Strava: http://app.strava.com/rides/1612843
Another good ride today with 12 of us tearing up the roads and bike trails in Irvine. Actually, I can't take any credit for the speed in today's ride since I only took the front twice and for short periods of time to save up for this weekend's Nautica. Others were definitely stepping it up today, and it was great to hang back and watch everyone keep the pace up.
When crossing Bonita Canyon to go up Shady, the guys just took off and I was off the back right away struggling just to catch up. I guess Jaffe must have stepped it up big time here as he ended up getting the best time up this section according to Strava (http://app.strava.com/segments/745435). Nice!
Everyone was still pushing on Turtle Rock. After one of Gary's pulls, he ended up coming all the way to the back behind me where I wasn't sure he was going to survive the pace. Then at the bottom, he makes his way up to the front and he and Jaffe (I think) end up breaking away for a bit as we headed toward Starcrest.
I started making my way up and upon getting beside Todd, thought it best not to pass again. He was also cautioning that it was a long hill, so I heeded it and rode beside him while everyone else hung on. We ended up catching up to Gary and Jaffe just at the base of Starcrest and the climb was on. I tried to manage pace to stay with LTJ, but after a couple back and forth passes, he breaks me off again near the top. One of these days.... The sucky part is as we waited for others to regroup in the court, our Strava segment included that time as well ultimately returning an average of 7.7 mph for it. Weak!
As we waited, the first 2 to make it up behind us were the bike twins, Seon and Vin. Nice! We really need to keep an eye on these guys. Others were close behind, and it wasn't long before we were flying down Ridgeline with Gary and Adrian pushing the front. One thing I did notice was Vin's line going down the first part of the hill before Turtle Rock. Scary. HA HA
Everyone was pushing once we got on the bike trail after Jeffrey. David had a nice pull, so it looks like his time trialing on the bike trail seems to be paying off. Vin took a good pull as we were next to Main, but the pull got the best of him. I tried to have him jump on mine as he started to fall off the pack, but he was cooked.
When we got to University, I decided to get on the road and work on some solo riding for this weekend. Adrian had led Todd out though and it was windy as all hell, so I ended up passing a couple guys but broke off from most of them before California. When I jumped back on the trail, I was still solo and kept working on my TT position/effort.
As we got beside Jamboree, the light stayed green unusually long and Todd, Seon and Adrian got a pretty good jump. I was still trying to catch up and got just behind Gary as we, too, were able to cross with the light green. By the time we got across, Todd was charging the hill and Seon had broken away pretty good as well. I stayed with Gary for a bit as he reeled Adrian in, but I decided to chase Seon down some time after. It took a lot of effort to reel him in, but I managed to get past him. Super effort on his part though. I was getting close to LTJ, but not close enough to make him push a little harder like I'd expect if I came close. He likes to tease me this way.
When several of us were at the light on McArthur, it was eerily quiet where no one spoke. I finally had to ask what was going on. I thought maybe they were just mad at me for not helping enough up front. If so...sorry! Of course, once the light turned green, everyone took off. Gary and Adrian had the lead, but Todd and I were going to work together to reel them in. However, when they got the light just before going over the 73, Adrian took off! Although LTJ decided not to pursue, I was game for some sprint training. Fun!
Good training ride today, gents. Sorry I lag on the blog, but crazy afternoon today. See you guys tomorrow?
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