, he came out looking like he was still half asleep. Nonetheless, he was able to loan us a couple tubes (1 for repair and another for spare) and a CO2 along with letting us use his pump. We tried to get him to come out and join us, but it was good enough just to have him help me get back on the road again. Thanks, Eddie!
As we made our way back to Jamboree, Todd gave us his general disclaimer where if we end up getting split up, we would regroup at the top of Dump hill. My plan thereon was to just try to stay on his wheel going up Jamboree and dump hill. Pretty ambitious, I know, but I just went into Como/crit mode mentally and managed to hang on. Just like Vista Del Lago, I showed him a wheel on Jamboree but he didn't have any of it. He did gap me a few feet as he sprinted to the top of Dump, but I don't think I did too bad. Gary wasn't too far behind once we got to the top, so we just rolled once he passed us.
We started alternating through the canyon and managed to keep a 20 mile per average throughout (per Strava...are you guys on this yet?). On the last hill before Cooks, Todd took the lead again and I was more than happy to just follow and stay on his wheel. The guy's a beast, so doing so is great training for Como. On the 2nd crest, I took the front with a sprint and pulled us over it. Todd and I took turns on the descent and peaked at just over 46 mph.
It was more of a BAM pace going down Marguerite and back onto Olympiad. Everyone was still keeping the pace up throughout with some charges on some of the climbs up Olympiad. Todd turned off there, and Gary and I made our way back to Oso and Crown Valley with no further incidents.
Great morning trainer with the guys despite the flats. My guilt from the Chinese food I had yesterday was pretty much gone after I got back. Thanks for the workout, gents!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
BRCM Lunch - Turtle Rock Starcrest Shady Summit Bonita Cyn Jamboree
GPS stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/94184592
I wasn't expecting anyone to come out today given no one chimed in on my broadcast soliciting a ride. However, Noah, Jaffe, and Adrian came out today, as did Robert, so I was glad not to be alone. So much for taking it easy though. Peter and Jeremy were out there too, but they went and did their own thing.
Adrian and I led us out originally through E. Peltason, but somewhere in the middle of Anteater, Noah got up front and turned up the heat pretty quickly where only Adrian and I were able to hang on. We ended up making the light on Bonita Canyon as a result, and you could hear Adrian swearing at Noah behind me.
On the downhill toward Campus, Adrian turned it on a bit but we were able to reel him in by the time we got to the bottom. On Turtle Rock though, I guess he got a little overcooked, and just waved Noah and I by saying I guess I'll just meet you guys somewhere.
Noah and I traded spots heading toward Starcrest, but once we got on Starcrest, I was expecting him to snap me off pretty quickly. Instead, he was trying a different tactic today where he'd sit on my wheel for a good portion of the climb letting me think I'm doing okay only to snap me off near the very top to keep me honest. It worked and my humility remains intact.
He did the same thing to me on Shady as well, and what's interesting to me is how it's almost like what happens as we crest the hill after Cooks on the Como Street ride. In both cases, it's hard for me to defend. Maybe I need to figure out better tactics too.
My calves were hinting that they were going to blow up during the climbs and even as we're riding through Shady. Noah offered to let me off with a shorter route at the bottom of Shady, but I couldn't do it. People would talk and it's not how we do it. HA HA Plus, I had to keep going to keep Adrian honest as well. Adrian did end up catching us at the bottom of Shady on the left turn to Bonita, so I had to do the whole route.
On Summit, Noah decided to go ahead and lead this time, and I did my best to follow. He had created a pretty sizable gap midway up, but I was able to close it somewhat near the top when it flattened out some near the gate. Adrian had waved his goodbye early on in the hill again, so that was the last we saw him.
Noah and I traded pulls going through Bonita Canyon, but what he may not have known was that for the Jamboree hill (if a 2% grade half miler can even be called that), I hold the record on Strava for that section with a 23 mph average. Thus, I intended to try to match or beat it today and took off sprinting once we got to the base. My calves felt like they were going to blow up as we were climbing, but I had to keep going nonetheless. In the end, I did break away from an unprepared Noah and managed a 22.1 average. He warned me in the locker room after that he'll be ready next time. Maybe we won't go up that hill anymore during lunch.
Great workout today when I wasn't expecting it. Thanks to those who came out!
I wasn't expecting anyone to come out today given no one chimed in on my broadcast soliciting a ride. However, Noah, Jaffe, and Adrian came out today, as did Robert, so I was glad not to be alone. So much for taking it easy though. Peter and Jeremy were out there too, but they went and did their own thing.
Adrian and I led us out originally through E. Peltason, but somewhere in the middle of Anteater, Noah got up front and turned up the heat pretty quickly where only Adrian and I were able to hang on. We ended up making the light on Bonita Canyon as a result, and you could hear Adrian swearing at Noah behind me.
On the downhill toward Campus, Adrian turned it on a bit but we were able to reel him in by the time we got to the bottom. On Turtle Rock though, I guess he got a little overcooked, and just waved Noah and I by saying I guess I'll just meet you guys somewhere.
Noah and I traded spots heading toward Starcrest, but once we got on Starcrest, I was expecting him to snap me off pretty quickly. Instead, he was trying a different tactic today where he'd sit on my wheel for a good portion of the climb letting me think I'm doing okay only to snap me off near the very top to keep me honest. It worked and my humility remains intact.
He did the same thing to me on Shady as well, and what's interesting to me is how it's almost like what happens as we crest the hill after Cooks on the Como Street ride. In both cases, it's hard for me to defend. Maybe I need to figure out better tactics too.
My calves were hinting that they were going to blow up during the climbs and even as we're riding through Shady. Noah offered to let me off with a shorter route at the bottom of Shady, but I couldn't do it. People would talk and it's not how we do it. HA HA Plus, I had to keep going to keep Adrian honest as well. Adrian did end up catching us at the bottom of Shady on the left turn to Bonita, so I had to do the whole route.
On Summit, Noah decided to go ahead and lead this time, and I did my best to follow. He had created a pretty sizable gap midway up, but I was able to close it somewhat near the top when it flattened out some near the gate. Adrian had waved his goodbye early on in the hill again, so that was the last we saw him.
Noah and I traded pulls going through Bonita Canyon, but what he may not have known was that for the Jamboree hill (if a 2% grade half miler can even be called that), I hold the record on Strava for that section with a 23 mph average. Thus, I intended to try to match or beat it today and took off sprinting once we got to the base. My calves felt like they were going to blow up as we were climbing, but I had to keep going nonetheless. In the end, I did break away from an unprepared Noah and managed a 22.1 average. He warned me in the locker room after that he'll be ready next time. Maybe we won't go up that hill anymore during lunch.
Great workout today when I wasn't expecting it. Thanks to those who came out!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Lunch Ride - BB San Joaquin Ridge Park and Back with Jamboree Finish
GPS stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/93982085
Either cycling interest is waning or scheduling makes it difficult during this season, but on this first day of summer, only 4 of us showed up to get some training in today. I figure either we make things more competitive, or I start talking more trash. Both typically works in getting a reaction from this Type A team.
I'm glad Mitch, Vin and Eddie made it out today. Eddie brought out his TT bike, so we opted for the BB route to take advantage of his wind cheating abilities. We still achieved more almost 1.5K vertical despite this.
Mitchell and I led us out first, but once we got on BB, Eddie and Vin got in the rotation and helped keep the pace up.
On San Joaquin, we all pretty much stayed together until we got to about Spyglass. There, my unspoken agenda was to bounce in and out of redline as much as possible and take no prisoners today, so I broke away after that road.
I did hit the red light to turn left on Ridge Park where I thought the others would catch up to me. When it turned green, I looked around and didn't see anyone, so I took off. When I got near Vista, I turned around and didn't notice anyone behind me yet, so I took advantage and got some extra credit in.
When I came back up to Vista, I still didn't see anyone, so I went ahead down the hill. About halfway down, I see Mitchell near the bottom, and I was able to run into both him and Eddie at the Ridge Park light on NPC.
When we made our way back onto San Joaquin, my unspoken agenda came into play again, but Mitchell and Eddie weren't having any of it. They were on me like bees on honey where it was impossible to shake them off. I tried again after we crossed McArthur, even sprinting at one point, and no luck...they had their game faces on.
We did observe an attractive young lady who had been running roll her ankle at the stop light where Eddie retrieved her water bottle for her after she dropped it and started crying. I would also have helped, but I was too busy gasping for air and trying to recoup for the return through Back Bay. She ended up finally getting up and walking away, and as usual, Eddie didn't get her number.
Eddie started things off on Back Bay with a pretty serious pull initially while on the aeros, and Mitchell took the 2nd pull keeping the pace in the 27s as well. When I took the following pull, I kicked it up a couple notches, and Mitchell fell victim to my agenda. Eddie, on the other hand, stayed with me and we took a couple turns where by the time we reached the small climb to the top, both of us were pretty blown out. Once he stood, however, I opted to do the same and once again hit redline until I got to the top.
I managed to get across the street ahead of Eddie, so I spun a little until Jamboree. Once on the climb, I charged the hill with what I had left (not a lot), and kept pushing until the left turn to Bison. I thought since the light turned yellow behind me, Eddie wasn't going to catch up anymore, but he ends up catching me on one of the lights before McArthur. Just before the light, he hit a bump on the road that loosened up his handlebar, but he was still able to ride it back. Even with it bent down slightly, I couldn't shake him off over the 73 overpass and up to California, so it looks like Ironman Eddie is back!
Now what no one saw in the Bldg 6 locker room was how I was on the verge of throwing up from the ride. I know it wasn't the puke route, but I had to sit for a while in order to keep from doing so. I guess it was a good training day based on this. Thanks, guys!
Either cycling interest is waning or scheduling makes it difficult during this season, but on this first day of summer, only 4 of us showed up to get some training in today. I figure either we make things more competitive, or I start talking more trash. Both typically works in getting a reaction from this Type A team.
I'm glad Mitch, Vin and Eddie made it out today. Eddie brought out his TT bike, so we opted for the BB route to take advantage of his wind cheating abilities. We still achieved more almost 1.5K vertical despite this.
Mitchell and I led us out first, but once we got on BB, Eddie and Vin got in the rotation and helped keep the pace up.
On San Joaquin, we all pretty much stayed together until we got to about Spyglass. There, my unspoken agenda was to bounce in and out of redline as much as possible and take no prisoners today, so I broke away after that road.
I did hit the red light to turn left on Ridge Park where I thought the others would catch up to me. When it turned green, I looked around and didn't see anyone, so I took off. When I got near Vista, I turned around and didn't notice anyone behind me yet, so I took advantage and got some extra credit in.
When I came back up to Vista, I still didn't see anyone, so I went ahead down the hill. About halfway down, I see Mitchell near the bottom, and I was able to run into both him and Eddie at the Ridge Park light on NPC.
When we made our way back onto San Joaquin, my unspoken agenda came into play again, but Mitchell and Eddie weren't having any of it. They were on me like bees on honey where it was impossible to shake them off. I tried again after we crossed McArthur, even sprinting at one point, and no luck...they had their game faces on.
We did observe an attractive young lady who had been running roll her ankle at the stop light where Eddie retrieved her water bottle for her after she dropped it and started crying. I would also have helped, but I was too busy gasping for air and trying to recoup for the return through Back Bay. She ended up finally getting up and walking away, and as usual, Eddie didn't get her number.
Eddie started things off on Back Bay with a pretty serious pull initially while on the aeros, and Mitchell took the 2nd pull keeping the pace in the 27s as well. When I took the following pull, I kicked it up a couple notches, and Mitchell fell victim to my agenda. Eddie, on the other hand, stayed with me and we took a couple turns where by the time we reached the small climb to the top, both of us were pretty blown out. Once he stood, however, I opted to do the same and once again hit redline until I got to the top.
I managed to get across the street ahead of Eddie, so I spun a little until Jamboree. Once on the climb, I charged the hill with what I had left (not a lot), and kept pushing until the left turn to Bison. I thought since the light turned yellow behind me, Eddie wasn't going to catch up anymore, but he ends up catching me on one of the lights before McArthur. Just before the light, he hit a bump on the road that loosened up his handlebar, but he was still able to ride it back. Even with it bent down slightly, I couldn't shake him off over the 73 overpass and up to California, so it looks like Ironman Eddie is back!
