Sunday Trainer from BRCM to Rancho Palos Verdes Loop and Back

Strava stats:  http://app.strava.com/rides/1001504

When I originally asked to see if others were riding this Sunday, the plan was to take it easy.  I didn't think I'd do too well after going bodyboarding on Saturday, so a mellower pace than Como Street or something other than a ride with more than 5K vert was what I hoped for.  BAM translation - 94 miles of riding, 3K vert, and a race pace ending.   Wha?

Vince was suppose to meet up with us but wanted to ride up from San Clemente at 6 am whereas our departure time from BRCM was at 6:30 am.  Gary had to be back before 1, so we ended up leaving on time or just a little after.  Unfortunately, we never got to see Vince and none of us heard our phones when he called, so we ended up going on without him.  Based on Strava, it looks like he was able to put in the medium distance ride he was looking to do.  Next time, buddy.

When we took off, the weather was a little nippy so we actually had a little warm-up pace heading toward Back Bay.   Once we got on Back Bay, however, the pace picked up a little more mostly due to Mr. McGee wanting to turn the heat up.  I do remember mentioning to him that we still have a LOT more miles to do today, but he still kept cranking all the way through the gate with me just holding on.  Gary did something a little unusual today, and decided not to keep up with this pace early on.  It wasn't based on ability as much as just riding smarter to conserve power given that we had a lot of riding ahead of us.   Wha?  I know!  We were all together again after and rode out through to Bayside to get onto PCH. 

On PCH, we were all taking turns and working smart together against the headwind.  We ended up picking up a few riders, with some of them dropping, but continued to rotate between us 3 only as we towed them behind us.  We didn't go as fast as we've gone in the past based on the wind, but we were well above a 21 mph average as we got to Long Beach.  It didn't slow down much as we headed down Anaheim Blvd toward Rancho Palos Verdes where we were still at 20.9 by the time we ended up taking a bio break before getting on Palos Verdes Dr. N.

After a short break, we were off and as none of us really knew the area too well, we were all a little apprehensive about pushing too hard on the hills.  Even Shannon seemed to be conserving power.  As we neared the ocean, we hit some climbs but nothing too serious.  Once we hit the more scenic areas overlooking the ocean, we were pretty much in touring mode at the time.  Gary and I were riding together while Shannon was off the back just chillin'.  We were all admiring the scenery, the houses, and the route and it was nice to just relax and look around for a change. 

At one point, another guy on a road bike not wearing a helmet decided to pass Gary and I at a pretty good clip.  I was telling Gary that we should just ignore him, but Gary said it wasn't the BAM way.  Although I was reluctant, I decided to go ahead and give chase.  I ended up getting split up from the Gary and Shannon at a light as I made my way toward and past this helmetless rider, and since I figured they'd catch up to me at some point, I just kept going.  I wasn't going too fast but just enough to where I didn't think the helmetless guy would catch back up.  I REALLY didn't want to mix it up since I didn't know what the hills ahead of us were going to be like. 

We ended up regrouping at Palos Verdes Drive East just where the hill started up, and based on the map I saw of it, looked like a bunch of switchbacks where I didn't know just how steep they would be.  Thoughts of Baldy circulated through my mind.  We did end up taking in a little more nutrition before the climb, but Shannon broke off first since he wanted to charge up the hill.  I followed shortly after, and Gary took off after he got some more fuel. 

Shannon got a pretty good jump ahead of me and ultimately ended up disappearing after a while...as expected.  The hill did have a lot of switchbacks where you couldn't see how high it pitches up after the bends, but the funny thing is it never really pitched up too bad in any of the sections.  It was a grind, but nothing like Baldy or some of the other hills we've done in the past.  Hindsight will definitely be an advantage the next time we do this route.  

Shannon had kept going after the top where there was some descending immediately after.  He probably thought there must be more climbing than that and went on to look.  I did see him at a corner where we ended up regrouping before descending together.  That was pretty much all the climbing there was.  There may have been one small hill after, but the rest was just descending.  Fun!

We made our way back to the gas station at the base of Palos Verdes Dr. N. to get some water and take our final break before heading back toward PCH via Anaheim St.  We were suppose to take it a little easy after starting off, and we did.  I guess I had turned it up a little much at one point where Gary let me know it was too early.  I could tell, however, at that point that my endorphins had kicked in but I waited.  Once we got through some of the stop lights on this street, I went ahead and turned it back up.  Shannon and Gary were also helping to keep the pace up as well, which is pretty difficult on that road.  It didn't take long however before we were back on PCH. 

On PCH, Gary was starting to feel the miles already, so Shannon and I were ready to provide him some wind coverage as we headed back.  I was a little surprised that we felt some winds as we got on PCH expecting that it would be all tailwinds.  Thank goodness it didn't last.  We did feel the tailwinds after, so I wanted to take advantage and push hard on the way back. 

Gary held on as we made our way out of Long Beach, but didn't want to hold us up and kept telling us to just go ahead.  At one of the stretches where Shannon started to pull away, I decided to go with and see what kind of speeds we can hold.  Again, feeling the endorphins where I had no problem breathing and my legs felt good, we pushed pretty good and were holding speeds upwards of 26-30 mph for long stretches.  We did get held up a little on some of the stop lights in Huntington Beach where Gary was able to catch back up to us.  However, after we got past them, the charged continued all the way back through Newport Beach and it was just Shannon and I taking down everyone ahead of us.

When we got back to Bayside, we originally were just going to cool down through Back Bay.  However, something about this road makes it just too much fun to pass up a good run where we still hit it pretty hard despite having blazed on PCH just beforehand.  We still hit over a 25 mph average through this section as well.

We made our way back to CA, and I wasn't sure if Shannon was up for a charge up it or not.  When I took off, I guess he was ready to cool down so I went ahead.  Midway up though, I didn't I was holding a good enough speed to make a difference and just backed off.  We pretty much just rolled from that point on back to Bldg 11.  Gary came in not too long after, and had a good ride taking advantage of the tailwinds on his own. 


I had a really good outing today, and I'm glad we did all the miles.  94 miles and almost 20 average made for a great training day.  I'm glad the other guys enjoyed it as well.  Thanks, gents!