Today, we were going to do a double Back Bay run and as we had done in the past, offer points based on the first 3 of each KOM or sprint section. I'll save the point system and rules for the bottom of the blog, but Todd, Adrian, Mitchell, Seon, Hiroshi, Vin, Jeremy and Mike Z (the woo hoo kid himself, but also referred to as Tigger) came out for the event. I will point out that one of the conditions for the ride was to be at the corner by 11:45 or suffer a loss of 5 points off the bat. Miraculously, everyone made it to the corner by that time...even Vin! Game on, I guess.
Mitchell, Seon and Hiroshi led initially up E. Peltason, but Todd made his way past everyone after the 4 way intersection on Anteater. No one responded, but Adrian was at the front of the 2nd group almost coming to crawl basically begging for someone else to give chase. In fear of almost going backwards, I pushed up front and kept a pretty fair distance behind Todd. Vin picked it up after we got on Bonita Canyon and we were able to catch up to Todd at the light on NPC.
While this may be contested in some people's mind, the rule was not to breakaway at a light. Given that LTJ had waited before proceeding, whereas everyone else who was there also proceeded to do the same, there were no points deducted here.
Climbing up NPC, I can't recall the order everyone was in as we started the ascent, but at one point, Adrian did push ahead of everyone. I used it as an opportunity to match his pace but when that pace all of a sudden fell (i.e. pop!), I passed first I believe but Todd came around shortly after where I found it the perfect opportunity to latch on (although is it ever a perfect opportunity to latch on to Todd's rear wheel on a climb?). I guess I was doing okay today as I managed to stay on his wheel up to the first pointed section (the 73 overpass). Others had fallen off before then, so I thought rather than try to contest it and meet the other's fate, I'd just hang on for the ride. Todd was first, I was second, and someone will just have to let me know who got third (not that it mattered anymore...keep reading to find out why).
He kept his pace going up and I just stuck on his rear wheel for about 90 percent of the hill (hey, I ain't dumb!). I finally came around near the top and overtook Todd, but he made sure to return the favor just before we got to San Joaquin. If it isn't blatantly obvious, he was first, I was second, and again...I'd think either Mitchell or Vin came 3rd.
Todd and I had a pretty good breakaway, and we both pushed the pace up and over the hill. We managed to just get through the light on Marguerite, but did get stopped at McArthur. In my mind, I thought Marguerite was going to be the PITA to cross, but Todd and I may as well have set up camp at the McArthur intersection. Even as Vin and Mitchell got stopped at Marguerite, they were soon with us STILL waiting for the light to change.
When we got going, we were taking turns pushing the pace toward Jamboree but the 4 of us did get stopped at that light as well where Adrian caught up here. When we got going, Vin pulled back from the front and as sure as taxes, Adrian had Vin pull up in front of him in the paceline. Although I was behind Adrian at the time (LOL), I did push up to the front to help Todd with the pull toward Back Bay Drive.
When we got on Back Bay, I actually made the right turn last and had to deal with some accordian action as the group started to push the pace immediately after. Todd was even ready to close me out thinking I dropped, but I just made it up to the last bike as he was coming off from being up front. Through some rotations, I found myself behind Adrian with Mitchell was leading and thought...perfect. After Adrian took the front from Mitchell, I held him out (although you can see he was soft pedaling already) for a bit until I could see a straighter line to launch an attack for the first sprint point. After sorting through gears looking for the optimal, BAM! I bolted off. BAM! is actually also the sound SRAM makes when you get on it.
I realized I had a good snap from the group as a couple looks back and I didn't see anyone on my rear wheel. I knew, however, I was being chased, so I held it enough to where I knew I was going to get first for the San Joaquin sprint. Now this is where it gets interesting. We were all pretty much focused on the sprint that when we checked up, we realized that there was a gate that had spanned across the whole rode closing the second section. There were no signs or anything beforehand that we saw that cautioned of this section being closed, so as we approached it from our sprint, we were still moving pretty fast (at least 30 and over). As soon as I saw it and realized the situation, all I could do was call out to stop but had do everything I could to get my bike to stop just maybe an inch or two (at most) before my front tire made contact with the gate. I kid you not. Adrian, who was trying to make up ground on me, just grabbed a handful of brake and literally cooked his tires all the way through flatting out the rear by the end.