Now what no one saw in the Bldg 6 locker room was how I was on the verge of throwing up from the ride. I know it wasn't the puke route, but I had to sit for a while in order to keep from doing so. I guess it was a good training day based on this. Thanks, guys!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Father's Day Como Street and Extra Credit
Como stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/93567294
Post Como hill trainer stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/93567286
Since today was Father's day, it seemed to give a lot of guys the free pass to come out and ride this morning. Verm, Gary and I got out this morning and saw Todd Blaser there too. We also met Sol Sim, one of the guys Eddie knows who was just in front of Adrian during the crit a few weeks ago. Sol actually came up to Gary and I as we were waiting on Bryan for the peloton. Cool guy and I think he has the same bike as S-Works as Gary.
The best thing about this ride is that there is a warm up. As the group was approaching, we started to roll where I thought we were just going to get swallowed up by the peloton immediately. However, they actually never even rolled up on me until after we hit a light. When we started rolling again, Todd rolled by to say hi and we were able to carry a conversation given the pace was fairly mellow.
When we got to Irvine Boulevard from Jeffrey (where Verm was waiting) to hop on, the pace picked up some but it didn't kick up like it sometimes does probably do to a little drizzle falling near Alton. Verm had made his way toward the front during the ride (as expected) and may even have taken a turn up front at some point. Gary and I sat comfortably in the pack deciding it was too early to be up there.
When we made the left to El Toro, we did start making our way up on the pack but still probably 2/3 back. The pace felt pretty good though and it seemed like there was less people to have to ride around to get in a good position for the climb past Cooks. Once we got past Cooks, the ascent started to pick up some and I started pushing forward. When I passed Verm, he exclaims "Get 'em, Rich!" While somewhat motivating, I also was hoping no one would make an example of me as a result. HA HA.
As I started to climb, I was able to get by Sol and I'm not sure where Todd was at the time, but both of these guys got up and over with me to be in the lead pack. There were a couple attempted breakaways from some on the ascent and slightly after, but they were both reeled back in by the peloton.
Unlike prior rides, the front pack had a lot of riders in it this time. This definitely made it easier to hop on. There was a moment on the ascend others started to pass me, including the lady who gave me the idea to climb on the drops (I passed her back, by the way, so I'll keep my jersey thank you very much) , but it was easy to respond and just latch on. Once the descent started, we were hauling! Having my BMC with the standard crank really came in handy here and made the work to keep up feel less manic. In fact, the only thing that kept me from pushing up front was just because there was so many there.
Eventually, I did get to charge toward the front and ended up getting in a paceline (not the most organized one though) but a paceline nonetheless. After rolling off after Sol, I somehow got pulled in again as we were going towards Irvine Lake. I didn't mind the extra work.
A few guys decided to try and attack there, and at first, I thought we were getting close to dump hill where I didn't want to blow myself up beforehand. I did eventually end up chasing them down and closing the gap for the others.
On the climb up dump, it was still a good pace, but I didn't attack it like the last time. I held a good pace and wanted to save it just in case someone decided to break off hard. Some guys tried again, but there were too many guys there where no one got away. I followed Sol down toward the 261 and as some people decided to push hard after going over the bridge and hitting the roller hill, I pushed too and got up toward the front just behind one other guy as we hit the light at Jamboree.
On Jamboree, people were already calling out that other people were going right away, and I couldn't tell if it was serious or just pretending. Nevertheless, I kept an eye out to see who was going to attack. On the ascent, this was where a few people started to attack, and when one guy busted away, I chased him down and sat on his wheel where he finally let me pass. I expected others to pass me before the crest, but they all pretty much stayed behind me until after the top.
On the downhill, the attacks continued and everyone kept pushing it all the way to the light at Portola. From there, the attacks continued and a full on sprint ensued again. I was blocked in for a bit where I kept looking to get out and when I finally did, the chase was on. I started hammering it after the others, and eventually made my way to the front. I'm not sure if they ended up slowing down at some point, but I wasn't going to turn around and find out. Todd eventually got beside me and we rode up front all the way to Irvine Boulevard, where I had to make a left to meet up with Gary and Steve again.
Overall, it was a great ride and the average speed went up to 22.7 (from 22.4). It definitely felt faster this time around. Gary and Verm came in together shortly after and got to hold off 4 other guys who rolled up on them but never passed. It sounds like they got a great workout also.
Although Verm had to get back, Gary and I decided to do my post Como hill trainer route that I did previously. This included going up Aliso Creek, Highlands, Pac Islands, and NPC giving us over 3K vertical in 52 miles.
We rode out on the bike trail off Bryan and immediately, Gary gets a flat in his front tire again. Fortunately, we were able to get it replaced with no further incidents during the ride.
We made our way to the Irvine bike trail that headed toward Laguna Canyon and jumped in a draft with 3 other guys for a big since we wanted to save some energy for the climbs. When we did pass, however, I guess they didn't want to keep our pace and we were off on our own. We made our way up the 133 and down taking turns and pushing a moderately good pace.
On El Toro, Gary had some good rhythm where I didn't take the front until just before going up on Aliso Creek. Once we started climbing, Gary and I rode side by side standing and pedaling trying to see who'd give up first. We were both climbing for some time going up the hill, and I think we both popped at the same time. Since i had dropped my gears just in time, I was able to pedal ahead with Gary not too far behind.
On Highland, Gary made the right turn from Alicia ahead of me, but stopped to get some nutrition in at the bottom. I only needed a gel, so I kept pedaling while sucking it down and once consumed, I began my off seat training again. My goal was to keep a decent pace but stand all the way up. I was doing pretty good and was able to climb without working too hard when all of a sudden, I see Gary's wheel next to me. There goes the off the seat training...I just need to keep up. When I started to ride beside him again, we were nearing the stop sign at the top when I heard him drop a couple gears seemingly preparing to attack. My kung fu reflex was able to respond where I was able to sprint just ahead of him. The S in S-Gary must stand for Sneaky.
We rode down towards Pac Island and upon turning right, I saw 4 guys in Sho-Air kits (one in white) ahead of me. I thought I'd give them a chase, but as i started to near them, they were able to just keep me off of them. I did pass one of their guys (in white), and was closing on the 3rd guy, but ran out of runway at the top. The other 2 were just a little ahead and kept rolling.
After Gary and I regrouped, we went on Laguna Canyon and started pushing the pace some. We were eventually able to reel in the 4 guys that were ahead of us by the time we got close to downtown Laguna Beach. I was hoping to mix it up with them on PCH, but right after the light on the bottom where the 133 comes in, they opted to turn right toward a coffee shop.
Gary started feeling a little better as we were going out of Laguna Beach, and led us out for a good distance. We then took turns as we headed toward NPC. We were working pretty hard at one point, and I did joke around and say "Back Bay?" No bites.
As we started up NPC, I had wanted to ride with S-Gary again, so we rode abreast as we were heading up. Gary had a good pace, so I just matched it as we were climbing. At one point though, his phone rings where he had to answer it so I went ahead on my own and met him at the top.
When we got going down NPC and Bonita Canyon, Gary was a little tired, so the plan was that I'll just go ahead and keep us at a good pace (20ish) on the bike trail once we got on by the Back Bay opening. I was pulling for a while holding a good speed, and Gary would still roll up to the front and offer pulls to keep our pace up when I guess we were dropping. Since he still had game, I went ahead and started to match and up his pace to about 24 mph or so. I also continued this pace and higher on Harvard on the way back to Bryan back in Irvine. I was still trying to punish my legs from last Thursday's crit outing
As we neared the shopping center where we parked, I hear S-Gary behind me getting ready to charge. I started to charge too and kept asking him to blow up his legs (like I was mine), so he was going for it too. To sprint at the end of today's ride is just what I would expect from S-Gary since he's got so much heart. It's so good to be riding with him again.
Great way to start Father's Day. Everything else is cake after. Thanks, guys!
Post Como hill trainer stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/93567286
Since today was Father's day, it seemed to give a lot of guys the free pass to come out and ride this morning. Verm, Gary and I got out this morning and saw Todd Blaser there too. We also met Sol Sim, one of the guys Eddie knows who was just in front of Adrian during the crit a few weeks ago. Sol actually came up to Gary and I as we were waiting on Bryan for the peloton. Cool guy and I think he has the same bike as S-Works as Gary.
The best thing about this ride is that there is a warm up. As the group was approaching, we started to roll where I thought we were just going to get swallowed up by the peloton immediately. However, they actually never even rolled up on me until after we hit a light. When we started rolling again, Todd rolled by to say hi and we were able to carry a conversation given the pace was fairly mellow.
When we got to Irvine Boulevard from Jeffrey (where Verm was waiting) to hop on, the pace picked up some but it didn't kick up like it sometimes does probably do to a little drizzle falling near Alton. Verm had made his way toward the front during the ride (as expected) and may even have taken a turn up front at some point. Gary and I sat comfortably in the pack deciding it was too early to be up there.
When we made the left to El Toro, we did start making our way up on the pack but still probably 2/3 back. The pace felt pretty good though and it seemed like there was less people to have to ride around to get in a good position for the climb past Cooks. Once we got past Cooks, the ascent started to pick up some and I started pushing forward. When I passed Verm, he exclaims "Get 'em, Rich!" While somewhat motivating, I also was hoping no one would make an example of me as a result. HA HA.
As I started to climb, I was able to get by Sol and I'm not sure where Todd was at the time, but both of these guys got up and over with me to be in the lead pack. There were a couple attempted breakaways from some on the ascent and slightly after, but they were both reeled back in by the peloton.
Unlike prior rides, the front pack had a lot of riders in it this time. This definitely made it easier to hop on. There was a moment on the ascend others started to pass me, including the lady who gave me the idea to climb on the drops (I passed her back, by the way, so I'll keep my jersey thank you very much) , but it was easy to respond and just latch on. Once the descent started, we were hauling! Having my BMC with the standard crank really came in handy here and made the work to keep up feel less manic. In fact, the only thing that kept me from pushing up front was just because there was so many there.
Eventually, I did get to charge toward the front and ended up getting in a paceline (not the most organized one though) but a paceline nonetheless. After rolling off after Sol, I somehow got pulled in again as we were going towards Irvine Lake. I didn't mind the extra work.
A few guys decided to try and attack there, and at first, I thought we were getting close to dump hill where I didn't want to blow myself up beforehand. I did eventually end up chasing them down and closing the gap for the others.
On the climb up dump, it was still a good pace, but I didn't attack it like the last time. I held a good pace and wanted to save it just in case someone decided to break off hard. Some guys tried again, but there were too many guys there where no one got away. I followed Sol down toward the 261 and as some people decided to push hard after going over the bridge and hitting the roller hill, I pushed too and got up toward the front just behind one other guy as we hit the light at Jamboree.
On Jamboree, people were already calling out that other people were going right away, and I couldn't tell if it was serious or just pretending. Nevertheless, I kept an eye out to see who was going to attack. On the ascent, this was where a few people started to attack, and when one guy busted away, I chased him down and sat on his wheel where he finally let me pass. I expected others to pass me before the crest, but they all pretty much stayed behind me until after the top.
On the downhill, the attacks continued and everyone kept pushing it all the way to the light at Portola. From there, the attacks continued and a full on sprint ensued again. I was blocked in for a bit where I kept looking to get out and when I finally did, the chase was on. I started hammering it after the others, and eventually made my way to the front. I'm not sure if they ended up slowing down at some point, but I wasn't going to turn around and find out. Todd eventually got beside me and we rode up front all the way to Irvine Boulevard, where I had to make a left to meet up with Gary and Steve again.
Overall, it was a great ride and the average speed went up to 22.7 (from 22.4). It definitely felt faster this time around. Gary and Verm came in together shortly after and got to hold off 4 other guys who rolled up on them but never passed. It sounds like they got a great workout also.
Although Verm had to get back, Gary and I decided to do my post Como hill trainer route that I did previously. This included going up Aliso Creek, Highlands, Pac Islands, and NPC giving us over 3K vertical in 52 miles.
We rode out on the bike trail off Bryan and immediately, Gary gets a flat in his front tire again. Fortunately, we were able to get it replaced with no further incidents during the ride.
We made our way to the Irvine bike trail that headed toward Laguna Canyon and jumped in a draft with 3 other guys for a big since we wanted to save some energy for the climbs. When we did pass, however, I guess they didn't want to keep our pace and we were off on our own. We made our way up the 133 and down taking turns and pushing a moderately good pace.
