Tour de Poway 2011

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/1837017

GC:  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/118750162

Today was a ride in memory of Nick Venuto, a member of the Descenders, so I wanted to acknowledge our respect for him as a fellow cyclist.  Despite being on a competing team, we all share the same love of riding on two wheels powered by our muscles, our conditioning and most importantly, our will.  What happened to him shouldn't happen to anyone, so may he rest in peace.

We lined up behind the Descenders at the starting line since they were going to lead out the ride along with Nick's father.   They were definitely there in numbers, so just having Shannon, LTJ and myself out there was a little initimidating...not really.  We were there for some training, so that's pretty much what we did.  Now if this meant mixing it up here and there, so be it.

It was a little chilly when we started where I was shivering at the start line waiting for the ride to start...again.   Thus, hitting a hill like the Poway grade only after a short warm-up was just not my cup of tea.  It was awesome to see Todd and Shannon go for it early as soon as we hit the hill though as at least they were able to represent in true BAM form.  I didn't do too bad as I bested last year's climb by almost 3 minutes (1.4 mph faster avg).  I'll take it.

When I got to the top, I was in chase mode to see if I could catch up to Shannon and LTJ.  There weren't too many up there with them, so I knew I could probably get a good pack going if I picked it up.  A few had jumped on behind me when I did and I led them up to the first crest as we headed toward Ramona.  Once we hit the crest, a couple guys passed giving me kudos for the pull, and I got in the line behind them.  I could see Shannon and Todd after we crested, so I knew it wouldn't be long before we caught them.  In typical BAM fashion, they not only joined this pack but also start alternating pulls as well.  I was recovering from the hill and the pull, so I stayed in the back for a while just watching the rotations up front.

After we got on one of the side roads, I waited a bit but when I saw Todd and Shannon up front again, I decided to make my way up there as well to start contributing as well as pick the pace up some more.  2 Descenders decided they wanted to get up in front of me and pick the pace up even more, so I latched on as did the rest of the pack behind me.  I took the last pull before we hit an intersection just in case they thought I was off the back from their pull.  BAM!

As we made our way to the downhill, we didn't mix it up too much just because there were a few in the line up that were alternating also.  Unfortunately, there were too many to let us get up front safely to take the lead on the 7 mile downhill.  What's more unfortunate was how I thought I had been recording it on my GoPro only to find when I got home that I hadn't.   In all honesty though, I think we could have pushed the downhill more had we been up front but the Descenders were up there leading us down at their pace.  No one ever said they were "fast" Descenders.  I even dropped my chain for a bit thinking I had to coast down the rest of the hill, but it was able to magically catch again where I didn't have to make up any ground.

I must have used up a lot of luck with my chain catching and being able to re-engage.  By the time we got to the bottom, you see this big plastic metallic piece fly up off in front of me into the dirt.  Yes...this was my GoPro.  For whatever reason, the plastic mount that fastened my camera to the handlebar mount sheered right off.   For a brief millisecond, I thought I should just leave it and stay in the group, but I don't think my wife would have appreciated that.  I called out I was pulling over, and since LTJ saw the whole thing happen, he ended up pulling over to wait for me.  Thanks!  Shannon went ahead to dole out some punishment to the Descenders in their own backyard, which we wouldn't have had any other way.

After retrieving my camera on the dirt, I thought we wouldn't be too far off where Todd and I might be able to work together and re-connect at an intersection or SAG down the way.  However, after I started pedaling about 10 feet, I hit a bump in the road that immediately ended up flatting my rear tire.  AAARGH!  More delays!

It didn't take too long to get the inner tube changed, but there a few other groups that went by.  Once we got going, Todd and I were definitely in chase mode and just started nailing it.  We started reeling people in pretty fast, and at one point finally caught a pretty sizable group full of BRMC, that's right, BRMC, riders.  I forgot what the BR stood for, but MC was morning crew.  Along with a Swamis rider, they were able to help keep the pace up.  When they would go into a touring speed, Todd and I would bring it back up to a respectable level.

We stayed with them for a bit, but eventually separated from them at a SAG stop.  Speaking of SAGs, we only hit the first SAG stop pretty quickly for a fast BIO break and water re-fill with LTJ getting his PB&J.  Our last SAG was at about 18 miles before the finish, and it was the same thing.  Refill, a quick honey waffle, and we were off.

We were by ourselves on Coast Highway and keeping a good pace passing up a lot of weekend riders. Once we got on La Costa, we followed some road markers that had us turn right but take us on a road parallel to Coast Highway.  We were moving at a good clip on this road, but when it became apparent we weren't reeling anyone in anymore, it was time to stop and look at the directions.  A nice couple helped us out as well and pointed out no other cyclists had passed where we realized we had gone 2.5 mile of course.  It turned out the road markers we saw were from another ride giving me Solvang flashbacks.  We turned around and saw other cyclists make the same mistake where we did our best to let them know.   In the end, we did 5 miles of extra credit.

Once we were back on track, we continued to push the pace and people would jump on for a bit only to fall off.  One elderly guy was able to stay with us for a while, and after being towed for a few miles, did offer to jump to the front and pull.  He admitted though that he would probably slow us down by doing so, but I thanked him nonetheless.  Of course, he pretty much did for as soon as he'd get up front, the pace would drop pretty quickly where Todd or I would just relieve him shortly after.  It's the gesture that counts though.

There was definitely great synergy with Todd and I where we ended up finishing the ride with a 20.5 (20.4 per Strava) average even with all that's happened and for 106 miles.  It had even got hot at one point, but we never stopped pushing.  Even when one guy tried to attack near the end, we both represented BAM and took him down.

Shannon on his own was mixing it up with the Descenders and keeping them honest.  From what he shared with us, he caused them to disintegrate them to a small group by taking it to them.  Even as they kept cutting him off (classy), he made sure to give them a taste of what they'll have to swallow come January.   And to think Shannon was off for 3 weeks...man those guys don't know what their in for.

I'll include the footage from the GoPro (which thankfully still works) once I can put it together, but it's nothing great.  I may not.  We'll see.

It was a great showing today even though we were in full on training mode in preparation for next week.  We'll have to see what happens in January, Descenders.  Until we meet again.   Thanks for coming out, Shannon and Todd!