Strava: http://app.strava.com/rides/7205787 (Como pick up), http://app.strava.com/rides/7205789 (Back through the canyon)
This morning, Lisa and I headed over to Vin's house in the morning where Vin and I would start out from to join the Como loop. Originally, we were thinking we may do the long route, but we ended up deciding to do the short route instead. This would allow us to get back a little sooner and indulge in some lunch, dessert and of course, alcohol. Plus, Vin stayed up really late preparing the food and dessert and was just not feeling it.
After we got going, I realized that the two or so minutes it took to get to El Toro from Santa Margarita was probably going to make it difficult to latch on when the Como gang would come up on us. Since we were there probably a few minutes ahead of the group, I just suggested we keep going to warm up more. At first I thought we could wait at the top of the rise just before Cook's, but by the time we got there, it seemed even more appealing to wait at the top...so we kept going.
As we got to the top, we passed one guy in a Simple Green kit and then got to the top of the 2nd rise just before the descent. It turned out the Simple Green guy was also looking to do the same thing as he waited just ahead of us. While waiting, it didn't seem like the Como crew were coming too quickly, so when the Simple Green guy took off, we took off just behind him. After passing him, he ended up jumping in our draft.
I let Vin know to not go all out as it may be nutty to try and jump in with the Como lead pack when they caught us. Yet, we still managed a good pace on our own. A tall Sho-Air guy came up on us and we ended up picking up the pace as we rotated with him. Then, all four of us started to rotate up front.
When we came up to Silverado, the Como guys hadn't caught us yet but there were a few cyclists who got on Santiago Canyon from Silverado just ahead of us. We passed them pretty easily, but as we continued to rotate, they ended up passing us back with a guy on a TT bike leading the pack. However, it seemed he was the only one among them who was willing to work. Once he started slowing down, no one would relieve him. The Sho-Air guy ended up pulling up to the front and Vin and I jumped ahead with him to bring the pace back up again.
When I got up front on one of the rises and after pulling for a bit, the Como crew showed up and came by pretty fast. There were about 15 of them, including Sol who said hi, and we jumped in on their paceline for those who could keep up.
When we got to Dump, it was a pretty good pace going up. I stood up and started getting momentum to pass, but I didn't want to get swarmed at the top again, so I pulled back into the group that started to break away. The acceleration after the bend near the top is crazy though, and I had to dig deep just to stay on and crest over the top with them.
Guys were sprinting after going over the 261, but I was happy enough just to stay with them. I figured it would still be pretty fast on Jamboree. Vin had caught up but had gotten behind someone who wasn't on board with keeping up and ended up falling off. On Jamboree, it was as I expected. On the climb, Sol was just in front of me and he ended up making his way up to the front to pull. I followed and relieved him right after and brought everyone up to the crest. On the descent, others came around and really started to hammer. I stayed on, but then 3 guys got together and launched an attack after Portola. There was one guy ahead of me who was willing to give chase, so I stayed with him until he popped. I then gave chase after and just as I was closing, I popped. They all ended up getting caught at the next light, which wasn't that far ahead, so I got lucky. I thought they may sprint on the last section before Irvine Blvd but they all pretty much checked up then. 22.3 mph average to this point.
From there, Vin and I decided to double-back through the canyon for some more miles. After fixing a flat tire I got after Portola, we were back on our way. Vin saw a group of guys behind us who he thought may catch us, but I convinced him that they'll probably pop off on the climb. They did.
Vin was definitely not feeling it on the way back, but after waiting for him on a couple different points of the ride, he told me at the Silverado intersection on the canyon he didn't want me to wait anymore and that I should let him catch me. From there, I listened to him and went into TT mode breaking away eventually. We ended up regrouping near his place since...well, I didn't know how to get back to his house. HA HA. I'm sure if Vin had slept more than 2 hours, he would have been with me the whole time.
The topper was a chicken, shrimp and pasta lunch he made along with some food Hiroshi brought when he came by to hang out. He even made fresh ice cream! And of course, there was alcohol. Hello? Vin, thanks for the post ride festivities, bud. Good stuff after a good training ride.
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