On El Toro, Gary had some good rhythm where I didn't take the front until just before going up on Aliso Creek. Once we started climbing, Gary and I rode side by side standing and pedaling trying to see who'd give up first. We were both climbing for some time going up the hill, and I think we both popped at the same time. Since i had dropped my gears just in time, I was able to pedal ahead with Gary not too far behind.
On Highland, Gary made the right turn from Alicia ahead of me, but stopped to get some nutrition in at the bottom. I only needed a gel, so I kept pedaling while sucking it down and once consumed, I began my off seat training again. My goal was to keep a decent pace but stand all the way up. I was doing pretty good and was able to climb without working too hard when all of a sudden, I see Gary's wheel next to me. There goes the off the seat training...I just need to keep up. When I started to ride beside him again, we were nearing the stop sign at the top when I heard him drop a couple gears seemingly preparing to attack. My kung fu reflex was able to respond where I was able to sprint just ahead of him. The S in S-Gary must stand for Sneaky.
We rode down towards Pac Island and upon turning right, I saw 4 guys in Sho-Air kits (one in white) ahead of me. I thought I'd give them a chase, but as i started to near them, they were able to just keep me off of them. I did pass one of their guys (in white), and was closing on the 3rd guy, but ran out of runway at the top. The other 2 were just a little ahead and kept rolling.
After Gary and I regrouped, we went on Laguna Canyon and started pushing the pace some. We were eventually able to reel in the 4 guys that were ahead of us by the time we got close to downtown Laguna Beach. I was hoping to mix it up with them on PCH, but right after the light on the bottom where the 133 comes in, they opted to turn right toward a coffee shop.
Gary started feeling a little better as we were going out of Laguna Beach, and led us out for a good distance. We then took turns as we headed toward NPC. We were working pretty hard at one point, and I did joke around and say "Back Bay?" No bites.
As we started up NPC, I had wanted to ride with S-Gary again, so we rode abreast as we were heading up. Gary had a good pace, so I just matched it as we were climbing. At one point though, his phone rings where he had to answer it so I went ahead on my own and met him at the top.
When we got going down NPC and Bonita Canyon, Gary was a little tired, so the plan was that I'll just go ahead and keep us at a good pace (20ish) on the bike trail once we got on by the Back Bay opening. I was pulling for a while holding a good speed, and Gary would still roll up to the front and offer pulls to keep our pace up when I guess we were dropping. Since he still had game, I went ahead and started to match and up his pace to about 24 mph or so. I also continued this pace and higher on Harvard on the way back to Bryan back in Irvine. I was still trying to punish my legs from last Thursday's crit outing
As we neared the shopping center where we parked, I hear S-Gary behind me getting ready to charge. I started to charge too and kept asking him to blow up his legs (like I was mine), so he was going for it too. To sprint at the end of today's ride is just what I would expect from S-Gary since he's got so much heart. It's so good to be riding with him again.
Great way to start Father's Day. Everything else is cake after. Thanks, guys!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Thursday Night Great Park Crit - 6-16-11
GPS stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/92912571
Trying to plan for a crit is like trying to plan for chaos where you just don't know what's going to happen until it does. Even with several having had prior outings, it seemed that tonight's race was a lot different than previous ones. Still, the fundamental plan was to break a couple of us in to this type of racing, and get more experience by trying different things. In that regard, mission accomplished.
Eddie, Adrian and I followed each other to Great Park, and Shannon arrived shortly after. Vince came in just as we had gotten ready to go out for a couple warm-up laps to familiarize Eddie and I to the track, and Verm came in after we got back and still in time to get ready and make it out for the race staging.
On the warm up laps, the wind was blowing pretty good and the thought was, it should die down during the race as it got later. However, unlike the last time the team made it out, the wind seemed to persist during the entire race. It was nice when it was behind us, but when it wasn't, it was yet just another condition we had to deal with during the race.
The turns were pretty mellow and seemed wide enough where it didn't seem too intimidating. The only concern I had was how everyone was going to hold their line through the turns, so that was something I was anxious to see where I probably observed more in the beginning rather than follow any kind of strategy.
It was good to see Adrian, Vince and Verm mixing it up up front early on and keeping in a good position. They definitely held a good position through a good portion of the race. I was with "the hammer" and Eddie where Eddie and I thought this was a good place to be since if attacks came that we needed to respond to, who better to get us back in a good position?
The first 1-2 laps were pretty "comfortable," where it was nice to warm up vs. going full throttle in the beginning. After that though, things got pretty hot and stayed that way throughout the rest of the race. It was just as intense as the others described if not more.
One good thing about having teammates there was that if you started to fall back in the pack, you would be able to shoot up the side and ask a teammate to let you in. I must have done this at least 4-5 times during the race. Positioning was always hard, so I can't imagine what this must have been like for Vince on his first outing having done it solo.
There were two primes (pronounced preems) during the race where you get points for winning one. The plan was to attack on the first, if possible, and not go for the 2nd so we can save it for the final lap. The funny thing is, I never even heard the bell for the first prime. On the 2nd prime, our team got caught off guard where we all got snapped off from another group who broke away after. While we could probably have caught the first group, there was an incident in that lap where some idiot thought turning left after a pull was the right way to get out of the line. This caused our group to check up and let the front group gain even more distance ahead of us.
Shannon (probably the most), Eddie and I did as best as we could to close the gap, but there just wasn't enough people willing to work to get that job done. I may have had more to give to close the gap, but I didn't want to blow up to do so just to get others in a better position to beat us in the end. That's not to say I didn't get up front, because I did and for a while too. The thing is, it wasn't like you can create a paceline to close the gap, because not everyone was willing to work. You'd also have to jockey for a position after. If you think racing is all physical, it proved today that it can also be a mind bender.
On the last lap, we had been closing but never enough to get to the front group. We did go ahead and sprint to the finish on the final straight section, but we were doing it more for fun than for position. Overall, we did pretty good, but we need to go back to the drawing board and figure out more considering what we learned tonight. Strong outing for the team, and I'm glad I got to get my first one done with them.
Thanks for the workout, gents! I can't wait until the next one. Thanks to Noah, Sarah and Eddie's and my family for coming out for the support!
Pictures:
Here's a link to the rest of the pictures: http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a272/rlaureano/Crit%20June16/
Trying to plan for a crit is like trying to plan for chaos where you just don't know what's going to happen until it does. Even with several having had prior outings, it seemed that tonight's race was a lot different than previous ones. Still, the fundamental plan was to break a couple of us in to this type of racing, and get more experience by trying different things. In that regard, mission accomplished.
Eddie, Adrian and I followed each other to Great Park, and Shannon arrived shortly after. Vince came in just as we had gotten ready to go out for a couple warm-up laps to familiarize Eddie and I to the track, and Verm came in after we got back and still in time to get ready and make it out for the race staging.
On the warm up laps, the wind was blowing pretty good and the thought was, it should die down during the race as it got later. However, unlike the last time the team made it out, the wind seemed to persist during the entire race. It was nice when it was behind us, but when it wasn't, it was yet just another condition we had to deal with during the race.
The turns were pretty mellow and seemed wide enough where it didn't seem too intimidating. The only concern I had was how everyone was going to hold their line through the turns, so that was something I was anxious to see where I probably observed more in the beginning rather than follow any kind of strategy.
It was good to see Adrian, Vince and Verm mixing it up up front early on and keeping in a good position. They definitely held a good position through a good portion of the race. I was with "the hammer" and Eddie where Eddie and I thought this was a good place to be since if attacks came that we needed to respond to, who better to get us back in a good position?
The first 1-2 laps were pretty "comfortable," where it was nice to warm up vs. going full throttle in the beginning. After that though, things got pretty hot and stayed that way throughout the rest of the race. It was just as intense as the others described if not more.
One good thing about having teammates there was that if you started to fall back in the pack, you would be able to shoot up the side and ask a teammate to let you in. I must have done this at least 4-5 times during the race. Positioning was always hard, so I can't imagine what this must have been like for Vince on his first outing having done it solo.
There were two primes (pronounced preems) during the race where you get points for winning one. The plan was to attack on the first, if possible, and not go for the 2nd so we can save it for the final lap. The funny thing is, I never even heard the bell for the first prime. On the 2nd prime, our team got caught off guard where we all got snapped off from another group who broke away after. While we could probably have caught the first group, there was an incident in that lap where some idiot thought turning left after a pull was the right way to get out of the line. This caused our group to check up and let the front group gain even more distance ahead of us.
Shannon (probably the most), Eddie and I did as best as we could to close the gap, but there just wasn't enough people willing to work to get that job done. I may have had more to give to close the gap, but I didn't want to blow up to do so just to get others in a better position to beat us in the end. That's not to say I didn't get up front, because I did and for a while too. The thing is, it wasn't like you can create a paceline to close the gap, because not everyone was willing to work. You'd also have to jockey for a position after. If you think racing is all physical, it proved today that it can also be a mind bender.
On the last lap, we had been closing but never enough to get to the front group. We did go ahead and sprint to the finish on the final straight section, but we were doing it more for fun than for position. Overall, we did pretty good, but we need to go back to the drawing board and figure out more considering what we learned tonight. Strong outing for the team, and I'm glad I got to get my first one done with them.
Thanks for the workout, gents! I can't wait until the next one. Thanks to Noah, Sarah and Eddie's and my family for coming out for the support!
Pictures:
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| The early birds |
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| Returning from the warm up laps |
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| Chillin' before the race |
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| Staging |
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| Team BRCM |
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| Adrian towing Eddie |
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| Working in the pack |
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| Leading the chase group |
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| Sole warrior |
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| Still smiling at the end |
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
BRCM Lunch - Bike Trail Laguna Ridgeline Shady Bonita Canyon Jamboree
My GPS stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/92444783
At first, I thought everyone was going to ride with Todd today at 11:30 while I trained with Adrian in preparation for this Thursday's crit. I guess most everyone else decided to come with us instead, so Todd for the most part rode solo. Sorry, buddy. Jeremy had gone out a little before Todd though, so they did see one another here and there on today's course.
Vince came out sporting sexy new Soul shoes for his bike, and I think this also motivated him to ensure everyone knew just how much faster he would be on them too. Everyone must have thought the same thing in the beginning since NO ONE wanted to go first after we gathered at the corner. I wasn't interested to go either, but after everyone sat for about a minute waiting for someone to go, I decided to go ahead and lead the group out. Where's S-Gary when you need him?
I even had the honor of leading the group once we got on the bike trail for a bit, but then Adrian, Vince and Verm passed me after. I'll have to admit...Adrian does pull like a madman on crack, so when he did, that set the tone for the pace from that point on. Vince, Verm and I were also working to keep the pace up, but admittedly, I felt like I was struggling. Adrian shared the same sentiments as well after the ride.
Shannon got in the front rotation some time after the bridge to help keep the pace up as well, and I'm just glad he didn't splinter the group up on his initial pull. Before Jeffrey, Vince got ahead of Shannon and started to gap. Since Shannon wasn't interested in chasing him at that point, neither was the rest of the group behind him. Vince maintained that gap even after we got back on the bike trail after Jeffrey. Damn wheels.
Adrian was at the front of the chase group once we got on Jeffrey with me behind him and Vince well ahead of us. Then like a bat out of hell, shannon breaks off and starts sprinting towards Vince. I believe I was just barely able to utter "nice" as he left us. HA HA. Verm and I worked together though and closed in on Shannon and Vince as we neared Laguna Canyon.
For the sprint section on the 405 bike trail, Verm originally led us onto the trail and out toward the bridge. I was in the #2 spot. Then, Mitchell passed by where Vince grabbed on to his rear wheel and with me jumping on just behind them. I could feel the wind as we were on the bike trail and I was thinking to myself, we need to get close to the bridge before we take off or it'll be tough. Just after thinking that, Adrian shoots past me and takes off for the sprint. I swung out to go chase him, but then Vince swung out just in front of me with some serious force where his seat actually seemed to have acted like a gate on the bike path causing me to check up a bit. Once we got going, Vince and I were subsequently able to pass Adrian up (like I thought....too early), and although I was making up some ground on Vince, he took it with me just to his left with my front wheel beside his rear wheel. The funny thing about this was he was asking for tips for sprinting a few e-mails ago. What a sandbagger.
Going up Ridgeline, Hiroshi and Jaffe had decided to go up the sidewalk, and Verm rode up to the left of the road and crossed when it cleared. The rest of us went across at the bottom once the crosswalk light changed, so we had some serious ground to make up. I led us up the hill and was trying to maintain a good pace where I was hoping to still have enough to finish with the others at the top. However, after we passed Verm and shannon took over, I popped off where Shannon, Vince and Verm rode off ahead of me and eventually disappearing after they turned left on Turtle Rock.
