Strava: http://app.strava.com/rides/2224977
GC: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/126713338
Steve was right...starting a ride at 7 a.m. was definitely brrrrrly. My car temperature reading showed 45 degrees when I got there, and I don't think it warmed up much for a while where the Garmin showed an average of 55 degrees for the whole ride. It was such a drastic change from last week's weather, but I suppose it's that time of year for the cold weather gear.
So I was thinking it would only be Shannon, Verm and I who were going to make it out, but Vin and Seon were able to confirm last minute that they were coming out too. However, before we started the ride, who should roll up but Ironman Eddie himself. And after we got on Irvine Drive heading towards Yale where we were to pick up Vin and Seon, we see a guy in a red kit turn left in front of us from a side street. We weren't sure who it was, but upon rolling up to Yale, lo and behold it was super stud climber Noah himself on his 13 lbs. sexy cheater bike.
Now I mentioned the temperature above, but for some reason both Noah and Vin didn't think it was necessary to wear leg warmers, a jacket/wind breaker or even full fingered gloves. Noah didn't think it would honor the kit to wear anything else, and I won't even begin to try and figure out how Vin thinks. Just to let you guys know, Vin indicated that his hands were freezing at one of our stops, so he then proceeded to put them down his shorts to keep them warm. Please use discretion when shaking his hands.
Okay, so back to the ride: Shannon was leading us out on Irvine at a fairly mild pace in the beginning and then began to pick up the pace some after a warm up. Although the pace wasn't hot compared to Como, the cold weather made it challenging to hold on. After what seemed like several minutes, Shannon checked up probably thinking WTF? Isn't anyone else going to work today? In my defense, Verm was on his rear wheel. HA HA. I had some trouble getting warm as well but did start working after Verm took the front. Noah got in the mix as well and the four of us traded off throughout the ride.
Going up one of the hills on Trabuco, I felt the sensation of having my bike slow down unnaturally and had to check it out where Eddie and Seon rolled up to me while the others went ahead. After not seeing the cause, I went on. Thankfully, the other guys waited for us at the corner of Marguerite and we were off again.
It was nice and quiet on Marguerite as we went up and down some of its hills. Shannon pushed the pace going up the hill after Oso, and we traded near the top. Noah then led us as we started descending, but I dropped in a tuck and got by for a quick downhill descent.
After we crossed Avery onto Camino Capistrano, Eddie and Seon decided to turn around to get back due to some commitments but the rest of us pushed through. Shannon and I traded pulls here and then on the bike trail headed toward Doheny where Shannon got the record time for the stretch from the bridge to the state beach.
After a short break, we were off and headed toward San Clemente through the parking lot and then through the stretch of bike path on El Camino Real to downtown. While we didn't set any records there, our rotations did keep the pace up. Vin did take the front just as we were getting to San Clemente, but I wonder if he would have thought differently had he known we were going up a decent hill heading into downtown.
Noah took the reigns here and started up the hill for us. We got to go up it at a pretty good clip thanks to him. I got to lead the rest of us through downtown. Shannon and I kept the pace up on Presidente, and through the beach entrance from Cristianitos. We also kept everyone honest on Old Coast Highway all the way up to San Onofre state beach.
After another quick break there, we were off again and trading pulls heading back. Rather than take a pull, Vin did pass at one point here somewhat aggressive, but I put that fire out fairly quickly. Again, I'm not sure how this boy thinks, but I did tell him later if he's going to pull out the guns, he better be ready to also pull the trigger. He didn't listen though as he did the same thing on Irvine Blvd. Same result. Another guy did try to get in front of us as well, but didn't say anything as we passed him shortly after. Maybe they're related.
We kept the pace up as we made our way back toward and through downtown San Clemente. We also had a good run on the Strava named "Doheny Drag strip - North bound." We made our way to my house en-route to Antonio Pkwy hardly slowing down. After a quick water fill up, we were off and on our way up Antonio Pkwy. Noah led us up again, and I was content with just keeping his wheel...until I got the mystery slowing again. I didn't stop long and found my way back up with Noah where we rode together to Crown Valley.
After looking back and not seeing Shannon or Vin, however, I decided to wait just after the light and Verm rolled up and joined Noah as they kept going. However, after not seeing either approach, I went back to the last light on Antonio just before the fast descent to check if I can see them on the side of the road. Vin had his chain break and Shannon had gotten a flat, but I didn't see either of them. I figured that I must have missed them due to the different levels of the road where on some sections, I couldn't see the opposite side. At this point, I was resolved to just ride back solo.
After making my way up Antonio, I took a shortcut and got on Empressa to get to Santa Margarita. When I got to the light to turn left, I looked to my ride and saw Shannon towing Vin behind him. Woo hoo...people to ride with again! Not sure who caught who, but the timing was perfect.
We made our way up toward Marguerite, where we took a quick break at the Shell station. By the way, Shannon drinking a Coke always scares me. We didn't stay there long and I think we were just anxious to get back. Although our plan was to go onto Bake for a fast descent, we ended up turning left on El Toro. Now as we were descending, we see a guy with a full red kit riding on the bike trail and thought...hmmm, that looks familiar. To our surprise, it was David. We got him to join us as well, so it was a team of 4 at this point.
We made our way to Irvine Blvd but after going through a few rollers, we lost Vin again only to find that he had again broken a chain. Ummm...this may be a good time to consider a new one. After he got going again, Shannon lead the 4 of us out with me on the back. I decided to pull up to the front after and take a turn keeping a good pace. David (probably annoyed after I said to him earlier if we had been ahead of him on Irvine Blvd, he'd never have caught us) decided to BAM it up a notch where even after I tried to pass him to take over, he didn't want to have any of it. Okay, so we were 70 miles deep in our ride and he was probably 25, but I'll play. He brought the pace up at a pretty good pace, and then I kept it up where we had both gotten away from the others. He took one more turn, but I decided I'd finish it before we got to Jeffrey and dropped him. It was a good effort on his part though.
Shannon had done a lot of work on this ride, so he wasn't up to keeping these young guys in line, but I was okay to play. Like I mentioned above, Vin wanted to do an aggressive pass in which I responded right away asking him, "do you really want to do this and is that all you got?" while matching his pace. He mentioned something about how he didn't want to break his chain again. Yeah, that's what it was. HA HA
I had a good day with the weather being cold/cool, so I didn't have any problems cramping this week. 80 miles with a ~20 mph pace with some good hills made for another good trainer for the weekend. The appetizers and Pirahna at BJs with Shannon was a perfect way to end the ride.
Thanks to all those who came out! Cool to see all the BRCM representation on the road today for sure.
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