Lunch Ride - BB San Joaquin Vista Ridge Bonita Canyon Jamboree Loop

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/9805456

Attendees:  Vince, Vin, Todd, Mitchell, Marc, Jaffe and Jeremy

It was warm and a little windy today, but that didn't seem to slow the guys down much.  From the descent down California, it seemed Todd was already eager to break away gapping us early on.  Fortunately, the lights did not let him get away onto the bike trail across University.

Once we were on the bike trail, however, being toward the back of the line did have us sprinting to catch up as Todd picked up the pace early.  Vince did some pulling subsequently, but it was a day where almost everyone (cough...except Marc...cough) was going to have to do their share on Back Bay too.   Marc gets a pass though due to his infrequent but rather welcomed participation.

Jeremy and Mitchell started out Back Bay for us, but Todd went to pass both of them with me in tow and everyone lining up behind us.  The wind was definitely against us there, so we were all too happy when the next guy would come around and take their turn to pull.

As we came up on San Joaquin, Jeremy was up front leading us to it but I took off on the hill wanting to test out the compact crank after not having ridden my Cervelo for at least a couple weeks (rear derailleur spring broke).  Man, what a fun bike!  As I neared Jamboree, I got the green light and thought to just go ahead of everyone, so I can rest a little until they caught me.  I thought I was free and clear, but shortly after going through, I look over my shoulder and see a menacing black jersey coming up on me.  Yup...LTJ had just made it.  Great (spoken sarcastically).

When he passed me, I thought that it would be an accomplishment just to stay on his wheel all the way up. It was a little hard when he'd take off through an intersection unexpectedly (smh) but I did manage to stay with him even pushing up front on occasion and taking a pull here and there.  After Spyglass though, he started to gap me but not by much.  I kept the cadence high, so when we got to the top, I was able to reel him back in for some more wheel sucking action.

We both ended up going to NPC whereas I heard some of the guys behind us opted to go by the Firestation via Ridge Park.  However, Todd and I were still alone by the time we made the left turn on Vista.  Todd got the early jump at the light on me, so I was never able to have him drag me up with him.  I stayed relatively close up the first steep rise, but he had gotten away pretty good on the false flat.  By the time I got to the 2nd rise, I closed on him a little again but he was gone for the extra credit by the time I reached Ridge Park.

Now, I SHOULD have skipped the extra credit as I knew the other guys must have been creeping up on me, but I opted not to.  As I thought I wasn't too far behind Todd as we crossed near the end of the road, I was thinking he would probably wait for others.  To my surprise, however, I get back to the intersection at Vista and Ridge, and no one was there.  Crap!  I looked to see if anyone was coming from Vista and no one.  Double crap!

I shot down Ridge Park and made the right to NPC hoping to see someone but no luck.  I kept going down NPC as fast as I could and at 2 lights before Bonita Canyon, I see Todd, Mitchell and Jaffe waiting to turn right.  YES!  When we made the right, I was still trying to recover and almost fell off as Todd and Mitchell turned it up.  Jaffe kept looking back as though he wanted me to jump in ahead of him, but I thought to myself "Negative, ghostrider, the pattern is full."  In other words, get your ass up there, Jaffe, and pull us back up to Todd and Mitchell!  He did.

I did rotate up to the front once we started going up, and Todd and I rotated all the way up to the light on McArthur.  Once we got on Ford, Todd took off but decided he was going to hang back with me instead where we let Mitchell and Jaffe lead us out to the Condo.  Once I made the right turn, I didn't like the gear I was in and dropped to a shorter gear, but that ended up feeling like my cadence was a little too high for a sprint up the hill.  I didn't want to break momentum, so I stayed in it and decided to do the best I could.  I thought I was still moving up at a pretty good clip though, and it was nice to see LTJ behind me as I pushed to get to the top.  Once I got up there though, I ran out of steam where LTJ whipped beside me and kept going to get his PR for the condo.  He did say that was the best lead out he's ever had on there after we got back to the locker room.  My response:  You're welcome.  HA HA

He kept going on Bison and probably like me on San Joaquin, thought it would be more enjoyable finishing ahead of us by getting the light on McArthur leaving the rest of us behind.  We did see Marc at the light as he skipped the Condo and Vince and Vin were already at the lockers by the time we arrived.   Cool.

Great training ride today, gents!

Morning Trainer with Shannon - Shady 133 PCH BB Loop

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/9708806

Typically, winds in the morning seem fairly mild or even non-existent making for optimal riding conditions.  However, this morning Mother Nature must have missed that memo.  The temperature was ideal, however, so 1 out of 2 isn't bad.

It was just Shannon and me this morning, so I was forced to suffer alone. HA HA.  We did agree to take it easy up and warm up for a bit, which was pretty much the case up through Anteater, but it did pick up once we crossed Bonita canyon.

Now one personal observation I have riding with Shannon on this loop vs. Galen is that the intensity curve seems to be a lot flatter.  It's less surgy (if that's a word) than Galen, but still very high and just more consistent throughout.  In any case, both are a bear to follow.

We did take turns throughout the ride giving each other breaks when needed, so it was non-stop pedaling throughout.

We opted to go straight to Back Bay, which is not really easier by any means.  I was hoping we can catch a break from the wind being that it never really seemed to get behind us, but Back Bay wasn't much different.  We still powered through it averaging over 25 mph for the most part, but we both faded a lot by the time we got to the top where Shannon outmuscled me.

We continued onto to University and eventually up California, where the rotations were perfect.  Good BRCM teamwork throughout resulting in a 22.5 mph average for the ride.

Great way to start a day.  Thanks, Shannon!