On Turtle Rock, Hiroshi was able to grab my rear wheel and rode with me all the way up toward Shady. Just when I was thinking I need help getting up and over, I looked back behind me and he wasn't there anymore. Bummer. It was hella windy going down. I did run into Shannon at the light on Bonita Canyon and everyone else (minus Verm and Vince who had caught the light ahead of Shannon) caught up at this point.
On Bonita Canyon, it was nice to see Mitchell and Hiroshi also taking turns up front, and on the first slight up, it looked like Hiroshi was going to charge the hill. This was answered quickly by Adrian, who passed him on his right (hmmm) where I had to sprint just to get behind him.
As we crossed the light on Ford, Adrian and Mitchell took off and the rest of us hung back a little seemingly in preparation for a charge up Jamboree. Shannon even said Jamboree would be a good hill to sprint up, to which I agreed. As we turned from Ford to go up, there was a car that was turning right that had slowed our momentum a little bit, but once we got by, I thought I'd go ahead and charge up the hill. I again found a good tempo to do so, and although I thought someone might pass me, no one ever did. I could hear someone behind me where I thought it was Shannon sizing me up before he blows by me, but it turned out to be Adrian who said he made it 9/10s of the way before he popped off. I really like that hill.
For the charge over the 73 on Bison, Mitchell seemed like he was going to go for it even where Shannon commented that Mitchell must be me on a mission today. I gave chase just going through the yellow where others opted to hang back, and managed to reel him in eventually.
What a workout, today. Adrian had been riding a lot lately, so he was a little tired for today's outing as he explained to me. However, just as we were going in, he finally acknowledged that a few of us just came back from a 100+ mile ride with over 10K elevation gain. Awesome.
Thanks, guys!
Todd's solo run on the same course: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/92442204
At first, I thought everyone was going to ride with Todd today at 11:30 while I trained with Adrian in preparation for this Thursday's crit. I guess most everyone else decided to come with us instead, so Todd for the most part rode solo. Sorry, buddy. Jeremy had gone out a little before Todd though, so they did see one another here and there on today's course.
Vince came out sporting sexy new Soul shoes for his bike, and I think this also motivated him to ensure everyone knew just how much faster he would be on them too. Everyone must have thought the same thing in the beginning since NO ONE wanted to go first after we gathered at the corner. I wasn't interested to go either, but after everyone sat for about a minute waiting for someone to go, I decided to go ahead and lead the group out. Where's S-Gary when you need him?
I even had the honor of leading the group once we got on the bike trail for a bit, but then Adrian, Vince and Verm passed me after. I'll have to admit...Adrian does pull like a madman on crack, so when he did, that set the tone for the pace from that point on. Vince, Verm and I were also working to keep the pace up, but admittedly, I felt like I was struggling. Adrian shared the same sentiments as well after the ride.
Shannon got in the front rotation some time after the bridge to help keep the pace up as well, and I'm just glad he didn't splinter the group up on his initial pull. Before Jeffrey, Vince got ahead of Shannon and started to gap. Since Shannon wasn't interested in chasing him at that point, neither was the rest of the group behind him. Vince maintained that gap even after we got back on the bike trail after Jeffrey. Damn wheels.
Adrian was at the front of the chase group once we got on Jeffrey with me behind him and Vince well ahead of us. Then like a bat out of hell, shannon breaks off and starts sprinting towards Vince. I believe I was just barely able to utter "nice" as he left us. HA HA. Verm and I worked together though and closed in on Shannon and Vince as we neared Laguna Canyon.
For the sprint section on the 405 bike trail, Verm originally led us onto the trail and out toward the bridge. I was in the #2 spot. Then, Mitchell passed by where Vince grabbed on to his rear wheel and with me jumping on just behind them. I could feel the wind as we were on the bike trail and I was thinking to myself, we need to get close to the bridge before we take off or it'll be tough. Just after thinking that, Adrian shoots past me and takes off for the sprint. I swung out to go chase him, but then Vince swung out just in front of me with some serious force where his seat actually seemed to have acted like a gate on the bike path causing me to check up a bit. Once we got going, Vince and I were subsequently able to pass Adrian up (like I thought....too early), and although I was making up some ground on Vince, he took it with me just to his left with my front wheel beside his rear wheel. The funny thing about this was he was asking for tips for sprinting a few e-mails ago. What a sandbagger.
Going up Ridgeline, Hiroshi and Jaffe had decided to go up the sidewalk, and Verm rode up to the left of the road and crossed when it cleared. The rest of us went across at the bottom once the crosswalk light changed, so we had some serious ground to make up. I led us up the hill and was trying to maintain a good pace where I was hoping to still have enough to finish with the others at the top. However, after we passed Verm and shannon took over, I popped off where Shannon, Vince and Verm rode off ahead of me and eventually disappearing after they turned left on Turtle Rock.
On Turtle Rock, Hiroshi was able to grab my rear wheel and rode with me all the way up toward Shady. Just when I was thinking I need help getting up and over, I looked back behind me and he wasn't there anymore. Bummer. It was hella windy going down. I did run into Shannon at the light on Bonita Canyon and everyone else (minus Verm and Vince who had caught the light ahead of Shannon) caught up at this point.
On Bonita Canyon, it was nice to see Mitchell and Hiroshi also taking turns up front, and on the first slight up, it looked like Hiroshi was going to charge the hill. This was answered quickly by Adrian, who passed him on his right (hmmm) where I had to sprint just to get behind him.
As we crossed the light on Ford, Adrian and Mitchell took off and the rest of us hung back a little seemingly in preparation for a charge up Jamboree. Shannon even said Jamboree would be a good hill to sprint up, to which I agreed. As we turned from Ford to go up, there was a car that was turning right that had slowed our momentum a little bit, but once we got by, I thought I'd go ahead and charge up the hill. I again found a good tempo to do so, and although I thought someone might pass me, no one ever did. I could hear someone behind me where I thought it was Shannon sizing me up before he blows by me, but it turned out to be Adrian who said he made it 9/10s of the way before he popped off. I really like that hill.
For the charge over the 73 on Bison, Mitchell seemed like he was going to go for it even where Shannon commented that Mitchell must be me on a mission today. I gave chase just going through the yellow where others opted to hang back, and managed to reel him in eventually.
What a workout, today. Adrian had been riding a lot lately, so he was a little tired for today's outing as he explained to me. However, just as we were going in, he finally acknowledged that a few of us just came back from a 100+ mile ride with over 10K elevation gain. Awesome.
Thanks, guys!
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Ride Around the Bear 2011 - Awesome!
GPS stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/91873869 (1000 feet more climbing, 8 miles longer, but almost 2 mph faster average than last year)
What a perfect day for climbing! The weather couldn't have been better, although I do prefer overcast personally, but temperature-wise, it was good. There may have been some times when it got a little warm, but the black jerseys were donned without anyone complaining about the heat. I'm sure I would have heard about it otherwise.
The plan was to meet at Sylvan Park at 6:30 a.m., but Todd and Gary must have missed that memo. It was convenient for Eddie and I as we stayed a couple miles away (although we got lost on the way there in the morning). Vince stayed in the same hotel but rode the the park to let Tiff have a vehicle and meet up with Pam (Todd's wife). He did stop by in the evening for a bit to tell us about how he was warned about the Old Waterman Road detour to add some extra climbing, but I was probably more interested in resuming the sheep counting at that point thanks to Xanax. It turned out to be an appropriate warning.
While we were gathering at the park for the departure, I noticed Eddie wasn't around where Shannon confirmed he had already checked in and left. Eddie told me his plan was to get as much of a head start as possible and hopefully be able to crest at the Onyx Summit around the same time we do and bomb down subsequently. He must have left at least a half hour before the rest of us were able to gather and finally check in, so he pretty much did the climbs solo for the most part. That's Ironman style.
When we took off, the pace was pretty mellow in the beginning, but it didn't stay that way too long. We had hooked up with a group who had been riding in our draft for a while, but they fell off at a turn to enter a highway. I guess they weren't interested in chasing and probably rightfully so...it was a climbing day after all.
When we finally got to Old Waterman Road, S-Gary broke the number one rule of our Fight club...do not under any circumstance try and stick to Shannon's wheel on the hills. Todd even mentioned how it was going to be a long day of climbing to be pushing so hard in the beginning, so I was content to pull back some as well. Vince eventually started to pull away as did Todd, and Verm kept me in sight all the way until we got back on the 18.
Despite breaking the number one rule, S-Gary was holding a strong pace well ahead of me but never outside my view. In fact, I'd say it was probably a good 30-35 miles in that I was finally able to catch up to him. Verm, on the other hand, not only reeled me in after we got back on the 18, he had passed me first and caught and rode with S-Gary for a while eventually making his way past him too. The funny thing I thought was when Verm caught Gary, Gary asked "Where's Rich?" All they had to do was look back about 100 yards to know.
With Verminator, the guy seems to never look back and always targets others in front of him for a pass...as we all know. Reeling him in took a long time. Every time I think I'd get on his wheel, he'd surge ahead and usually while passing another rider or two. It seemed like he was always trying to shake me off, and for a while, he actually would. It took getting up to about mile 40 in before finally being able to get by this maniac. Had it been a race up the HC rated climb, both he and Gary would have handed my ass to me.
Around Arrowbear Lake, I had found a good rhythm and was working solo for a while after Verm dropped off and looked back to see 3 guys coming up pretty quickly behind me. 2 were UBS guys and one was another who had just latched on. I spun up quickly to be able to latch on as well, and was going to enjoy the free ride for as long as I could. It seemed like the UBS guys were content to pull us along, but then one of them turned to the 3rd guy and asked him if he was going to work to. You hear him say I've got nothing (and then turning to me saying how one of the guys is a top TT record holder). When they took off again, I decided to drop off as I certainly wasn't interested in working at the pace they were going. There was still a few thousand feet of climbing left. Thanks for the pull though!
At the Snow Valley SAG, I ran into Shannon, Vince and Todd there and was able to catch a glimpse of Eddie just taking off. After a bottle refill, a waffle and a gel, and a BIO break, I was ready to go and didn't want to get cold. Verm had rolled in shortly after me, and Gary got there just as I was getting ready to leave. After letting Shannon know, I was off. I was thinking they were going to catch me anyways as I was only planning to spin to the next SAG by the lake.
Although solo, I had a pretty decent pace as I was heading up and as I was descending down some of the sections before getting to the lake, a few Chronic Tacos guys (there were a LOT of these guys out this day) passed me at a pretty good clip. I took advantage of the opportunity and spun up and latched on. However, when the road pitched up, their pace dropped dramatically where I felt I had no option but just to pass them to maintain my tempo. I did pick it up a notch after that and broke off so as to not feel like I was wanting to mix it up, but one of them eventually got back by me just before we hit the SAG at the lake. Since I wasn't really interested in staying at the SAG too long, I didn't really care.
When I noticed Eddie still wasn't at this SAG, I downed another waffle and just left a couple minutes after arriving. I didn't see any signs of the others as well, so I figured I'd go ahead and just go. 4 guys left just ahead of me, so I thought I'd just sit in the back of their paceline and save it for the climb up to Onyx.
On the way out, one of the guys who also latched on was on a mountain bike and I was more than happy to sit behind him (better draft), but I just had to make sure he didn't fall off the rest of the pack. Then from behind me, I hear someone say "Go Tommy!" or something along those lines. The voice was familiar, and sure enough, it was Vince with Shannon. I guess they ended up leaving Todd at the last SAG since Todd was insistent on having a sandwich.
While Vince decided to get up front and even break away at some point, Shannon and I agreed it was just as well we stay in the pack and save our energy for the upcoming climb. Eventually, we were able to catch Vince at a light and by the time we got to the base of the climb to Onyx, the 3 of us were pretty much alone. I guess others were fueling up for the climb, but we decided to just keep going.
