Team BRCM - Irvine, 133, Aliso Creek, Highland, Pac Island, PCH to LB and Back via BB

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/2482213

I met up Gary, Shannon and Vin at our usual BJ's meetup spot in Irvine, and we'd pick Verm up on Irvine Blvd just after Jeffrey.  It was a little nippy in the morning, but most of us ventured out with a base layer and arm warmers only.  It was a little hard (for me anyway) to warm up while breathing in the cold air, so our initial pace was actually good to warm up in.  Vin and Gary did take off at one point early on before we got to Verm, but Shannon and patiently worked our way back up to them. 

After we picked Verm up, there were some actual rotations going on as we made our way to Alton, Barranca and subsequently Laguna Canyon.  At one point on the 133, Shannon must have gotten a little excited and decided to open it up a little going up creating a gap.  We were able to close the gap eventually as we headed down the other side to El Toro.

El Toro was rather uneventful so we did end up staying together as we headed to Aliso Creek.  I thought I'd lead up Aliso Creek at a pretty good pace and found a nice rhythm to get us up there.   After standing for a while, I thought I'd see how the old seated spin would feel.  As we neared the top, Gary launches a stealth attack and passes just before the crest.  Nice!

We made our way down the other side toward Alicia, and Shannon and I got the front and took turns making our way down.  When we got on Alicia, S-G decided he wanted to pick the pace up again and broke away before we got to Highland.  I gave chase and held a pace that led me past S-G, and in doing so, I looked back to see if he'd jump on but he didn't appear to do so.  I decided to keep a good pace up, and started pedaling to the rhythm of some songs on my Ipod when near the top, S-G sneaks by me again where I yelled out "sneaky!"  I took off and got by him this time, but he may have been laughing at how I called him on his stealthiness.

After the stop sign to go across Niguel, I decided that was just about enough of that business and tore down the other side of Highland and up Pac Island to get to the top.  Sorry, S-G...you've had your fun, buddy.  You may be asking yourself where was Shannon in all of this.  Well, he decided he wasn't going to manage his pace today a bit more and be strong at the end, which was exactly what he did.  Verm hadn't had a lot of sleep, so he was having trouble early on, but he did find his mojo after we got off the hills and out on PCH.  Vin was also doing well not dropping off too much and still willing to take pulls subsequently.

On the other side of Pac Island, Gary led first but Shannon passed us both at a pretty good clip where he reached 55.1 mph.  I gave chase, but only managed 54.3...can't do too much more on a compact crank.

We regrouped on PCH, and as we made our way to Laguna Beach, I decided to work off some turkey and led the guys through downtown.  When we got to the rise just after the 133, I thought Gary was going to try to launch another attack again, so I opened it up a bit to keep him honest.  Verm and Gary started taking turns with me subsequently, but Shannon had been off the back still trying to manage his output so he can dole out some pain on the stretches.  Vin had a pretty strong pull (breakaway-ish though) after El Morrow, so I let him expend some of his youthful energy a little.

We picked up a rider on the way, and then a couple more after NPC, and Shannon had caught back up to us at this point as well.  One guy took a pull on his tri-bike as we got into CDM, and after McArthur, seemed to want to open it up some.  I'm not sure if he thought he was breaking away, but we reeled him in and subsequently passed him to let him know we're game if he's wanting to mix it up.  He turned on Jamboree.

As we went through Newport, an older rider was sitting on Shannon's wheel as he was at the front where I wasn't sure if Shannon knew who was behind him.  I rolled up from the back to this guy and asked him if he was interested in actually rotating up for if he wasn't, I was going to kindly ask him to fall back.  He responded he was willing to rotate, but after one rotation to the front and being relieved, that was the last we saw of him.

Another rider on a Felt bike (the others thought it looked like PV's, but it was an F series with a Team Garmin paint scheme, not a Z series like Paul's) jumped up and decided he was interested in taking the front from the back rather than rotating up.  After we rotated with him for a while, he ended up disappearing after a while too.   Let's just say it was a day full of Houdinis.