Puke Route Lunch Ride

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/9653868

The quick and dirty:

• Attendees:  Seon (welcome back), Mike Z., Hiroshi, Shannon, Vin, Jaffe, Mitchell and Gary
• It was a warm and windy day for a ride
• Gary led us out followed by Shannon
• After no one relieved Shannon for a bit where Gary was about to push up again, I finally got up front to help.  smh
• Going up NPC, I missed the Shannon train but Mitchell, Vin and Hiroshi got on.  
• Gary and Seon were ahead of me, but I got by both where Gary latched on and worked together with me to reel in Vin. Gary gave me some much needed relief as I was struggling at first, so thanks!
• We caught the light on San Joaquin and watched Shannon, Mitchell and Hiroshi make the turn onto Ridge Park. 
• Gary and I got going and didn't realize Vin's chain dropped, so we made our way onto Ridge Park.  Gary had a good starting pace where I followed him for a bit, but I pushed ahead to try and reel in Mitchell and Hiroshi.
• I didn't catch Mitchell until turning right on Vista and reel Hiroshi in on the descent.  
• Mitchell and I caught the light to NPC and Mitchell helped reel in Shannon ahead of us.  Shannon had a little scare with a car on his descent.  
• Once I caught my breath, I came around to pull the guys down NPC, but when I looked back, they were off.  I decided I'd give Shannon someone to chase, so off I went.  Shannon caught me on the last climb up Pelican...quite humbling. 
• I got up on Shannon at the light on NPC and tried to draft, but he was going hard even there...so I didn't want any of that action and dropped.
• The climb up Vista was tough and I was able to see Shannon ahead of me on the first climb but once he got to the false flat, he was gone where I was only able to see him at the top of the last climb when I arrived at the base of it.  
• We took off since I wanted to get back and flew down Ridge and then on NPC alternating pulls.  
• When we got on Bonita Canyon, I'm pretty sure Shannon had evil intentions because he was just killing it on there where I was just barely able to hang on.  I helped keep the pace up on Bison and that was about all I had for today.  

Good training ride, gents!  I need to get my Cervelo back for some compact crank action because this route is just ridiculous.  

Sunday 80 Mile Ride to Carlsbad and Back

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/9508846

Shannon, Gary and Vin made it for this early morning ride starting from my house, and we were able to roll out just a little after 6:30.  With Vin coming, this was definitely unusual as he's more often late than early or on time.  I guess my text messages the night before of how he'll likely be left behind if he arrived late worked.  I've got to use that more often.

It was a little cold starting out from my house and the wind in the morning was not as mild as I was hoping for.   I was thinking though that at some point we hopefully will be able to take advantage of it, but it seemed more often than not it was a nuisance and just made the ride that much tougher.  The weather did warm up some, but not enough to cause any unexpected cramping. 

We started with a nice warm-up pace, but that lasted only for the first 2 miles.   Once we got on Camino Capistrano, the pace started to pick up making me wonder how the hell we're going to sustain this much output for the rest of the ride.  Shortly after thinking this, I hear a commotion in the line and wondered what happened.  It turned out Shannon had a flat, so we stopped to get this fixed, which was a great way to reset the pace...or so I thought.

We did start again just a little slower but that lasted only until we got to the beach.  Everyone was taking a turn, but from my perspective, it seemed like Gary and Vin were pushing the pace up higher and higher each time they got up front.  They said the same thing about me, but I just go with the flow.  I expect Shannon to do this, but I'm never worried that Shannon can't sustain it. 

When we got to the base of hill going up to San Clemente, we started to climb where Shannon had the front.  I made my way past Gary and Vin, but was unable (or unwilling) to latch on to Shannon where he ended up getting away from us for a little bit.  With Vin's help, we were able to catch up to him by the time we were right next to the freeway.  We all regrouped here as well and again the pace picked up. 

Now Gary wasn't having his best day, so he was having trouble keeping the pace and eventually would fall off.  However, this never stopped him from getting up front once he would catch up and doing what he could to do in the paceline.  That's the heart of a true BAM.  There were times I wanted to just say stay in the draft, but trying to tell Gary this is about as pointless as asking Shannon to take it easy. 

When we went past San Onofre and the state beach, I was trying to keep a good steady pace with Shannon and Vin, but Shannon dropped off to ride with Gary so Vin and I pressed on.  I figured I'd go into TT mode and just maintain a nice managed pace while Vin stayed in my draft.  Vin eventually couldn't handle all my sweat at some point, so he decided to ride just outside of my draft.  However, doing so made it a little tough for him to keep up, so he eventually fell back.  I contemplated on seeing how far I could go on my own ahead of the guys, but decided it would be more fun to go through the base with the guys, so I stopped to regroup with the others at Las Pulgas.

As we went through the base, it started out mellow but once we made the right turn, it was fast and furious once again.  I would take turns with Shannon mostly passing on the incline since it was hard to pass him otherwise.  He'd say I'd charge up the hills, but it was really the only way I could expect to keep with him after.  Sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do.

We made it through the base and didn't stop for a break all the way to Ponto Road, the 40 mile mark.  Once we regrouped there, we started to make our way back and saw a few riders together with one wearing a Qualcomm kit.  Of course, this riled up the group including Gary who started to pick up the pace just after.  They did try to jump on, but that didn't last very long.   When we arrived at the liquor store in Carlsbad to refuel, we were all alone again..

The took our time at the liquor store to allow everyone to get more fluids and fuel up.  This made for a hard time (for me anyway) to warm up again after we took off where I just couldn't manage my breathing right away.  I had to just hang on as we made our way to Oceanside where I finally was able to start helping with pulls again.  

On the base on the way back, I knew Shannon was going to light it up (I've ridden with him enough times to know how he loves this course) and light it up he did.  After climbing up the hill with him after the stop light to turn left, I knew I had to manage my power as best as I can.  I took my turns up front, but also stayed in back and let him pull his mad pulls when he was feeling good.  Eventually, Shannon's pace got too hot for Vin and he eventually fell off leaving just Shannon and me.  We saw a group of riders going the opposite way, which was surprisingly the only large group we saw for the day.  One guy had turned around just as we passed as though he was going to try and jump on, but that just didn't happen given our pace.  I would take my turns when I could, but only when 1) Shannon would finally slow down and 2) when I knew I could stay up front for more than a second.