In the beginning, I was up front and maintaining a pretty decent tempo on the climb. I remember hearing Vince saying that to some effect, he was content with the pace, so I was happy to hold it. We actually saw and caught Ironman Eddie on the climb, so it seemed like his plan was working perfectly. Vince eventually passed me as did Shannon, and I wasn't sure how long I was going to be able to hang on. I think I waved Vince ahead at one point thinking I was going to drop, but I found some additional energy climbing off the seat where I was able to latch back on to Vince's wheel. With Shannon at the helm, Vince eventually waved me on to latch onto Shannon's wheel. The fight club rule was yet to be broken again, and I held on for as long as I possibly could...which I think was longer than anyone (including myself) expected. Eventually, I saw the futility in the matter, and decided the pace would only kill me at the top, so I backed off. I still managed to pass a few more people on the way up, but this was still a very agonizing climb...especially on the ol' perineum. The climb seemed endless and the lack of oxygen didn't help either, but eventually I got to the summit with Shannon sitting in a chair under a pop-up waiting for us. Vince had a line of sight on me and was working to reel me in, but came in just a minute or so behind me. Todd followed not too long after having passed Eddie on the way up as well.
As my legs began tightening up from all the climbing, I was itching to go and get the blood circulating again. After grabbing my bike where I was either going to go alone or have the guys come with me if they were willing to leave, Eddie rolled up followed shortly after with Verm. Like troopers, they went ahead and got what they needed without getting off their bikes too long, and were ready to go. With no sign of Gary (or Mitchell since Old Waterman Rd), we were off.
Vince and Todd descended ahead of me while the others came up behind us shortly after. I wasn't sure I'd be able to get on Todd's wheel being on a compact crank, but I eventually found my way up to them. Shannon and Eddie got up on mine as well and we were literally bombing down the hill. The compact crank was not a problem for Eddie as well, and he would take turns along with the rest of us pushing the pace. The blood was definitely circulating through my legs once again where the previous 60+ miles of climbing didn't seem to be a factor.
After about 8 miles of fast downhill, we hit a little 300 foot climb with a pretty decent pitch where I decided to get back into a tempo going up it. That, plus the momentum from the hill just before had me passing up the guys. I didn't realize that the others weren't going to join me, but I ended up paying for it where my left hamstring started to cramp. I thought the Shot Blok I was sucking on would have kept it off, but it took chewing and swallowing it AND a second one before my cramp was finally in control. Pedaling on my right leg only sucked, but at least it wasn't a 14% grade. In the end, Todd, Vince and Shannon kept their rhythmic pace past me (as they should) where I was only able to get 1 last glimpse of them about a mile or so later until the finish.
Since Eddie had fallen off during the climb, I was prepared to do the rest of the ride down solo. I found a decent tempo and was having fun descending despite being on my own. I was still a little cautious that a cramp may recur on some of the small uphills, but it never came back. As I was making my way down, I thought my rear wheel felt a little mushy and also almost could feel the stem bouncing off the pavement. I wasn't sure if I had gotten a flat, but I decided to pull over just to make sure since going fast downhill with a flat tire is not a good combination. Sure enough, my rear tire probably had only 50% of its air...if that. With no visual sign of a puncture or a cause, I was just about to fill it back up with CO2 but decided against it for safety and peace of mind.
While changing my tube, Eddie rolled up and offered to help and Verminator followed not too long after. After a quick change, we were all bombing down together again. We all decided to skip the last SAG and continued to keep charging down the hill. For a little bit, I thought I was feeling my rear wheel again and decided to back off from Eddie and Verm who were taking turns until I can know for sure. When I finally felt confident, I rolled up on them and we started charging after everyone in front of us. We did pick up some others on the way down, so I kept pushing the pace. According to Eddie, I was relieving Verm too quickly, but both momentum and just recovering quickly at this point (maybe due to Shannon's Zipvit I took at the top) just had me going and going. Eventually, we found ourselves alone again after miles of charging down hill.
There was some confusion as to where we should turn and at one point, Verm kept going forward while Eddie and I tried with futility to stop him and figure out which way to go. Of course, Verminator never turns around so we had to chase him down full sprint just to catch and confirm which way to go. He was right though...we go straight and turn left on University. When we got back 7 hours after we started, Vince, Todd and Shannon were waiting for us at the picnic tables eating the free lunch.
That pretty much sums up the ride, but what I didn't mention were some of the highlights of the ride...Tiff and Pam. Tiff and Pam had posted signs up to cheer us on as we were climbing up the 18. I remember working the climb and looking to my right seeing them propped up on a railing. The one that caught my eye was with my name on it with a caption "Flying Filipino" along with a Broadcom logo. Awesome! I only briefly noticed that the remaining signs had the other guys name on it, but I thought it was so cool they had posted them there. Pam also included some tagalog on it that she learned from a co-worker, but I didn't see it until after we got back. They had also cheered us on at 2 other sections of the ride and each time definitely boosted our spirits. I'm going to have to convince my wife to join them on a future outing. Thank you, ladies!
The post ride festivities rivaled last year if not surpassed it. I'll hold off from putting down all the details but advise that drinking a 1:1 ratio of ounces of alcohol to pounds of body weight is NOT advisable when dehydrated and depleted from a ride. I'm STILL feeling the effects of it 24 hours after. Thanks to Eddie for getting me to his house safely where I passed out on his floor for a couple hours until my wife can come and pick me up. I'm sure I owe some people apologies, including those who weren't there (ha ha), and I hope no one took anything I said too seriously.
Overall, it was a great outing both during and after the ride. Thanks to all the guys (and gals) who came out. Onto the Death Ride!
P.S. Thanks to Mitchell for the free amateur inner tubes! Plus, more pictures to follow.
What a perfect day for climbing! The weather couldn't have been better, although I do prefer overcast personally, but temperature-wise, it was good. There may have been some times when it got a little warm, but the black jerseys were donned without anyone complaining about the heat. I'm sure I would have heard about it otherwise.
The plan was to meet at Sylvan Park at 6:30 a.m., but Todd and Gary must have missed that memo. It was convenient for Eddie and I as we stayed a couple miles away (although we got lost on the way there in the morning). Vince stayed in the same hotel but rode the the park to let Tiff have a vehicle and meet up with Pam (Todd's wife). He did stop by in the evening for a bit to tell us about how he was warned about the Old Waterman Road detour to add some extra climbing, but I was probably more interested in resuming the sheep counting at that point thanks to Xanax. It turned out to be an appropriate warning.
While we were gathering at the park for the departure, I noticed Eddie wasn't around where Shannon confirmed he had already checked in and left. Eddie told me his plan was to get as much of a head start as possible and hopefully be able to crest at the Onyx Summit around the same time we do and bomb down subsequently. He must have left at least a half hour before the rest of us were able to gather and finally check in, so he pretty much did the climbs solo for the most part. That's Ironman style.
When we took off, the pace was pretty mellow in the beginning, but it didn't stay that way too long. We had hooked up with a group who had been riding in our draft for a while, but they fell off at a turn to enter a highway. I guess they weren't interested in chasing and probably rightfully so...it was a climbing day after all.
When we finally got to Old Waterman Road, S-Gary broke the number one rule of our Fight club...do not under any circumstance try and stick to Shannon's wheel on the hills. Todd even mentioned how it was going to be a long day of climbing to be pushing so hard in the beginning, so I was content to pull back some as well. Vince eventually started to pull away as did Todd, and Verm kept me in sight all the way until we got back on the 18.
Despite breaking the number one rule, S-Gary was holding a strong pace well ahead of me but never outside my view. In fact, I'd say it was probably a good 30-35 miles in that I was finally able to catch up to him. Verm, on the other hand, not only reeled me in after we got back on the 18, he had passed me first and caught and rode with S-Gary for a while eventually making his way past him too. The funny thing I thought was when Verm caught Gary, Gary asked "Where's Rich?" All they had to do was look back about 100 yards to know.
With Verminator, the guy seems to never look back and always targets others in front of him for a pass...as we all know. Reeling him in took a long time. Every time I think I'd get on his wheel, he'd surge ahead and usually while passing another rider or two. It seemed like he was always trying to shake me off, and for a while, he actually would. It took getting up to about mile 40 in before finally being able to get by this maniac. Had it been a race up the HC rated climb, both he and Gary would have handed my ass to me.
Around Arrowbear Lake, I had found a good rhythm and was working solo for a while after Verm dropped off and looked back to see 3 guys coming up pretty quickly behind me. 2 were UBS guys and one was another who had just latched on. I spun up quickly to be able to latch on as well, and was going to enjoy the free ride for as long as I could. It seemed like the UBS guys were content to pull us along, but then one of them turned to the 3rd guy and asked him if he was going to work to. You hear him say I've got nothing (and then turning to me saying how one of the guys is a top TT record holder). When they took off again, I decided to drop off as I certainly wasn't interested in working at the pace they were going. There was still a few thousand feet of climbing left. Thanks for the pull though!
At the Snow Valley SAG, I ran into Shannon, Vince and Todd there and was able to catch a glimpse of Eddie just taking off. After a bottle refill, a waffle and a gel, and a BIO break, I was ready to go and didn't want to get cold. Verm had rolled in shortly after me, and Gary got there just as I was getting ready to leave. After letting Shannon know, I was off. I was thinking they were going to catch me anyways as I was only planning to spin to the next SAG by the lake.
Although solo, I had a pretty decent pace as I was heading up and as I was descending down some of the sections before getting to the lake, a few Chronic Tacos guys (there were a LOT of these guys out this day) passed me at a pretty good clip. I took advantage of the opportunity and spun up and latched on. However, when the road pitched up, their pace dropped dramatically where I felt I had no option but just to pass them to maintain my tempo. I did pick it up a notch after that and broke off so as to not feel like I was wanting to mix it up, but one of them eventually got back by me just before we hit the SAG at the lake. Since I wasn't really interested in staying at the SAG too long, I didn't really care.
When I noticed Eddie still wasn't at this SAG, I downed another waffle and just left a couple minutes after arriving. I didn't see any signs of the others as well, so I figured I'd go ahead and just go. 4 guys left just ahead of me, so I thought I'd just sit in the back of their paceline and save it for the climb up to Onyx.
On the way out, one of the guys who also latched on was on a mountain bike and I was more than happy to sit behind him (better draft), but I just had to make sure he didn't fall off the rest of the pack. Then from behind me, I hear someone say "Go Tommy!" or something along those lines. The voice was familiar, and sure enough, it was Vince with Shannon. I guess they ended up leaving Todd at the last SAG since Todd was insistent on having a sandwich.
While Vince decided to get up front and even break away at some point, Shannon and I agreed it was just as well we stay in the pack and save our energy for the upcoming climb. Eventually, we were able to catch Vince at a light and by the time we got to the base of the climb to Onyx, the 3 of us were pretty much alone. I guess others were fueling up for the climb, but we decided to just keep going.
In the beginning, I was up front and maintaining a pretty decent tempo on the climb. I remember hearing Vince saying that to some effect, he was content with the pace, so I was happy to hold it. We actually saw and caught Ironman Eddie on the climb, so it seemed like his plan was working perfectly. Vince eventually passed me as did Shannon, and I wasn't sure how long I was going to be able to hang on. I think I waved Vince ahead at one point thinking I was going to drop, but I found some additional energy climbing off the seat where I was able to latch back on to Vince's wheel. With Shannon at the helm, Vince eventually waved me on to latch onto Shannon's wheel. The fight club rule was yet to be broken again, and I held on for as long as I possibly could...which I think was longer than anyone (including myself) expected. Eventually, I saw the futility in the matter, and decided the pace would only kill me at the top, so I backed off. I still managed to pass a few more people on the way up, but this was still a very agonizing climb...especially on the ol' perineum. The climb seemed endless and the lack of oxygen didn't help either, but eventually I got to the summit with Shannon sitting in a chair under a pop-up waiting for us. Vince had a line of sight on me and was working to reel me in, but came in just a minute or so behind me. Todd followed not too long after having passed Eddie on the way up as well.
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| Kings of the Mountain chillin' |
Vince and Todd descended ahead of me while the others came up behind us shortly after. I wasn't sure I'd be able to get on Todd's wheel being on a compact crank, but I eventually found my way up to them. Shannon and Eddie got up on mine as well and we were literally bombing down the hill. The compact crank was not a problem for Eddie as well, and he would take turns along with the rest of us pushing the pace. The blood was definitely circulating through my legs once again where the previous 60+ miles of climbing didn't seem to be a factor.
After about 8 miles of fast downhill, we hit a little 300 foot climb with a pretty decent pitch where I decided to get back into a tempo going up it. That, plus the momentum from the hill just before had me passing up the guys. I didn't realize that the others weren't going to join me, but I ended up paying for it where my left hamstring started to cramp. I thought the Shot Blok I was sucking on would have kept it off, but it took chewing and swallowing it AND a second one before my cramp was finally in control. Pedaling on my right leg only sucked, but at least it wasn't a 14% grade. In the end, Todd, Vince and Shannon kept their rhythmic pace past me (as they should) where I was only able to get 1 last glimpse of them about a mile or so later until the finish.
