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!