As we went up the last hill just before the gate, Shannon kicked it up a notch and I was just off his draft as we approached the gate.  I remembered at this point I was suppose to wait for Vin to make sure he made the correct turns since he was unfamiliar with the route, so I figured this would be as good an excuse as any to drop off from Shannon completely.  Thus, at the turn on Las Pulgas to go back onto the bike trail, I waited there to make sure Vin found his way out.  Shannon went ahead since he had to take a bio break.  Once I saw Vin exiting the gate with Gary, I went ahead and started to make my past some of the riders who had passed me as I waited.  It was just after going under the 5 freeway that I ran into Shannon who was waiting for all of us there.

Once we regrouped, we started to chase down some of the riders who had passed us again and all fell behind Shannon who reeled them in.  On the rise before the opening in the gate, I started to ascend and broke away from everyone not realizing that our guys hadn't followed me.  I slowed up a bit after the crest and some others started coming up and eventually made their way up to me.  One guy had gone through the fence opening ahead of me, so I jumped on his rear wheel to see if he was willing to do any work.  He checked up right after, so I went around him and waited for the others to latch on.   Once they did, I started to pick up the pace again.

Now two guys with the same kit started to pass me where I thought "cool, someone to ride with."  Shannon and Vin started to get in the rotation also, and after a while, it was just us 3 doing most of the work.   We kept the pace up pretty good where only one guy was able to hang on for a bit all the way past the power plant.   He was sitting in our draft for the most part, but had gotten pushed up to the front where after a 2 second pull or so, he rolled off and just didn't have enough to hang on after almost taking Vin with him.

We kept going and made our way out of Trestles and decided to wait and make sure Gary was okay.  Once Gary came, he indicated he didn't want us to wait on him any longer as he passed us, so the three of us went on from there. 

It was a little busy going through downtown San Clemente, but once we made our way to the bike trail at the base of the hill, Shannon and I started working together again keeping the pace up.  We pretty much did so all the way to my house, and despite the high pace we were going, Vin managed to stay in the draft and keep up the whole time which Shannon and I bought thought was impressive. 

At the end of the ride, we kept a move average of over 20 mph, which was great considering the winds that never seemed to cooperate.  We had a beer or two at my house for some post ride refreshments, but neither Gary nor Shannon were able to go to Vin's for some lunch he wanted to prepare for us.  Lisa and I made our way there after, and I gotta tell ya, the boy can cook.  We're going to have to take him up on his offer to cook for us after a ride more often. 

Thanks for the workout, gents. 

Morning Ride - Shady 133 NPC Loop with Galen

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/9167399

Aside from a good kick square to the nuts, nothing will wake you up faster than riding this loop with Galen.  We couldn't have asked for better weather either:  slight overcast, mild wind, and slightly cool temps.

After Galen resolved a tire installation issue in the parking lot, we were off.  It was nice to actually start the ride at a warm-up pace this time as both he and I were doing self-assessments of how our legs will be this morning. By the time we crossed Bonita Canyon heading toward Shady, we picked up the pace in typical BAM fashion.

When we got to Shady, we kept the pace up but nothing too ridiculous as I knew it would be fun to save up for the 133 run.   Galen and I were taking turns up front relieving each other all the way to the 133.  When we got on there, I was up front originally but Galen took the lead and for the most part led us almost to the top.  It's cool how he looks back to check on me to make sure I haven't dropped.  He does this often and rightfully so.

We both were keeping the pace up as descended on the other side, but it's tough to pull after trying to hang on for so long at the pace Galen likes to descend.  I did what I could.

When we got to Cliff road, I didn't realize it was a sprint zone but Galen took off up the hill like a bat out of hell.  I gave chase and was up beside him just as we reached the 2nd stop sign subsequently taking the next pull.  Yikes.

We rotated more on PCH but Galen led the last charge right before NPC where I was thinking...maybe we should slow down a little before the hill.  HA HA.  Not Galen though...he rounded the corner and took off up the hill where I thought, oh man I guess I'll be riding alone.  However, I had found a good stride and made my way up to him off the seat, but had to sit down after and spin up where Galen got on my rear wheel as I did.  We were just behind this one guy who was climbing up ahead of us off the seat while wearing a back pack, and it seemed as we tried to reel him in he kept trying to keep us off.   It took after the 2nd Pelican and Galen to taking the front to reel the guy in just before the crest where we both gave the guy props.

We got a break in a light at the top but we started charging down the other side only to have a truck block the bike trail as he made a u-turn mid-way down the hill.  Once we got by him, we were racing down the hill.  I thought I was moving at a pretty good clip, but then Galen passed me spinning like a mad man where I was able to latch on for a bit.  Once we got past the 73, I took the front and took advantage of my standard crank where Galen just didn't have enough gears to pass me again.

On Bonita Canyon, we still kept the pace up all the way to McArthur where at first we contemplated doing the Condo, but decided we can skip based on my time constraints.

When we got on Bison, we were talking for a bit but I let Galen know we should sprint out the rest of the ride once we got over the 73 (unlike Adrian who likes to sneak by when you least expect it - I need my mirror back).  I think he may have missed a gear so I took advantage and broke away hitting an 809 watt average for 10 seconds.  I still don't know what this means, but it sounds cool.

Thanks for coming out, Galen!

Lunch Ride - Stacked Again!

