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.
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