Como Street: http://app.strava.com/rides/2002417
Post Como St. Hills: http://app.strava.com/rides/2001800
It was a slightly cool morning but perfect for getting back out to do Como again. Vince and Gary came out with me, so it was nice that we all represented Team BRCM in red. I think the new jerseys let us travel incognito though, but I think we were able to make some people notice who we were.
We met at the usual corner on Bryan where we usually do, and it was nice to actually have Vince with us than calling to see where we were at (ha ha). It wasn't long before some riders started to come around the corner, but initially we thought it was going to be a small group. Then, a bigger group rounded and we knew it was time to go.
The pace was unusually faster than I recall on Bryan where we were hitting over 20 mph already before we got to Jeffrey. Vince, Gary and I were in the back, where I was pointing out to Vince that the pace seemed unusually higher. Our assessment at that time was that there was about 40-50 riders.
As we made our way to Irvine Boulevard, the pace picked up but unlike what I remembered, it didn't seem quite as fast. Vince already started to push up closer to the front on here, but I stayed near the back with Gary. By this time, more riders seemed to have joined and the number of riders seemed to have increased noticeably. It was a good sized pack.
When we hit El Toro, the pace picked up pretty good so it was time to make our way up closer to the front. Gary came with me, and we worked our way around to where Vince was at. Others were still jockeying for position as well, so we were a few riders behind the front by the time we got to Cooks. Since Vince's last Como outing was via Manny's route and not this one, our position was not ideal as we made our way up. I had forgotten how close to the front we needed to be, so we did not get the jump that we needed going up. I had passed Vince at one point as I was trying to make my way up, but I'm glad he picked it up and stayed with me as we went over the double crest.
We did manage to reel in one guy who I had been telling Vince about how fast he was despite his size. I figured being with him after the crest was going to help us reel in the guys in front of us. As we were heading down with others rotating with us including him, he ended up taking off from the back and none of us responded not realizing he was going for an all out breakaway. He ended up breaking away pretty good, and we didn't manage to catch up to him until the intersection on Portola.
We had some good pacelining through the canyons, but I took a couple breaks 3/4 of the way through since I was worrying about Dump Hill. When I tried one more time, I was given a little push from the back to keep me honest and help out with the rotations. HA HA. It turned out it was someone Vince knew. Too funny. Vince turned it up on Dump after we were together for a while, and was broken off for a bit. However, a good sized pack had crested with me and the chase was on. Before we got to the last grade before going down to Jamboree, we were able to catch up to Vince and ultimately we ended up at the Jamboree light together.
Up Jamboree, the pace remained heated but by the top, I got to lead the group out over the crest. Then, all hell broke loose and attacks kept coming. This let us catch the rest of the guys that were in front of us on Portola. We still hauled ass headed toward Irvine Blvd, and were up front still by the time we made the turn toward the BJ's parking lot. Gary had rolled in shortly after, and mixed it up with some other riders himself.
For the 2nd part of the ride, we decided against sisters and opted to hit up Jamboree, Cannon, Serrano, and over Cannon again as well as Chapman. On Jamboree Gary and I had a pretty good pace going up and over, but Vince must have been saving it in preparation for the hills as well as recovering from the earlier ride.
As we got on Chapman, Gary's misfortune struck again where he ended up flatting the front tire and getting a staple in the rear tire. Thus, we had to change both before we could get going again. One on Cannon, I decided to improve my position on this hill and managed to make my way up to 5th. Cool. Gary and Vince weren't as interested, so we met down at the other side before E. Santiago.
Vince started up E. Santiago first followed by Gary, but I found a pretty decent pace and got ahead of them. I had broken away a little going up Serrano, but they caught me at a light. I still managed to get in front again and led the guys up at a pretty good sustained pace. Then, at one of the hill sections, I hear the sound of tires wobbling side-to-side in a sprint like manner and lo and behold, S-Gary was launching an attack to the top. Nice! I responded and we were racing up the hill. I think he just ran out of gas near the top, but the effort was awesome. As we were making our way before the big down, Vince ended up launching an attack as well. I was just able to get on his wheel but he took off once we headed downhill. I was going to as well, but my iPod had unclipped from my bib, so all I could do was coast for the most part. I think I coast fast though. Vince hit 50.7 according to Strava...I hit 51.
Up Cannon, I thought I had a pretty good pace going up but in typical BAM fashion, Vince attacked near the top again. We waited for S-G at the base of the next Cannon climb, but Vince had a good head start. I tried to reel him in, but once he saw me approaching took off near the top to fend me off. BAM!
On Chapman, he got a jump again after a light but this time, I was determined to make him work...this time I decided to strategize and launched a pass just before the top as he had done a couple times to me. This set the tone for the rest of the way and there was no more waiting at this point, the rest of the ride back was just a series of attacks and defending. It was nuts. We'd even swing out wide so as to not have the other jump on so easy, but neither of us were successful shaking the other off. Even with the on-going attempts to make the other person hurt and thus hurting ourselves in the process, this only made me want to share a beer with the guy after that much more.
Thank you guys for coming out today! Awesome training and once again, you guys helped proved that our work ethic as a team is second to none. Let's see how Palomar goes next weekend!
No comments:
Post a Comment