Strava:   http://app.strava.com/rides/9114724

Attendees:  Shannon, Todd, Galen, Vince, Adrian, Mike Z., Jeremy, Vin, Mitchell, Eric, and Hiroshi

Highlights for today's ride:

• We opted to do the original more hilly route, but I'm not sure a Portola OAB would have been any less painful considering the crew who made it out today.  
• Todd and Galen trained this morning and earned the overachievers award for the day.
• Nice to see Mike Z. out with the crew today and even leading us out for a bit.  
• When Shannon took the lead on Anteater, the pace started to get nutty early on.
• On Culver, there was a little gap formed by Galen and a few others, but we were able to close that up before we got on Campus.  
• Going up Turtle Rock, there were some good pulls by others early on but I ended up behind Adrian who took one of his sprint pulls again.  Smooth is not in his vocabulary.  
• The pace stayed pretty fast going up Turtle Rock with Shannon finishing out the segment causing some serious attrition.  
• On Shady, the remaining crew stayed together all the way up and over the crest.  
• On the bike trail on the 405, Galen relieved Vince and was leading the pack followed by Todd and I when Adrian passed with some bad intentions.  Having been in the draft 95% of the time, he didn't realize how windy it was and blew the hell up way before the bridge.  HA HA
• I had given chase to Adrian for the sprint only to pass him once detonated and stayed up in the front for a while leading the group up to University.  I was pretty blown up after giving chase, so ummm...thanks guys?  HA HA   Vince mentioned later how it's funny that Adrian having done the same thing so many times hasn't learned from it yet (or something to that effect)...classic.
• A bunch of us got to regroup at the base of Ridgeline and I'm not sure who led us off originally, but I managed my pace just until the base of the steeper incline midway up.  I took the lead there and then led the others to the 2nd rise but got passed by Shannon, Todd and Galen where I just didn't have enough to latch on.  
• I hadn't fallen too far behind them, and Mitchell was with me all the way up to Turtle Rock.  Thankfully, Mitchell came around and worked to close the gap on the guys ahead of us.  
• As we rounded Sunnyhill to go up Shady toward Bonita Canyon, I swung around Mitchell and was sooooo close to being able to latch on to the guys ahead but near the top, they accelerated just a little bit more and that's all she wrote.
• There was another regroup at the light to turn onto Bonita Canyon, so there was a good sized group again that headed up toward Summit.  
• Todd, Shannon and Galen amped it up early on, so I fell off pretty early but with Mitchell in tow.  
• By the time we rounded the top and made our way down, just about everyone had caught up by the left to go back onto Bonita Canyon.  
• I tried patiently to wait my turn in the rotation, but when Mitchell didn't get relieved soon enough, I took the front to pull us up the hill.  Shannon had passed near the top, and when I looked back, no one jumped on so here I was trying to get on Shannon's wheel.  
• By the time we got to McArthur, the light was green and I was so blown up that I was just pushing as hard as I could just to make it across with the others.  However, after crossing, I needed some serious oxygen. 
• Everyone else had gone ahead at this point to tackle the Condo, but I stayed back for a surge up the hill.  It wasn't enough for Strava or to catch a few of the guys ahead of me, but it was tiring nonetheless.
• I contemplated a sprint finish but just couldn't get close enough to attack where Adrian took off and finished strong.

Good ride today, gents.   Thanks for the workout!

Noah's Wildflower Race Report

I headed up to race at Wildflower this weekend – WF is one of the biggest & most famous triathlons in the world.  This year was its 30^th anniversary -- it’s my 10^th year racing there, and it was the first tri I ever raced in ’03.  I’ve done the Olympic race there twice and the Half Ironman 7 times – I was supposed to do it again this year, but I pulled the plug about a month ago since I’m fat and horribly out of shape.  I was heading up with a bunch of friends and we rented a house for the weekend, so I decided to switch to the mountain bike sprint race instead – no point in going up there and not racing at all, and the sprint & half iron are both on Saturday (Olympic is Sunday), so we’d still have the next day for wine tasting.  I’d never done the sprint before, so it seemed like a good time to see what it was all about.

I borrowed a mountain bike on Thursday (no cross bikes allowed) and was pretty much hoping to not crash, which is typically what happens when I’m on the dirt.  Ate a ton of pasta at the house Friday night and had 4 or 5 glasses of wine – slept like crap and woke up with a headache, but that’s probably unrelated.  The sprint race starts after the Half Iron, so I had a few hours to kill at the race site in the morning.  I was in the third wave to start – simple swim course, just 200 yards out, around the buoy and then back.  Swam through a lot of people for the first hundred yards, then found some open water and enjoyed the rest of it.  Out in 6:30, which is how all tri’s should be – 6 minutes in the water is plenty…

Had an okay transition to the bike and figured I’d hit the bike hard.  I haven’t been running at all lately, so it seemed to silly to save any energy for it.  I locked out the front fork (Trek Superfly carbon 29’er) and started the ride.  It rolls for the first two miles – all paved.  Then a long paved climb, gravel fireroad descent, back up the same paved climb, then a dirt fireroad climb before the final mile straight down a steep paved hill.  This is pretty much my ideal mountain bike course – 70% non-technical climbing and light on the descents.  I rode all out on the climbs & managed to not die on the gravel descent (one close call).  When you finish the descent and rejoin the paved road to hit the climb the second time, you merge with the rest of the people  just starting the ride.  I almost slammed in the back of six guys in ponchos & sombreros (not everyone takes the racing side as seriously as Broadcom riders), but that’s the beauty of the MTB division – I just hopped onto the dirt on the side of the road and passed them.  I wasn’t sure how I was doing after the swim since it’s always a confusing mess out there, but at the end of the bike there was only one bike already racked up in my area.  The racks are huge at WF (300 per row), so I couldn’t tell if that guy was in my division or not – or maybe he never made it out of the water.  I’d gotten passed by two people – one was a 51 year old on a rigid frame, which means he started at least 3 minutes behind me – I never saw him again after the downhill, he was seriously moving.  Two guys passed me on the steep finishing descent but I passed them back in transition – they were flying down that hill, which means they were going at least 12 mph once you realize I was probably descending at 4 mph with my brakes locked.  Downhills suck.