Vin, also game for sprints nowadays, was also moving pretty fast, but was unfortunately not able to stop in time and ended up actually hitting the gate with his front wheel and flipping him and his bike up like they were going to over the gate. It was a steel stop plate that was on the gate that he threw his shoulder into that kept him from doing so and allowed him and his bike to fall back toward the ground with him landing on his feet. Crazy!
Anyway, here's a picture of that stop plate:
Looking at it, I'm thinking it could have been a LOT worse. Given the series of turns we had to negotiate to come to that, it was hard to see that far out and to realize that there was a gate that spanned across the whole length of the road. I'm just glad that despite what happened, we were all relatively still okay. We'll have to find out tomorrow how Vin feels after that. Vin also suffered a cut thumb and his bike along with Adrian's also had a blown tire. Not to joke about the situation or anything, but maybe Vin should try out as a linebacker for football considering the look of that plate. It's no Honda bumper, but....
I thought maybe it was just us who put ourselves in this position, but some time after, another cyclist was coming up to the gate at a pretty decent clip where we had to yell out to him to slow down, which he thanked us for after.
With two bikes not working, Todd and I worked our way back to work where I picked up my car with my bike on the rack. I actually didn't know that Adrian needed a ride too, so I guess now it makes sense why everyone was looking at me strangely when I pulled up. One genius said "Rich can just ride back" while they drive themselves to work. After some thought and realizing there was no real other way, fine. Haha.
As I was helping to get the bikes loaded up, Mike Z. and the rest of the crew thought it would be funny to just take off without me. Great. LTJ made the ride back tough, and now these guys bail on me too. Of course, BAM kicked in and the chase of 4 rabbits was on.
I wasn't sure if I could close on them given they had numbers, but when I could see I was making ground, I wasn't going to give up until I did. It took all the way to the top of Back Bay where I finally was able to get by Mitchell and shortly after Mike Z. Hiroshi and Seon were just ahead of me, and I decided to play the cool customer and stay with them as I recovered. After going under Jamboree and over the bridge, Mitchell had come around and was going to push the pace up where I took advantage of the lead out for anyone wanting to sprint to California.
Going up California, Seon and Hiroshi pushed the pace early on but had to slow for the first light as did the rest of the group. Once it turned green, I kicked it up a notch and broke away to the top. While the whole point system was already out, I still wanted to get a good workout. Okay, so really that's what they get for leaving me. LOL! No Garmin data for this run for me, however.
It was an unfortunate day today given what happened, but we have to learn from these rather than dwell on what we could have done. One thing we now know is not to use that as a sprint section ever again.
The point system and rules:
Points for each section:
1st – 5
2nd – 4
3rd - 3
Point Sections
- First to 73 underpass entrance on NPC
- NPC Crest (before San Joaquin)
- First to San Joaquin on Back Bay
- Top of Back Bay
- First to Bison light atop Jamboree
- First to San Joaquin on Back Bay (2nd loop)
- Top of Back Bay (2nd loop)
- To light at CA from University bike trail
- Top of CA (before Bison)
Deductions (based on judging panels discretion)
- Stop sign/Red light breakaway (minus 5 pts for each)
- Rubbing on someone’s rear wheel (minus 5 pts)
- Any other unsafe acts (5 pts)
- Transparent or shorts with more than one visible hole (3 pts)
- Not at the corner by 11:45 a.m. (5 pts)
Shortcuts can be taken once again (e.g San Joaquin on 2nd BB loop), but you must be within the pack to attack for pts.
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