Since Eddie had fallen off during the climb, I was prepared to do the rest of the ride down solo. I found a decent tempo and was having fun descending despite being on my own. I was still a little cautious that a cramp may recur on some of the small uphills, but it never came back. As I was making my way down, I thought my rear wheel felt a little mushy and also almost could feel the stem bouncing off the pavement. I wasn't sure if I had gotten a flat, but I decided to pull over just to make sure since going fast downhill with a flat tire is not a good combination. Sure enough, my rear tire probably had only 50% of its air...if that. With no visual sign of a puncture or a cause, I was just about to fill it back up with CO2 but decided against it for safety and peace of mind.
While changing my tube, Eddie rolled up and offered to help and Verminator followed not too long after. After a quick change, we were all bombing down together again. We all decided to skip the last SAG and continued to keep charging down the hill. For a little bit, I thought I was feeling my rear wheel again and decided to back off from Eddie and Verm who were taking turns until I can know for sure. When I finally felt confident, I rolled up on them and we started charging after everyone in front of us. We did pick up some others on the way down, so I kept pushing the pace. According to Eddie, I was relieving Verm too quickly, but both momentum and just recovering quickly at this point (maybe due to Shannon's Zipvit I took at the top) just had me going and going. Eventually, we found ourselves alone again after miles of charging down hill.
There was some confusion as to where we should turn and at one point, Verm kept going forward while Eddie and I tried with futility to stop him and figure out which way to go. Of course, Verminator never turns around so we had to chase him down full sprint just to catch and confirm which way to go. He was right though...we go straight and turn left on University. When we got back 7 hours after we started, Vince, Todd and Shannon were waiting for us at the picnic tables eating the free lunch.
That pretty much sums up the ride, but what I didn't mention were some of the highlights of the ride...Tiff and Pam. Tiff and Pam had posted signs up to cheer us on as we were climbing up the 18. I remember working the climb and looking to my right seeing them propped up on a railing. The one that caught my eye was with my name on it with a caption "Flying Filipino" along with a Broadcom logo. Awesome! I only briefly noticed that the remaining signs had the other guys name on it, but I thought it was so cool they had posted them there. Pam also included some tagalog on it that she learned from a co-worker, but I didn't see it until after we got back. They had also cheered us on at 2 other sections of the ride and each time definitely boosted our spirits. I'm going to have to convince my wife to join them on a future outing. Thank you, ladies!
The post ride festivities rivaled last year if not surpassed it. I'll hold off from putting down all the details but advise that drinking a 1:1 ratio of ounces of alcohol to pounds of body weight is NOT advisable when dehydrated and depleted from a ride. I'm STILL feeling the effects of it 24 hours after. Thanks to Eddie for getting me to his house safely where I passed out on his floor for a couple hours until my wife can come and pick me up. I'm sure I owe some people apologies, including those who weren't there (ha ha), and I hope no one took anything I said too seriously.
Overall, it was a great outing both during and after the ride. Thanks to all the guys (and gals) who came out. Onto the Death Ride!
P.S. Thanks to Mitchell for the free amateur inner tubes! Plus, more pictures to follow.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
BRCM Lunch - As Mellow as it Gets
GPS stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/91078364
On the scale of cycling intensity (spinning > sprinting > climbing > Tues/Thurs ride), today's ride would definitely fall in the category of spinning. Given past rides, it was rightfully questionnable as to whether today would actually fall within this classification. However, Vince and Todd actually held back making for a perfect pre-Big Bear ride today. You may want to go buy lotto tickets, because days like today are far and few.
Hiroshi and David led the group out pretty much all the way to Anteater. They actually broke away with Peter for some time while the rest of us kept a fairly moderate pace spinning until we met up with them at the Bonita Canyon light.
Going up Shady, Hiroshi led us out and Todd (yes, the instigator) at one point jokingly yells out, "Come on, Hiroshi. Pick up the pace!" I was hoping to stay behind the whole time, but Todd got up front and pulled as most of the way through Shady. With momentum carrying me past them at one point, I did have to call out that I'm not trying to pass aggressively to keep the natives from getting riled up. I was up front as we were starting to reach the crest of Shady and Todd just couldn't let me get to the top ahead of him. Type A at its finest.
On the bike path, we still kept a moderate pace and started to take turns even. With a loose dog, a lady wanting to cross in front of us, and other traffic on the bike trail, it was good that the pace was calm enough where it remained incident free.
We did run into Peter and David once we were close to University as I suppose they had taken the Jeffrey bridge after coming down Shady. They latched on for a bit, but Jamboree was just a little too much. Hiroshi started to charge up Jamboree but got back in line as we spun up toward Bison.
When we were all on McArthur, Todd was saying it was nice to have a mellow ride and he thought we still did a 19 mph average or so. Looking down at my GPS, I said "I got as AT 19.5." Vince thought I was saying "I got us TO 19.5," and jokingly said all by yourself, Rich? I guess I'll need to be more selective with the words I choose so as to not try and take credit for such a blazing pace. Geez, Louise.
When we got to the stop sign before the gate, I asked Hiroshi what he had, and he immediately bolted off for a sprint finish to the gate. I couldn't resist, so....
We'll need to spin more often. I may actually have lost fat on the ride today rather than muscle. Woo hoo. Thanks, guys!
On the scale of cycling intensity (spinning > sprinting > climbing > Tues/Thurs ride), today's ride would definitely fall in the category of spinning. Given past rides, it was rightfully questionnable as to whether today would actually fall within this classification. However, Vince and Todd actually held back making for a perfect pre-Big Bear ride today. You may want to go buy lotto tickets, because days like today are far and few.
Hiroshi and David led the group out pretty much all the way to Anteater. They actually broke away with Peter for some time while the rest of us kept a fairly moderate pace spinning until we met up with them at the Bonita Canyon light.
Going up Shady, Hiroshi led us out and Todd (yes, the instigator) at one point jokingly yells out, "Come on, Hiroshi. Pick up the pace!" I was hoping to stay behind the whole time, but Todd got up front and pulled as most of the way through Shady. With momentum carrying me past them at one point, I did have to call out that I'm not trying to pass aggressively to keep the natives from getting riled up. I was up front as we were starting to reach the crest of Shady and Todd just couldn't let me get to the top ahead of him. Type A at its finest.
On the bike path, we still kept a moderate pace and started to take turns even. With a loose dog, a lady wanting to cross in front of us, and other traffic on the bike trail, it was good that the pace was calm enough where it remained incident free.
We did run into Peter and David once we were close to University as I suppose they had taken the Jeffrey bridge after coming down Shady. They latched on for a bit, but Jamboree was just a little too much. Hiroshi started to charge up Jamboree but got back in line as we spun up toward Bison.
When we were all on McArthur, Todd was saying it was nice to have a mellow ride and he thought we still did a 19 mph average or so. Looking down at my GPS, I said "I got as AT 19.5." Vince thought I was saying "I got us TO 19.5," and jokingly said all by yourself, Rich? I guess I'll need to be more selective with the words I choose so as to not try and take credit for such a blazing pace. Geez, Louise.
When we got to the stop sign before the gate, I asked Hiroshi what he had, and he immediately bolted off for a sprint finish to the gate. I couldn't resist, so....
We'll need to spin more often. I may actually have lost fat on the ride today rather than muscle. Woo hoo. Thanks, guys!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
BRCM Lunch - Double BB Route with Multiple Lights
GPS stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/90882037
The double Back Bay route is always interesting because it seems to bring about different strategies where you can almost hear everyone thinking about how they're going to set up for this ride. One strategy that came to mind was whether I should fix Todd's flat rear tire before the ride by inflating it to only 60 PSI. I just couldn't do it...not because it wasn't fair but because of my love for carbon wheels.
Unusually, Gary did not lead us out today as he would typically, so even he had thought about how that may not be a good idea considering how loaded the ride was today. Todd ended up leading us all the way out to NPC with not one person willing to take the front to help him. Nice.
On NPC, Shannon led Vince and Todd out and I was about 2-3 people behind Adrian when I realized he had popped off from the guys up front. I tried to get up to Todd's wheel and almost managed to do so by the 73 underpass, but they kicked it up a notch after and it was all I could do just to keep Shannon ahead of me.
Shannon and I got caught at the light after turning on San Joaquin, and others were able to join us there with Vince and Todd out of sight. Once the light turned green, Shannon turned the heat up going over the double crest and Adrian took the front as well to keep speeds up. We did manage to catch up to Vince and Todd as they were caught on the light at Marguerite, and everyone else had pretty much caught up by that point as well.
When we rolled up to McArthur, I thought the decision was to hit the left turn lane so I did with everyone except Vince and Todd who went straight across the intersection, subsequently crossing in front of us while we waited...and waited...and waited. We decided to use the crosswalk vs. waiting for a car to trigger the left turn light, and wouldn't you know it...the left turn light turned green ahead of us being able to cross and start going again on McArthur. I think I'll refrain from why 3 cars decided to honk at Jaffe at this intersection.
Once we did get rolling again on McArthur, I think we hit every single light (maybe except 1) before making the right to Jamboree. I was trying to keep the pace up on PCH to hopefully make ground on Vince and Todd, but this was probably not the most "strategic" thing to do on this route with the guys in the pack.
On the initial run through Back Bay, Adrian took off earlier than I expected and broke away with Shannon to take the sprint to San Joaquin. I swung out a little late, but managed to pull Mitchell along to get back with Shannon and Adrian. These guys kept hammering it on Back Bay, and while I wanted ot skip a turn, ended up ultimately blowing up after one of them where Shannon and Adrian broke off before we got to the top of Back Bay. I did apologize to Mitchell since I snapped off taking him with me.
On Jamboree, Adrian was with Shannon for a bit during the climb, but Shannon broke away midway up the hill where we were only able to catch glimpses of him subsequently. With Mitch in tow, we were able to reel Adrian in near the Bison light. Adrian thought about going through the red to get away, but I yelled "stop for the light" to prevent him from being awarded a Sandy for a TLB. I think he was swearing at me under his breath subsequently.
The 3 of us got caught at the light on Eastbluff where Seon and Vin were able to catch up to us here. When it turned green, Vin took off and we weren't sure if he was intending to pull or just wanting to have his name mentioned on the blog (so there you go). Adrian, Mitchell, Seon and I got by before we crossed San Joaquin, and we saw a glimpse of Shannon where we thought maybe we could reel him in.
Once on Back Bay, we tried to coordinate working together but Adrian still isn't too keen on what this meant. Once he got up front, he broke off from Mitchell and I had to work just to get back together with him after San Joaquin. Mitch, Adrian and I did take turns at this point, and Adrian took this one monster pull (warning us this time) where he just worked me to keep up and subsequently take the next pull. Of course, this set him up perfectly to take the top of Back Bay over me...again.
On the bike trail, I decided I wasn't going to get played anymore or so I thought. I let Adrian take the front all the way on University. He was playing possom though, where he was soft pedaling after the bridge and for some time. I didn't want to take off until he did, but when he did, he kept the pace up and I just couldn't get passed the front of his rear wheel as we passed CA. Nice job!
Going up CA, Seon had caught up and started to charge up the hill. It took a good portion of the hill to be able to catch and pass him, so this guy seems to be getting better and better each time. I got caught at the light on Bison where Seon and ultimately Adrian was able to catch me. I was hoping to give Adrian a chance to beat me up again, but he thought it better to risk today's sprint winning streak against me and didn't contest (cough, sissy, cough). Just kidding.
Too bad we couldn't have been able to mix it up more with the others (more time to rest as well), but it was a great workout nonetheless. Thanks!
The double Back Bay route is always interesting because it seems to bring about different strategies where you can almost hear everyone thinking about how they're going to set up for this ride. One strategy that came to mind was whether I should fix Todd's flat rear tire before the ride by inflating it to only 60 PSI. I just couldn't do it...not because it wasn't fair but because of my love for carbon wheels.
Unusually, Gary did not lead us out today as he would typically, so even he had thought about how that may not be a good idea considering how loaded the ride was today. Todd ended up leading us all the way out to NPC with not one person willing to take the front to help him. Nice.