I started the run thinking I might be in second, so that was good motivation.  The run is on the same first part of the bike – tiny little steep rollers, so it’s tough to get a rhythm going.  It was only 2 miles though, so I went as hard as I could.  Never got passed, passed a few young guys from the wave before me.  Hammered the long finish chute and finished in 1:00:12.  I might give up this whole Ironman thing – one hour races seem pretty much ideal.  I figured I must have done decently well since I didn’t get passed in the run.  Checked the results and it turns out I won my age group.  No one was more surprised than me.  Maybe mountain bikers just can’t swim…

Got to stand on the top of the podium & scored a big ass gold medal and a nice belt buckle.  No need for the buckle any time soon – belts are for skinny people, and my gut holds my pants up just fine, thank you.  Always a fun race – and the six or seven wineries we hit the next day weren’t bad either.  Wish I had brought a BRCM jersey to wear on the podium, but getting a spot on there was a bit of a surprise…

Lunch Ride - BB PCH CDM NPC Pelican Vista Bonita Cyn Condo

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/8745351


- Attendees:  Todd, Vince, Mitchell and Jeremy

- Weather:  Windy making for a tough Back Bay run

- Good rotations through Back Bay despite the wind with everyone taking turns to keep the pace up and no one dropping.  Jeremy almost did, but jumped right back on.  Nice.

- More rotations occurred on PCH as we made our way to Avocado.  Mitchell was behind Todd, who was up front, at one point and started to push forward but had 2nd thoughts where I saw him look to see if he can get back.  I had blocked him off, however, so he pushed on like a trooper.

- After going through CDM through the Ocean route, we got back on PCH and Todd led us all the way to NPC.  Good idea as we need to calm this guy down for the hills.  Todd was pushing the pace pretty good anyway, so....

- Going up NPC, Todd started us up but I kept the cadence high and got ahead of everyone to Pelican.

- We regrouped and started up Pelican together with Mitchell and Todd leading the group.  Vince and I made our way up past them at some point but we all were pretty much together at the base of the last climb.

- I had momentum so I started the climb at a pretty good pace and started to gap the others.  When I did, Vince yelled "gap!" reminiscent of our Stagecoach outing.  Of course, I slowed my pace to be courteous, but it wasn't long before Todd was making his way past me.  Aaaargh.  I started to try and get back up to his pace, which did have us both breaking away from the others, but he was just outside of my reach to be able to latch on.

- Todd got the green light to NPC, but I got caught where everyone else caught up to me at that point.

- I started us out on NPC as we made our way to Vista, but Jeremy came by and broke away for a bit where I gave chase but didn't want to expend too much knowing Vista still needed to be done.  Jeremy did start us off on Vista, but I got by early on with Mitchell latched on.

- Mitchell stayed with me through the whole first climb and as it flattened out a little, but on the last rise before Ridge Park, I broke off...as planned (wink wink) and met Todd who was waiting for us up top.

- After regrouping, we headed down Ridge Park and the winds had a few of us, including myself, moving all around during our fast descent.  Scary.

- When we descended down NPC, I think we had the wind behind us so I jumped to the front after Todd started us off and led us down.  Vince came around at a fast clip subsequently where I jumped on, and we ended up gapping the others.  We exchanged turns, but in the end, Vince ended up gapping me and everyone behind crept up on us where we all regrouped at Bonita Canyon.

- Rotations continued on Bonita Canyon, but once we crossed McArthur onto Ford, Todd, Jeremy and Vince started to pull away while I tried to recover in preparation for the condo.  Mitchell stayed with me.  Vince looked like he kicked the pace up at the crest, so they had a pretty sizeable gap once they got on Jamboree.

- When I got on Jamboree, I'm not sure if I was in the ideal gear, but I did start to close on the 3 guys ahead of me.  However, I just couldn't close enough as they all kicked it up near the top where I was just in chase mode behind them all the way to Bison.  I almost caught Jeremy but they all made it to Bison ahead of me with Vince and Todd slowing for a car for the right turn.  For a segment perspective, my time was 6 seconds less than theirs, but from a KOM perspective, they all did what was needed to finish ahead of me.

- I'm always game to blow it out on Bison, and Todd and Jeremy seemed game.  Jeremy started to pull away from Todd, but I managed to reel him in and pass before we got to California.

Great workout again today, gents.  I'm now rethinking about riding down to San Diego tomorrow morning as a result.  Thanks?  HA HA.  

Morning Team Hammerfest

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/8652349


What a perfect morning for a hammerfest.  The wind was low, and the temperature was cool but comfortable.  Galen and Gary made it out and as planned, we were rolling by 6:15 a.m.

Now the ride started out a little differently today from the last time we were out.  Typically, Gary would lead us out through Peltason and Anteater (rightfully naming that segment after him), but today I think he realized pulling back a little would be a better idea.  With Galen loving to hammer up Shady and through the canyons, I couldn't agree more.

We all stayed together and kept a good pace going up through Shady and heading over to the 133.  Once we got on the 133, Galen dropped the hammer as he indicated he would so it was just enough to stay with him as he climbed up 2 miles to the top with an almost ~22 mph average pace!  I stayed on his rear wheel the whole time just hanging on...barely.  Gary, however, was not as fortunate, but that's because I probably don't give him enough wind protection...picture a giraffe trying to draft behind a squirrel, right?

I was able to come around near the top and start trading pulls with Galen as we made our way down, but Galen loves to work, so my pulls were definitely not as long (or fast for that matter) as his were.  I did what I could though, so if anything I managed to give him the breaks he needed to resume his made pace.

When we got to the bottom at Laguna Beach, we contemplated waiting for Gary but Galen had to go back, so we rolled on.  Galen was still keeping the pace up on PCH, so I held him out for as long as he was willing to hold it and relieved him only when he slowed...which was not often.

As we were making our way to NPC, Galen offered the idea of going the Back Bay route as an alternative.  Now some may think this is easier than NPC, but to those who do you obviously haven't ridden with Galen on Back Bay.  I was open to the idea of a Back Bay charge since I think he dropped me the last couple times I went through there with him.  So off we went.

We went the typical Poppy Ocean Avocado route, but the funny thing is we were both thinking how it would have been better just to cut through downtown CDM after we decided to do so.  It wasn't long though before we were back on PCH.

