Lunch Ride - Portola and Back

Attendees:  Adrian, Vince, Todd, Gary, Galen, David, Hiroshi, Vin, Seon, Marc, Eric, Robert and me

Big group today, so I guess bringing up the upcoming OC Gran Fondo worked.  You can tell it was going to be one of those days given the pace we were heading down California toward the bike trail.

The pace got even more maddening once we got on the bike trail where people were literally sprinting after getting on.  I know I had to just to latch onto the back.  It was crazy.

Todd, Vince, Galen and Adrian were just going for it, and Gary was one of the first to realize it was ridiculous to try and keep up.  I was behind Vin and Hiroshi, and when they got snapped off the back, I tried to close the gap but succumb to just keeping them in sight.  I tried to recruit Galen to help after he fell off the pace, but he had pushed too hard in the beginning and hadn't recovered yet.  Luckily, Vince, Todd and Adrian got caught at the light on Harvard.

The pace on Harvard was pretty fast, but it was a little chaotic trying to figure out how we were going to jump onto the bike trail.  Hiroshi was calling out to go straight, while the rest of us just made a u-turn just after the bike trail opening (due to construction).

There was a good sized group heading toward Portola, but on the last rise, it had thinned out a little where Vince and Todd eventually broke away.  I gave chase, but could not close the gap in time before they reached the top.  I contemplated turning around where the other trail from Portola intersected, but it wasn't safe with others coming up behind me.  By the time I had turned around, Adrian and Vin had come around and took off where others latched on with an earlier u-turn.

I ended up riding with Seon, who helped reel in Adrian eventually, and we all managed to get to the light on Harvard with everyone else.  The pace remained fast in between lights and all the way back to the bike trail, but the group that formed at the first light remained intact.

On the bike trail back after the bridge, David's rear tire skipped out on the turn and he ended up tumbling toward a fence with Todd and I just missing him.  Unfortunately, Dave's bike was out of commission after that due to the front wheel, so Hiroshi went back to his house to pick Dave up.  Oh...Dave was okay, but it's all about the bike, right?

We took off again after making sure Dave was okay, and I was just happy to stay in the back after falling off the pack twice already by this time.  Vince launched a couple pulls, notably after Vin pulled, and this pretty much shrunk the front to just him, Todd, Galen, Adrian and myself.

As we neared the bike trail next to University, the pace did slow down some and Galen thought we were just starting to take it easy.  I know Vince and Todd didn't want to lead us up to University so that they don't get slingshot, so I figured I'd go ahead and take the last pull once we got up there.  Galen jumped ahead not realizing that it was a sprint zone, but I passed him with a lead out for whoever wanted to jump on.  Adrian and Vince did, and they ultimately sprinted for the finish to California with Vince taking it.  Adrian, hold your line.  Vince, call out which side you're passing.  Glad you're both okay.

Up California, Todd led a few of us up (Adrian had enough on the bike trail, but wouldn't this have been where he could have tested out his new compact crank?).  I jumped up front to keep the pace up, but couldn't get back into the big ring right away when it flattened out some, and the 3 got by me.  When I finally got it in gear, I ended up trying to chase Vince down who broke away from the others but couldn't close in on him before Bison.

Definitely a good training day today.  Todd rode like he didn't even ride yesterday.  We need to check his water bottle.  The others were also kicking ass as well.

Since Galen is still fairly new to us, here are some of the BAM (Broadcom Alpha Male) things he learned:
- This group does not warm-up
- Push too hard in the beginning, and this group will pop you off the back
- Never expect that the pace will stay slow.  It just usually means someone is trying to get ready for an attack.
- Cool down is what the showers are for.

Based on today's ride, we really should consider the following moving forward:
- If you're not going to get up front, don't get in the rotation between those who do.  Let others who are getting in the rotation ahead of you.
- If you think you're going to fall off the pace, let others behind you know BEFORE you do.

Just sayin'.

Thanks for the workout, gents!

P.S.  My Garmin won't connect for some reason, so no stats.