On NPC, Shannon led Vince and Todd out and I was about 2-3 people behind Adrian when I realized he had popped off from the guys up front. I tried to get up to Todd's wheel and almost managed to do so by the 73 underpass, but they kicked it up a notch after and it was all I could do just to keep Shannon ahead of me.
Shannon and I got caught at the light after turning on San Joaquin, and others were able to join us there with Vince and Todd out of sight. Once the light turned green, Shannon turned the heat up going over the double crest and Adrian took the front as well to keep speeds up. We did manage to catch up to Vince and Todd as they were caught on the light at Marguerite, and everyone else had pretty much caught up by that point as well.
When we rolled up to McArthur, I thought the decision was to hit the left turn lane so I did with everyone except Vince and Todd who went straight across the intersection, subsequently crossing in front of us while we waited...and waited...and waited. We decided to use the crosswalk vs. waiting for a car to trigger the left turn light, and wouldn't you know it...the left turn light turned green ahead of us being able to cross and start going again on McArthur. I think I'll refrain from why 3 cars decided to honk at Jaffe at this intersection.
Once we did get rolling again on McArthur, I think we hit every single light (maybe except 1) before making the right to Jamboree. I was trying to keep the pace up on PCH to hopefully make ground on Vince and Todd, but this was probably not the most "strategic" thing to do on this route with the guys in the pack.
On the initial run through Back Bay, Adrian took off earlier than I expected and broke away with Shannon to take the sprint to San Joaquin. I swung out a little late, but managed to pull Mitchell along to get back with Shannon and Adrian. These guys kept hammering it on Back Bay, and while I wanted ot skip a turn, ended up ultimately blowing up after one of them where Shannon and Adrian broke off before we got to the top of Back Bay. I did apologize to Mitchell since I snapped off taking him with me.
On Jamboree, Adrian was with Shannon for a bit during the climb, but Shannon broke away midway up the hill where we were only able to catch glimpses of him subsequently. With Mitch in tow, we were able to reel Adrian in near the Bison light. Adrian thought about going through the red to get away, but I yelled "stop for the light" to prevent him from being awarded a Sandy for a TLB. I think he was swearing at me under his breath subsequently.
The 3 of us got caught at the light on Eastbluff where Seon and Vin were able to catch up to us here. When it turned green, Vin took off and we weren't sure if he was intending to pull or just wanting to have his name mentioned on the blog (so there you go). Adrian, Mitchell, Seon and I got by before we crossed San Joaquin, and we saw a glimpse of Shannon where we thought maybe we could reel him in.
Once on Back Bay, we tried to coordinate working together but Adrian still isn't too keen on what this meant. Once he got up front, he broke off from Mitchell and I had to work just to get back together with him after San Joaquin. Mitch, Adrian and I did take turns at this point, and Adrian took this one monster pull (warning us this time) where he just worked me to keep up and subsequently take the next pull. Of course, this set him up perfectly to take the top of Back Bay over me...again.
On the bike trail, I decided I wasn't going to get played anymore or so I thought. I let Adrian take the front all the way on University. He was playing possom though, where he was soft pedaling after the bridge and for some time. I didn't want to take off until he did, but when he did, he kept the pace up and I just couldn't get passed the front of his rear wheel as we passed CA. Nice job!
Going up CA, Seon had caught up and started to charge up the hill. It took a good portion of the hill to be able to catch and pass him, so this guy seems to be getting better and better each time. I got caught at the light on Bison where Seon and ultimately Adrian was able to catch me. I was hoping to give Adrian a chance to beat me up again, but he thought it better to risk today's sprint winning streak against me and didn't contest (cough, sissy, cough). Just kidding.
Too bad we couldn't have been able to mix it up more with the others (more time to rest as well), but it was a great workout nonetheless. Thanks!
Monday, June 6, 2011
Stagecoach Sign
Finally, the sign in Ocotillo is updated with the Stagecoach recordholders (courtesy of the efforts of Vince, Noah, Todd and Shannon).
Woo hoo!
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| Recognize! |
Sunday, June 5, 2011
2-man Century - Dana Pt to Torrey Pines and Back
Vince's GPS stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/90461189
We were hoping to have more come out today, but in the end, Vince and I made this trek alone. It was a beautiful day, so we weren't complaining for sure.
The plan was to meet at the people's bridge in Dana Point at 7 a.m., but when I got there promptly, no one. I knew Vince was going to park in Doheny, so I went and found him in the parking lot...still getting ready. Thank goodness I didn't accept his 6:30 a.m. offer. HA HA.
With next week's Bear ride coming up, I'm glad he was on board for some tempo riding today. That pretty much summarizes the ride throughout, and we both took some good turns up front to maintain the tempo. There didn't seem to be a lot of people out there, but we did start picking off some people in Carlsbad. The view was awesome today, and the waves seemed like they were going off up and down the coast.
Just before Del Mar, I did set my sights on one guy ahead of us who I saw that seemed to be moving at a good pace. Slowly and steadily, we reeled him in and he ended up joining us (okay, riding our draft) afterwards. We also picked up another guy from the Mira Mesa Cycling Crew, and just after getting out of downtown Del Mar, it looked like he was wanting to mix it up. Vince stayed with him, and I was just off the back having a Stinger in preparation for the Torrey hill. When we thought we'd get to mix it up going up Torrey, he peels off to the left to go on Carmel Valley Road. Oddly enough, we see the rest of his crew at the top of Torrey Pines later when we were on our halfway point break.
The plan originally was to go up the hills via Torrey Pines Road, but when we saw that the guy who joined us was going up the steeper inside way, Vince and I decided to join him instead. Type A at it's finest. Going up the descent, it looked like he was going to have some game, but midway through the steeper bottom sections, he had dropped off. I was trying to keep Vince's tempo after the steep parts, but he ended up taking off at one point and all I could do was watch from off the back. I saw him fend off one other guy who he ended up passing where he tried to pass back. Nice.
We took a break at the top for a bio break and some nourishment. At this point, we were only down 1 water bottle, so the tempo riding was helping to keep us from needing too much hydration. 2 waffles, a couple fig newtons and a refilled bottle later, and we were off again.
It was fun going down Torrey Pines Dr. and we made our way up to a few guys by the time we got to Carmel Valley Road. After the light, we ended up passing them up and didn't end up seeing them until we got to 15th street at Del Mar where we hit the red light. Once it turned green, we started to roll forward when 2 of the guys we passed earlier decided they wanted to sprint down the hill at this point. I chased them down in response and passed them both where the road forks. I think they looked a little surprised...I live for those moments. HA HA
One older guy did get in our draft, but he wouldn't take a turn up front. Not a big deal, but the problem was he would pull up to the #2 spot needing us to jump up from the back when rotating. He finally took a stab up front after Vince one time, but after I passed him (shortly after), he dropped off and didn't get back in our line again.
It was more tempo riding through the base, and we just kept taking turns. When we got on Las Pulgas, Vince was running low on water, so we made our way up to the first state beach restroom for a refill. We did pass one lady who was riding a bike with only one leg (her right) and another gentleman riding beside her. When I noticed, I was in awe that she was performing such a feat, but I felt a little awkward saying "on your left" as we passed.
I felt like I had a good tempo starting out, so I went ahead and took the pull from the restroom to El Camino Real back in San Clemente. Vince took the front once we got there and led us to the base of the hill just before the protected bike paths. We were still keeping a good pace up here and even when we crossed the street to go to the other protected bike path. On the last stretch, we were still hitting speeds of 24 mph with Vince starting it off after he got up front. I thought I'd go ahead and try to blow my legs out at this point, and pushed for the last section before getting to the light.
When we were riding through the parking lot in Capo Beach, Vince was up front and I was in his draft when this idiot on a beach cruiser decides to cut across us where we both got pretty rattled. I was just able to pull to the right of Vince missing running into him. With BRCM jerseys and Nacho Libre socks, we maintained composure and just kept going.
Since Vince parked at Doheny and me at Dana Pt Harbor, we just split up after the ride. I was pretty much done, and so was my perineum. 20 mph average for 100 miles for 2 guys tempo riding was a good day's worth of training. Thanks, Vince!
We were hoping to have more come out today, but in the end, Vince and I made this trek alone. It was a beautiful day, so we weren't complaining for sure.
The plan was to meet at the people's bridge in Dana Point at 7 a.m., but when I got there promptly, no one. I knew Vince was going to park in Doheny, so I went and found him in the parking lot...still getting ready. Thank goodness I didn't accept his 6:30 a.m. offer. HA HA.
With next week's Bear ride coming up, I'm glad he was on board for some tempo riding today. That pretty much summarizes the ride throughout, and we both took some good turns up front to maintain the tempo. There didn't seem to be a lot of people out there, but we did start picking off some people in Carlsbad. The view was awesome today, and the waves seemed like they were going off up and down the coast.
Just before Del Mar, I did set my sights on one guy ahead of us who I saw that seemed to be moving at a good pace. Slowly and steadily, we reeled him in and he ended up joining us (okay, riding our draft) afterwards. We also picked up another guy from the Mira Mesa Cycling Crew, and just after getting out of downtown Del Mar, it looked like he was wanting to mix it up. Vince stayed with him, and I was just off the back having a Stinger in preparation for the Torrey hill. When we thought we'd get to mix it up going up Torrey, he peels off to the left to go on Carmel Valley Road. Oddly enough, we see the rest of his crew at the top of Torrey Pines later when we were on our halfway point break.
The plan originally was to go up the hills via Torrey Pines Road, but when we saw that the guy who joined us was going up the steeper inside way, Vince and I decided to join him instead. Type A at it's finest. Going up the descent, it looked like he was going to have some game, but midway through the steeper bottom sections, he had dropped off. I was trying to keep Vince's tempo after the steep parts, but he ended up taking off at one point and all I could do was watch from off the back. I saw him fend off one other guy who he ended up passing where he tried to pass back. Nice.
We took a break at the top for a bio break and some nourishment. At this point, we were only down 1 water bottle, so the tempo riding was helping to keep us from needing too much hydration. 2 waffles, a couple fig newtons and a refilled bottle later, and we were off again.
It was fun going down Torrey Pines Dr. and we made our way up to a few guys by the time we got to Carmel Valley Road. After the light, we ended up passing them up and didn't end up seeing them until we got to 15th street at Del Mar where we hit the red light. Once it turned green, we started to roll forward when 2 of the guys we passed earlier decided they wanted to sprint down the hill at this point. I chased them down in response and passed them both where the road forks. I think they looked a little surprised...I live for those moments. HA HA
One older guy did get in our draft, but he wouldn't take a turn up front. Not a big deal, but the problem was he would pull up to the #2 spot needing us to jump up from the back when rotating. He finally took a stab up front after Vince one time, but after I passed him (shortly after), he dropped off and didn't get back in our line again.
It was more tempo riding through the base, and we just kept taking turns. When we got on Las Pulgas, Vince was running low on water, so we made our way up to the first state beach restroom for a refill. We did pass one lady who was riding a bike with only one leg (her right) and another gentleman riding beside her. When I noticed, I was in awe that she was performing such a feat, but I felt a little awkward saying "on your left" as we passed.
I felt like I had a good tempo starting out, so I went ahead and took the pull from the restroom to El Camino Real back in San Clemente. Vince took the front once we got there and led us to the base of the hill just before the protected bike paths. We were still keeping a good pace up here and even when we crossed the street to go to the other protected bike path. On the last stretch, we were still hitting speeds of 24 mph with Vince starting it off after he got up front. I thought I'd go ahead and try to blow my legs out at this point, and pushed for the last section before getting to the light.
When we were riding through the parking lot in Capo Beach, Vince was up front and I was in his draft when this idiot on a beach cruiser decides to cut across us where we both got pretty rattled. I was just able to pull to the right of Vince missing running into him. With BRCM jerseys and Nacho Libre socks, we maintained composure and just kept going.
Since Vince parked at Doheny and me at Dana Pt Harbor, we just split up after the ride. I was pretty much done, and so was my perineum. 20 mph average for 100 miles for 2 guys tempo riding was a good day's worth of training. Thanks, Vince!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Thrusday Night Crit - 06/02/11
I started off by getting lost in the Great Park. Fortunately, Irvine P.D. stumbled across Mitch and I, off course and in a restricted area. He was kind enough to point us back in the right direction. :-)
Not long after we found our way, Shannon and Vince showed up. Then while we were waiting for our start time, out of nowhere Verm comes rolling up. He was hurting from a crazy P90 workout, but couldn't resist coming out. Nice. He must have taken rule #5 to heart!