Once on PCH, Galen decided to open it up and go for top Strava honors all the way to Jamboree. When he took off, I wasn't as close to his rear wheel as what would have been ideal so my draft behind him was not optimal where I could swing around to help.  Thus, just staying on for his ~30 mph average pace for the mile to Jamboree was ridiculously painful.  We both PR'd that segment as a result, but just missed the top 10.  With more people and/or me helping out next time, we can do better next time.

once on Back Bay drive, I gave Galen a break and led us out for the initial pull.  We were both worked, however, so this was not going to be a record breaking run.  We took turns a little more evenly through here, and I charged to the top at the end.

We kept the effort up (I'd say pace, but we were cooked) all the way to California.  After we crossed, we hit the first light and had some others who had come up behind us.  I stood up and decided breaking them off would be fun, so that's what we did.  BAM!

S-Gary stuck to the original plans and went up NPC getting PRs in the segments including that hill.  Good work!

Great morning workout, gents.  I hope more can join us next time.

Lunch Ride - Loaded Pack and My Hidden Agenda

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/8599709

You know that feeling you get when you ride a roller coaster climbing up a long track to prepare you for fast steep drop with a lot of twists and turns?  Yeah, that pretty much sums up how I felt when I saw who came out for today's ride.  We had a good sized group with Shannon, Todd, Galen, Gary, Adrian, Vin, Hiroshi, Jaffe, and Mitchell making it out for the ride.  If Vince, PV and Noah came out, I think I would have had to change my shorts before pedaling out.  To boot, it was pretty warm and fairly windy to make my anxiety even worse.  The funny thing is you can see and for some, hear the worry they felt seeing how loaded the ride was.

S-Gary started us off in his true form and led us out at a less than ideal (too fast) warm-up pace with everyone managing their anxiety behind him.  Others started to make their way up front to help eventually, and even on Anteater, there were some who I had to get around just to get up to the next guy to draft behind.  HA HA.

Once we crossed the light on Bonita Canyon, the pace picked up pretty fast with Galen starting to gap the others as we ascended up the first hill.  When I saw the gap, I figured I may as well actually start working now and closed the gap and subsequently took a pull near the top.  A few had held on up and over the hill, but by the time we got on Sunnyhill, it was just Galen, Shannon, Todd, Mitchell, Adrian and me.

The rotations on Turtle Rock was your typical organized chaos where people just pulled randomly while some didn't.  HA HA.  I took some pulls when I could, but near the bottom, Adrian started to break off causing Galen to give chase.  Now I'm not sure what Adrian was thinking at this point given that the last time he did something like this (sprinting with Galen on Culver to Campus just before we head up to Turtle Rock), it didn't really work out too well for him where he dropped pretty early on.  Wouldn't you know it, the same thing happened again today.  I guess history really does repeat itself.

Once we got past Campus and started going up, Shannon and I made our way past them and had a pretty good pace heading over to Starcrest.  Rather than sitting in Shannon's draft, I did something even less intelligent and tried to ride abreast and hold his pace.  Dumb.  Eventually, I ended up dropping a little bit behind him as we made our way onto Starcrest.

Now as we got on Starcrest, Shannon kept ahead of me but I maintained a good pace behind him.  At one point, Todd started to make his way past me, but I was able to spin up a little bit more and stay ahead of him.  This increased pace also allowed me to get by Shannon, so what these guys didn't know was that I was trying to do my best on Starcrest with a hidden motive:  I wanted to PR this hill for Eddie's (one of the guys on our team) dad who passed away last Saturday.  Eddie's dad had a work ethic like no other, and this ethic definitely carried on to Eddie, so in my mind I was not going to stop pushing until the hill was done.  It's funny how something like this can motivate me, but it worked:  I beat my best time by 4 seconds.  This was for you, Mr. Manny Narvaez.  RIP.

Back to our scheduled program:  of course, Todd got by me at the very end but like I told him in the locker room, I'd never hear the end of it if I didn't "let him."  HA HA...just kidding!

Shannon was just behind me, so the three of us kept going and made our way down Ridgeline back onto Turtle Rock together.  Todd was just a little bit ahead of us, but Shannon closed in on him eventually with me in tow.  We all worked together as we made our way back to Sunnyhill and the North side of Shady heading to Bonita Canyon.  The pace was harsh throughout, so there was no sprint to the bike trail as would be the norm.  Thank God!  We got stopped at the light on Bonita canyon and were followed shortly by Galen and Mitchell.  Oh great...NPC was going to hurt too.

The 5 of us made our way to NPC and fortunately got the green light just as we were coming up on it.  Galen started up the hill first followed by Todd, Shannon and Mitchell, but as he started to gap a little, I found my way up to his wheel and was pretty content to just ride behind him for the rest of the hill.  What?  I ain't dumb.  Now you can say I was blocking, but anyone else could have gotten up front as well and no one did.  HA HA.  When it flattened out a little, I decided to go ahead and get up front but this was probably not the best idea.  Once everyone started to pass me, I didn't latch on right away.  I also crossed the street separately from them, but found myself waaaaay off the back after rendering it futile to even try...especially with Shannon up front by that point.

I was pretty much on my own at that point, but I did see Mitchell drop off where I thought I could catch him for some company.  However, he ended up skipping the horseshoe, and I almost skipped but decided I'd go on it on my own.  At this point, both my calves started going into seizure mode so I struggled just to make it around that damn thing (17 mph average pretty much sums it up).

Even on San Joaquin going down the hill, my calves were still locking up but I pressed on.  I did end up skipping Spyglass though as I figured I'd just rest, regroup with the others and try to blow myself up on McArthur again...which is exactly what I did.  Todd and Shannon got by at the end but I tried to hang on for a good run on Bison.  I took off at one point for a sprint, but Shannon reeled me in before California.  Todd jokingly wanted to sprint some more on California, but my calves were done.

Great ride today, gents!   Tomorrow morning should be equally painful.  I hope you can make it.

Team Morning Ride - Shady 133 PCH NPC Jamboree Loop

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/8305091

After a less than stellar outing at last night's crit, I was really eager to get out with the guys this morning to give myself a solid beating.  Galen, Gary and Jeremy made it out for the ride, and with the weather being ideal (in my opinion anyway), I knew it would be a good one.

