Strava: http://app.strava.com/rides/6051584 (Como); http://app.strava.com/rides/6051580 (Post Como)
Today's Como outing was unusual in that it didn't draw out the same number of riders as to what we've become accustomed. The warm-up pace seemed to last longer than usual also, and really seemed like it was just going to be a touring ride rather than one racers used for training. This pretty much went on all the way up through Santa Margarita and El Toro. S-Gary had gotten restless early on and was trying to push the front up but no one would really follow. There were some small breakaways early on as well, but no one seemed to care. Seon was even up toward the front on Bryan. Crazy.
The pace did start to pick up after Santa Margarita, and luckily I had pushed up some to get closer to the front. Vin, who met up with us from El Toro, had gotten behind me and followed me closer to the front. When we all started climbing up Cook's, I tried to get closer to the front group who had started to accelerate midway up. I think I caught a glance of Vin still with me as I made my way up, but I think he had dropped off a little just before the first crest. I, again found myself not exactly with the front group at the crest, but heading toward the 2nd, another ride and Vin came by and were ready to work together as we started the downhill.
What started out with 3 of us ended up growing more with a group catching up to us, and Gary had been able to latch onto that group to join us. There was some serious aggro action going on at this point, with people yelling out to push up to keep the paceline rotations fast, but not everyone was compliant or possible aware of how that worked (including Vin). I took some pulls, but they had Vin and Gary working the rotations probably more than they should. Others weren't pulling into the rotation enough, so as I got behind someone who wouldn't push up, neither would I. I wanted to save what I had, which I didn't think was a lot, for the latter part of the ride. We even got picked up by yet another group, so the pace had gotten pretty fast and eventually, I no longer so Gary or Vin in the paceline.
I had taken some pulls, and no one was eager to jump up and do the fast rotations when I did despite me pulling out. Before getting to Dump though, I was able to work my way further to the back of the line to catch my breath. At the climb up Dump, I umped out of the saddle and started to make my way past everyone in this group. I first thought I wanted to hold their pace, but instead I found my own rhythm and started to break away. I looked back a couple times wondering when I'd be pass, but no one did right away. Before the crest though, a CashCall rider came sprinting by and crested ahead of me. I tried to reel him in but the rest of the pack who were behind came racing by, so I jumped on one of the guys wheels. We all pretty much stuck together all the way to Jamboree.
On Jamboree, we caught up to some of the guys from the front group, so when we took off from the light it didn't take long before it picked up. When we started climbing, I tried to make my way toward the front and some of the guys ended up trying to take off where I was just able to latch on to them. I ended up with a pull or two on the downhill, but other guys were pushing the pace most of the way down.
We crossed Portola and people started to pick it up and try to break away. I was just behind the last person who had taken off (while there were others who didn't respond behind me), and either after that light or the next, the group ahead of me got bunched up. The next thing you know, I see one guy in a Simple Green kit fly off his bike in the middle of the crew and hit pavement...hard. His bike had even tumbled where I remember seeing his front wheel up in the air. Fortunately, no one else went down...including me.
As I sat after stopping trying to catch my breath after having passed it, other riders were rolling up to the guy who fell and others in front started to turn around and head over to help. I ended up also, but there were a lot of people already around him trying to manage traffic and tend to the guy. Eventually, I didn't have anything to offer so I took off so as to not crowd the guy and make it easier for emergency crews to access him.
I pretty much just rode back by myself at that point, and having seen the guy fall definitely took a lot of wind out of me. When I met up with Gary and Vin back at BJ's, they were also a little less eager to do more miles. After some resting though, we ended up sticking to our original plans to do some hills. We were going to take it easy, however, or so I thought.
As we made our way to Laguna Canyon via the bike trail, we weren't pushing the pace too much but we did hold a decent speed. As we got to Laguna Canyon and neared the 133, Gary called out and wanted to do a stand-up only drill up the 133 just as I was at the front. I agreed to do it, but I don't think Vin heard us as he did his own thing and took off up the hill. I found a good rhythm going up the 133 off the seat, but Gary had broken away on his pace as did Vin ahead of him. I did have to kick it up some just because they had gotten away pretty far and fortunately was able to get to the light on El Toro just behind them.
They both still wanted to push the pace up El Toro, and I'm thinking to myself, we still have a lot of climbing to do. The two of them actually got through 2 stop lights ahead of me, so they were pulling over just as I was coming up to Aliso Creek. When I came by, I was going to work more on my standing climb, and I did start to get ahead of both of them. Vin, however, midway up, found a good rhythm, and passed me where I abandoned the stand and started to spin up to his pace. He was pushing pretty hard, so it took a lot just to be able to keep up with him. I was jus able to pass him near the top, but it was not easy.
We regrouped at the first light and the two of them STILL wanted to keep pushing the pace. Animals. I was fine trying to manage my pace in anticipation for doing more hills, but near the bottom, Gary realized we had done more miles than expected where doing the hills we intended was just not feasible time-wise.
We ended up heading back via Alicia, Geronimo, El Toro and Trabuco/ Irvine Blvd, with Vin heading back home at Trabuco. The winds were definitely not favorable on Irvine Blvd, but Gary and I pushed through and held a pretty decent pace despite. We were working the whole way back, and toward the end, I thought to just keep the pace up and hopefully deter Gary from sprinting by at the end. He did try to get by as we came closer to BJ's, but my plan worked. :) I was definitely in no mood to sprint after all that wind.
It's awesome to see team members getting stronger through the canyon run and being able to work with them. Both Vin and Gary were definitely looking strong today. Great job, guys!
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