One one of Shannon's favorite stretches, he decided to open it up.  With Verm and I helping, this pretty much ensured no one was going to sit in our draft at this point.  Even with a headwind, we were still averaging over 25 mph.  It was nuts!

The three of us made our way through Seal Beach and eventually to Long Beach 2nd Street where we got to the Mobile station at the corner.  FYI - you'll need quarters if you want to use the restroom here.  Gary and  Vin ended up rolling in after a bit, but they did stop at a prior gas station thinking we were there.  This was our first real break, which was pretty good considering it was almost 60 miles out.  My Garmin had us at a 20.3 average at this point.

On the way back, it didn't take too long before people jumped in and started to mix it up with us.  One guy on a red bike started to ride with us, and when he didn't take a turn up front after sitting in the #2 spot, one of us passed to relieve our team member (I forgot who did what), but I guess this guy wanted to show us he was game and tried to break off.  Of course, not on our watch.  HA HA.  He did rotate in a few more times, but eventually dropped before we got back to Huntington Beach.

A couple Surf City Cyclery guys also jumped in and rotated in, albeit not consistently, while Shannon, Verm and I pushed the pace.  I tried to have Vin save some energy and not try to rotate in too long, but he still dropped as did Gary once the pace got pretty high.  One of the SCC guys decided not to continue on past HB, but the other came with.  We were still keeping a pretty fast pace as we were in front of beach stretch, where at one of the lights, the 2nd SCC guy says to us, I'm just going to sit in your guys draft since I'm tired after riding blah blah blah.  We were about 60 miles into our ride at this point already, and he says this to us like we were all fresh.  Then, after sitting in our draft, he decides to cut through a red light and try to break away from us.  I even saw him standing up and pedaling.  Once the light turned green, the chase was on and we reeled him in fairly quickly to have him once again just sit comfortably in our draft.  Oh man, I was hoping he'd try to attack at least once...but he never did.  The SOB never even said thank you once we turned off to the gas station across from Bayside to wait for the others.

After regrouping at the gas station and taking a final break, we decided to cut through BB and make our way back to BJ's via the bike trail.  The plan was to keep a moderate pace, which I think we did for the most part.  Okay, so it wasn't the 20-21 I said, but everyone was still pulling when they could.  Verm and I kept the pace up on the bike trail, and we did go by a guy on a Trek who decided to join our paceline.  No biggie.  While we maintained a pace around 23ish, Mr. Trek decided he wanted to pick up the pace some and passes at a 25 mph or so pace and creating an immediate gap subsequently.  Defending the honor of the jersey, I took off after him and eventually latched on to show him he wasn't as fast as he thought he was.  Then, Shannon comes out of nowhere and launches a serious attack, so I pull out from behind Mr. Trek and joined Shannon on our breakaway.  Yup...snapped him off too.  Shannon called it a Shake N Bake.

Verm and Vin caught us on the light to Harvard, and we rode together from there.  Shannon still had some unspent energy, so we still kept pushing on Harvard and then subsequently on the bike trail.  Verm got a flat, but urged us to continue so we did.  At Shannon's pace, we pulled away from Vin and just kept rotating all the way back to Bryan and eventually to BJ's.  In the end, we managed to bring our average up to 21 mph, thanks in part due to some tail wind, but mostly due to just working our asses off.

Vin rolled in a little after us, and S-G, who helped Verm with his flat, came in safe and sound as well.  It had gone from being quite cold in the morning, to a balmy 80 degrees at this point.  Crazy.

One thing I wanted to point out was how I jumped into some new X2U recovery compression pants I just picked up yesterday right after the ride.  Guys, you may want to look into this as my legs actually didn't feel too bad today after doing so.   Should be good for the spin bike tomorrow.  :)

Vin, you're doing better young guy.  I know the only reason you fell off today was since you borrowed my arm warmers where they must have been flapping around all over the place like a sail.  It's good to have you join us though, although the next time you bring buttered bread for your nutrition vs. taro buns for our post ride, we won't wait for you.  Just kidding.

Thanks again for another good trainer, gents!