Gary led us out in the beginning in typical S-Gary fashion, but rather than waiting until Bonita Canyon, I did opt to relieve him just before we got to Anteater.  Galen came around for a pull as well in his typical fashion also.  I took over after we crossed Bonita Canyon but he came back around and brought the pace up as we made our way up the first rise to the top.  I hung on for dear life, but unfortunately S-G and Jeremy were not up for such a pace.

I did come around after we got to the crest and the two of us made our way toward the gate and the bike trail up Shady.  Galen was again up front once on the bike trail, but I came around during the steep rise just after the first bridge.  I stayed up front for a bit but Galen said we should keep the pace moderate until we get to the 133 where we can mix it up.  Fine by me.  HA HA

We regrouped with Gary and Jeremy just at the top of Quail Hill and made our way together toward the 133.  I had a pretty good pace as I led us out to there, and when Galen took over on the 133, it was just Jeremy and I with him.  Jeremy stayed on Galen's wheel as he took the lead, so I got on Jeremy's.  At some point, Galen thought Jeremy said "go," so he kicked it up a notch as we climbed to the top.  Jeremy tried to hang on, but Galen was moving so he waved me on to pass.  Galen was already moving though, so even as I stood up to try and sprint to his rear wheel, that proved to be an effort in futility.  Fortunately, Galen slowed up for me after we got over the top, and we made our way down toward PCH together taking turns pulling.

We regrouped again just before PCH and then made our way to NPC.  Jeremy took a pull on PCH but eventually Galen and I were alone again on NPC.

I was already worked by the time we got on NPC, but I wanted to work on my off the seat climb.  I found a decent rhythm going up where at first, I wasn't sure I'd be able to hold it but my heart/lungs settled down and I was able to stay off the seat for a decent amount of time.  Galen stayed with me throwing out words of encouragement that helped, but passed just after the 2nd Pelican light at the top.  Fortunately, I had enough left just to barely be able to stay with him.

We made our way down the other side and got the light to go on Bonita Canyon.  I know Galen's strong on this section, so I stayed behind him all the way until after the 73 underpass.  As we started going up the rise, I finally got up to the front and helped get us to McArthur.  Here, Galen was saying he didn't think he had it in him to attack the condo, so I told him I'll see how I feel when I get there.

I led us up Ford initially, but Galen jumped to the front just before the top.  There were a lot of cars on Ford, so we had to ride to the right of them as we made our way onto Jamboree.  The light was green, however, so we knew it would be clear once we got on there.  Galen picked up speed and went out wide and started mashing where he gapped me immediately.  His pace, however, slowed once he sat down where my steady higher cadence pace let me get by him about 3/4 of the way up.  Despite doing so, I knew my pace wasn't fast enough to challenge the KOM so I did slow down just before the intersection.

When we got on Bison, Galen and I were talking about the condo and he'll be trying a different strategy next time around.  Oh great.  He did indicate his sprint could use some work (in his words, he said his sprint sucked), so I thought I'd challenge that after we got over the 73.  I took off and started to donkey kick for a sprint to use my hamstrings more than my quads, but when I sat down and looked at my speed, I knew it wouldn't be long before he passed.  Sure enough...Galen did.  Sandbagger.  HA HA

It was good to get a morning workout in like this, so I hope we set this up more regularly.  Thanks for the workout, gents!

GP Crit - Masters (My Ride Report)

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/activities/8285801

I knew it was going to be a long day given the wind conditions when I walked out of work today.  Have I mentioned I hate wind?  Nevertheless, I made my way to the GP crit to test out the Masters class with my newly acquired racing license on their shorter 1.8 mile course.  

When I got out to do some warm up laps, my first one was a sighting lap just to see where the dangerous sections of the track are.  Overall, the track wasn't bad but upon heading south east on the track, the head wind was ridiculous.  Even at a moderate pace, the power outage for that section was upwards of 300 watts. Yikes!  I did 12 miles for a warm-up, and felt decent when it was time to line up. 

When the race started, I was really interested in getting in as much of the draft as possible given the solo warm-up.  However, for the most part, I didn't realize it was best at the outside part of the group during the windy sections until a few laps in.  When I would try and move out to them, it would be hard to do so but I got in a couple laps this way. 

Overall, I didn't do too bad and stayed in the pack for most of the ride.  Since I would somehow fall back toward the end of the pack on some segments, there was a lot of accordion effect going on making for some serious sprints to close the gap.  At some points, I was thinking if they sprinted again I would be done but I think us old guys had the same rest cycles where I was able to recover adequately.   I did have to close a few gaps watching people pop off in the process, but then I know there must have been a few people cutting the track since they'd be back in front of me where I had to get around them. 

On the last lap I did, trying to close on the windy section was just too much where I fell off with a few guys.  I was able to chase and pass some of the guys who had popped ahead of me, so I wasn't ready to cut the track yet to jump back in the peleton.  I wanted the workout, so I pushed on.  However, as I was approaching the front stretch just ahead of the start/finish, I could see a large group of guys stopped where it obviously was a crash with someone down.  You could see people coming off the track after where it looked like they canceled the race just after this.  Thank God!  My left calf was on the verge of going anyway, so this worked out for me. 

It was nice to be able to do more laps in the Masters class with the peleton, so if no one joins me, I'll continue to run in this class.  It's still a tough race and definitely with some strong guys out there, but I'm actually starting to enjoy the punishment.   I'll be back for more. 

Lunch Ride - Anteater Spyglass San Joaquin NPC Pelican PCH CDM BB Jamboree

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/8137214


What a good turnout for today's ride:  Galen, Gary, Vince, Todd, Vin, Jeremy, Mitchell, Hiroshi, Jaffe, Marc and Eric.