When our start time came, we all lined up right in the front, on the line. I figured we'd hang near the front of the pack and save up for later. What was I thinking? When they told us to go, Vince immediately took the lead. I followed. I took a turn or two and so did others, but it never took long for Vince to end up back out front. Madman! This continued for the entire race.
The pack was tight at times and we were constantly jockeying for position. While I had to fend off numerous attempts by people to push their way back into the pace line, I didn't really feel like I had any close calls. ...that is until I managed to nearly take out both Vince and I. A good way into the run, Vince decided to break away from the pack and I followed. We came around near the start finish line and apparently a couple of the faster guys decided to attack back. As one of them came around us, Vince stood and started chasing. As I saw Vince's wheel pulling away from me, I stood and cranked hard too. At that point I think he had decided to pull to the side and back off a bit. The next thing I new I was running over his back wheel. Sorry Vince! I've earned my first Sandy.
A couple of laps in, Verm came flying around and took the lead. He gave the pack a strong pull, but I think this + P90 was his undoing. I saw Mitch at the beginning of the race and then at the end. Apparently he was never far behind, just stalking the pack and saving it for the end. Shannon was also running a smart race. Always near the front, but saving that can o' whoop ass for later.
When they showed the 2 laps to go sign, I saw that Shannon was just in front of me. I jumped on his wheel knowing that he'd be headed to the front. He made his way through and up to Vince and the three of us stayed close. With about half a lap to go, Vince and Shannon picked it up. I just held on. Going into the last couple of turns, Shannon opened it up and we broke away from the pack. I have no idea how much of a gap we had, I was too busy to look back. Going into the last turn I started accelerating harder and tried to carry as much speed as possible. As we hit the final straight away I passed, stood and started cranking as hard as I could. I was getting pretty close to the finish line when I caught 2 guys out of the side of my eye. I realized the first guy had too much momentum to do anything with, but I thought I could hold off the 2nd guy. He managed to edge me out too. 3rd place for me (totally handed to me by Vince and Shannon). I think Shannon and Vince took 4th/5th or 6th/7th. I'm not sure. I believe Mitch pulled off 9th.
A great time and a great showing for Team BRCM!!! Many thanks to Vince and Shannon for setting up the final sprint. Next time I'll help lead someone else out for the sprint. Rich, I think you're up to bat!
Pictures:
Not long after we found our way, Shannon and Vince showed up. Then while we were waiting for our start time, out of nowhere Verm comes rolling up. He was hurting from a crazy P90 workout, but couldn't resist coming out. Nice. He must have taken rule #5 to heart!
When our start time came, we all lined up right in the front, on the line. I figured we'd hang near the front of the pack and save up for later. What was I thinking? When they told us to go, Vince immediately took the lead. I followed. I took a turn or two and so did others, but it never took long for Vince to end up back out front. Madman! This continued for the entire race.
The pack was tight at times and we were constantly jockeying for position. While I had to fend off numerous attempts by people to push their way back into the pace line, I didn't really feel like I had any close calls. ...that is until I managed to nearly take out both Vince and I. A good way into the run, Vince decided to break away from the pack and I followed. We came around near the start finish line and apparently a couple of the faster guys decided to attack back. As one of them came around us, Vince stood and started chasing. As I saw Vince's wheel pulling away from me, I stood and cranked hard too. At that point I think he had decided to pull to the side and back off a bit. The next thing I new I was running over his back wheel. Sorry Vince! I've earned my first Sandy.
A couple of laps in, Verm came flying around and took the lead. He gave the pack a strong pull, but I think this + P90 was his undoing. I saw Mitch at the beginning of the race and then at the end. Apparently he was never far behind, just stalking the pack and saving it for the end. Shannon was also running a smart race. Always near the front, but saving that can o' whoop ass for later.
When they showed the 2 laps to go sign, I saw that Shannon was just in front of me. I jumped on his wheel knowing that he'd be headed to the front. He made his way through and up to Vince and the three of us stayed close. With about half a lap to go, Vince and Shannon picked it up. I just held on. Going into the last couple of turns, Shannon opened it up and we broke away from the pack. I have no idea how much of a gap we had, I was too busy to look back. Going into the last turn I started accelerating harder and tried to carry as much speed as possible. As we hit the final straight away I passed, stood and started cranking as hard as I could. I was getting pretty close to the finish line when I caught 2 guys out of the side of my eye. I realized the first guy had too much momentum to do anything with, but I thought I could hold off the 2nd guy. He managed to edge me out too. 3rd place for me (totally handed to me by Vince and Shannon). I think Shannon and Vince took 4th/5th or 6th/7th. I'm not sure. I believe Mitch pulled off 9th.
A great time and a great showing for Team BRCM!!! Many thanks to Vince and Shannon for setting up the final sprint. Next time I'll help lead someone else out for the sprint. Rich, I think you're up to bat!
Pictures:
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| Vince, Shannon, Verm, Mitchell and Adrian representin' |
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| Team BRCM sizing up the pack |
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| BRCM at the front! |
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| Adrian getting it done |
BRCM Lunch - BB Bayside CDM PCH NPC San Joaq BB Jamboree
GPS stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/89705827
It seemed pretty windy during lunch time, or maybe it was just me. Despite, 8 guys came out to do today's 21 mile loop. Dave joined us again, but this time he actually donned some road cycling clothing rather than his mountain bike stuff (an obvious Velominati rule violation). His take wasn't so much to conform, however, as much as it was just to try to improve his aerodynamics to stay up with the group. Good call.
While waiting at the corner, Hiroshi asked about the age of my kids, and upon Vin finding out he was the same age as my daughter stated that I could be his daddy. For obvious reasons, my response was "I would not want to be your daddy."
Marc led us down California (yes, I said Marc) to start things off. By the way, I do appreciate his interest in my health by checking on the status of my cold for the last couple days. What a guy.
Gary led on the bike trail, but we had to take a little detour before the bridge onto a street that connects onto Eastbluff due to some construction. Gary was still leading as we got on Eastbluff, but since no one seemed interested in relieving him, I came from the back just before Back Bay and decided to get some work in.
Gary and I traded off through Back Bay, but at one point (and without any prompting), Vin steps up to take a turn too. Nice. Hiroshi took one as well, but he was tired (wink wink...I'll explain this later) from the 2 previous days of riding. Gary and I kept the pace up for the most part though just to keep the rest of these guys honest.
On Bayside and through CDM, Hiroshi did start up front from the light, but Gary and I kept the pace up after we caught him. Just in case anyone wanted to attack the hill toward Ocean, I tested out the legs from my Nyes training on Monday and shot up ahead.
Once we got on PCH, Hiroshi once again took a stab up at the front. Since I had a good pace when catching him, I pulled the group to NPC where we regrouped at the left turn light. After it turned green, I thought I'd give the hill a charge and see who comes with. Although some of the others had dropped off, Hiroshi stuck to my rear wheel like bees on honey. Admittedly, I did try to shake him off a couple times, but he wasn't going to have any of it. Near the top after Pelican, I had gotten pretty worked and decided to spin up on the low gear and FINALLY shook him off, but I'm pretty sure you could see steam rising from my jersey where he was breathing down on for 95% of the hill. Again, watch this guy...tired my ass.
We regrouped at the top and Gary led us out onto San Joaquin. Just before the crest, I thought I'd turn the heat up again but got caught at a light. When it turned green, Gary and I took off and hauled down toward McArthur getting caught at the light just before where everyone regrouped.
At this point, I was trying to see how much time I had left and was contemplating on turning right on Jamboree rather than follow the group to Back Bay. I stayed in the back while Gary and others kept the pace up on San Joaquin to Jamboree. At the light, I decided it wouldn't take that much longer and went with everyone instead.
I did stay in the back while Gary, Steve, Marc and Vin took some turns up front. Seon had broken away shortly after getting on Back Bay and while I contemplated the chase, it was nice to see the little peloton not sweat it much where Steve and Gary were able to reel him back in patiently. Gary did turn up the heat on Back Bay reaching speeds in the 27+ mph range, but after a long pull and dropping down to 24, Marc took the helm but left Gary a little cooked after. I was still watching to see who was going to attack the end, and Jaffe started to break away as we got close. Hiroshi responded where it looked like he was making a move for the first to the top, so this was when I thought I'd give the hill sprint a try in case anyone 25 years old was interested too.
I went on up Jamboree but Hiroshi met me at the left turn light and we went down Bison together. I wasn't sure if he was going to sprint over the 73, and it looked like he was going to set up the 2nd light for a charge. However, since his pace didn't pick up once the light turned green, I took off for a sprint but called out to him to come with. Hiroshi actually picked up some good speed, but just couldn't hold it to the corner. Nice effort.
~20 mph average not bad for this windy day. Thanks for the training, gents!
It seemed pretty windy during lunch time, or maybe it was just me. Despite, 8 guys came out to do today's 21 mile loop. Dave joined us again, but this time he actually donned some road cycling clothing rather than his mountain bike stuff (an obvious Velominati rule violation). His take wasn't so much to conform, however, as much as it was just to try to improve his aerodynamics to stay up with the group. Good call.
While waiting at the corner, Hiroshi asked about the age of my kids, and upon Vin finding out he was the same age as my daughter stated that I could be his daddy. For obvious reasons, my response was "I would not want to be your daddy."
Marc led us down California (yes, I said Marc) to start things off. By the way, I do appreciate his interest in my health by checking on the status of my cold for the last couple days. What a guy.
Gary led on the bike trail, but we had to take a little detour before the bridge onto a street that connects onto Eastbluff due to some construction. Gary was still leading as we got on Eastbluff, but since no one seemed interested in relieving him, I came from the back just before Back Bay and decided to get some work in.
Gary and I traded off through Back Bay, but at one point (and without any prompting), Vin steps up to take a turn too. Nice. Hiroshi took one as well, but he was tired (wink wink...I'll explain this later) from the 2 previous days of riding. Gary and I kept the pace up for the most part though just to keep the rest of these guys honest.
On Bayside and through CDM, Hiroshi did start up front from the light, but Gary and I kept the pace up after we caught him. Just in case anyone wanted to attack the hill toward Ocean, I tested out the legs from my Nyes training on Monday and shot up ahead.
Once we got on PCH, Hiroshi once again took a stab up at the front. Since I had a good pace when catching him, I pulled the group to NPC where we regrouped at the left turn light. After it turned green, I thought I'd give the hill a charge and see who comes with. Although some of the others had dropped off, Hiroshi stuck to my rear wheel like bees on honey. Admittedly, I did try to shake him off a couple times, but he wasn't going to have any of it. Near the top after Pelican, I had gotten pretty worked and decided to spin up on the low gear and FINALLY shook him off, but I'm pretty sure you could see steam rising from my jersey where he was breathing down on for 95% of the hill. Again, watch this guy...tired my ass.
We regrouped at the top and Gary led us out onto San Joaquin. Just before the crest, I thought I'd turn the heat up again but got caught at a light. When it turned green, Gary and I took off and hauled down toward McArthur getting caught at the light just before where everyone regrouped.
At this point, I was trying to see how much time I had left and was contemplating on turning right on Jamboree rather than follow the group to Back Bay. I stayed in the back while Gary and others kept the pace up on San Joaquin to Jamboree. At the light, I decided it wouldn't take that much longer and went with everyone instead.
I did stay in the back while Gary, Steve, Marc and Vin took some turns up front. Seon had broken away shortly after getting on Back Bay and while I contemplated the chase, it was nice to see the little peloton not sweat it much where Steve and Gary were able to reel him back in patiently. Gary did turn up the heat on Back Bay reaching speeds in the 27+ mph range, but after a long pull and dropping down to 24, Marc took the helm but left Gary a little cooked after. I was still watching to see who was going to attack the end, and Jaffe started to break away as we got close. Hiroshi responded where it looked like he was making a move for the first to the top, so this was when I thought I'd give the hill sprint a try in case anyone 25 years old was interested too.
I went on up Jamboree but Hiroshi met me at the left turn light and we went down Bison together. I wasn't sure if he was going to sprint over the 73, and it looked like he was going to set up the 2nd light for a charge. However, since his pace didn't pick up once the light turned green, I took off for a sprint but called out to him to come with. Hiroshi actually picked up some good speed, but just couldn't hold it to the corner. Nice effort.
~20 mph average not bad for this windy day. Thanks for the training, gents!
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