When we were all ready to go, I looked back to see if anyone would start off, but everyone seemed to be waiting for me.  Sigh.  Fortunately, S-Gary came around immediately after and led us out with me sitting in #2 all the way to Bonita Canyon maintaining a 20 mph average.  I would drop from his wheel on occasion wondering if someone else would jump ahead, but no one seemed too interested in pushing the pace early on.

I swung around on Bonita Canyon as did Galen, but S-Gary was still staying in the mix taking rotations.  What a guy.

We were all together when we got to San Miguel and eventually started onto Spyglass.  I found a pace that was decent going up but as I made my way to Galen, he indicated he wasn't going to hammer the hill (there goes the lure).  I didn't bite, but Todd came by and the two of them broke away from me as we separated from everyone else.

I was able to roll up on Todd and Galen at the red light to San Joaquin, but the light turned green perfectly as Vince, Mitchell and Vin approached where they had momentum.  Galen and Todd gave chase and the 4 of them rode up the hill together where I had fallen back and rode on my own after passing Vin.  I was thinking it would be cool to be in the rabbit group and take Ridgeline, but the 4 guys got the lights and were able to stay ahead on NPC.

Vin and Jeremy had caught me after I got on Ridgeline and caught their breath while I pulled for a little on NPC trying to close in on the others.  They both relieved me and helped to close the gap on Todd and Mitchell by the time we were on Pelican.

Mitchell led us down the hill before the first rise, but I jumped to the front just before and had a little gap on the others who were trailing close by.  By the time I rounded to NPC and PCH, they were all on again as we made our way toward CDM.

There was some police activity with a tow truck on PCH, so we had to slow for that but we could see Galen, Vince and Gary just ahead of us.  After we got past the police activity, Vin and Mitchell helped me close in on the others who we caught by the light to go on Poppy.

CDM was a little busy, so everyone stayed together through Avocado and back on PCH.  S-Gary was leading a charge on PCH and he and Galen eventually started to gap.  I came around from near the back and with Vince's help closed in on Galen and Gary.

On Jamboree, Vince had momentum and took off on Back Bay drive.  I sat behind the closer (Galen) and let him reel Vince back in but I swung around for the first pull just before the gate.  It felt like we had a tail wind at that point, so I stayed up front for a little bit keeping the pace up as we made our way toward San Joaquin.

Once everyone passed, I had a little trouble latching on but was just able to get on Jeremy's rear wheel.  Vince, Galen, and Todd were keeping the pace up, so it wasn't easy.  Eventually, Galen had been up front with Mitchell and Jeremy still in front of me where I was patiently waiting my turn.  When Galen started to gap, I knew it was time to go, so I came around and first latched onto Galen's wheel, then took a pull along with Vince.

When we got to the end of Back Bay, Galen was saying something but I couldn't hear him.  He was probably telling my biyaach ass to go, and I eventually did.  My calves were on the brink of blowing up earlier, but I went ahead and pushed up to the top.

Once we were up top, Vince was the first to cross the street but I was able to just after.  I'm not sure how everyone else fared, but I know Galen wasn't too far behind.

Vince got on Jamboree first and started to make his way up.  I was finding my stride once I got on when it wasn't long before Galen got beside me and we rode abreast for a bit as we made our way toward Vince.  Galen eventually got ahead but I decided to ride his rear wheel to see how long I could stay with Vince right behind me.

Galen was working hard throughout the ride, and eventually slowed up where I got past with Vince in tow.  I'd look back and seeing Vince latched on, I knew it was just a matter of time before he'd pass...and pass he did near the top.  Vince is back!

When we got on Bison, I wasn't sure if Vince and Galen were wanting to sprint, but I was ready in case they did.  When I took off from behind them after the last light over the 73, neither reacted, so I checked up and enjoyed the rest of the way back.  Yes...we get to cool down!

Super riding out there today, gents!  Excellent efforts throughout.  Thanks!

Alpine Challenge 2012

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/8001334#

The weather for this ride was a lot better than last week's outing with the temperature ranging only between 55 to 77 degrees.  Even with the black jersey, it never really got too warm.  The winds did pick up on the way back, but overall I think it was the best weather over the prior 2 outings at this event.

Vin and I arrived at the event about a quarter before 7, and Shannon was already there getting ready.  We saw some Descenders there, but no one we really recognized.  After picking up our packets, registering, taking last minute bio breaks, we were ready to go just a quarter after 7.  We hadn't seen any masses grouping up, and it was no different when we rolled to the start point.  We tried waiting for others to gather with us, but upon departing, we were already rolling away from them, even with a mild warm-up pace.

We kept the pace fairly mild in the beginning but we were passing people on the course nonetheless.  I was thinking there may be a group that would roll up on us to mix it up and push the pace, but that never happened.  As we were going through some of the rolling hills, I decided I didn't want to try and maintain Shannon's pace (which we all know is not a good idea), so he and Vin pushed ahead and had a decent gap on me.  They were always within my sight though, so I was going to find my own pace and see what happens.

At some point, Shannon must have been setting up a Strava segment as he started to slow a little and Vin pushed ahead and broke away.  Nice.  When I had rolled up to Shannon, we both wondered what Vin's plan was being up on his own ahead.  As Shannon was still saving up, I passed him and slowly started to work my way toward Vin.  Every time I thought I was getting close, he would keep pushing it so it did take some time before I was finally able to catch him.  Once I passed, Vin showed he was still able to maintain my pace and latched on to my rear wheel.

As expected, Shannon eventually made his way past us and at a pace that was just not very inviting.  Neither Vin nor I were willing to jump on as he did, so we just watched him pass and eventually disappear ahead of us. 

Vin would come around and take some turns up front, and after we passed the 2nd or 3rd SAG, we picked up another rider with a World Cycles kit.  He had jumped on our line and after a couple of our pulls, he came around on one of the ascents and was almost going to get away from us.  However, I was able to pull us back up to him to where he complimented us for doing so.

We did some more rotations, but after going under the 8 freeway, I dropped off the pace as I grabbed a gel to eat and something to drink in preparation for the hill that goes up Descanso.   I figured I'd try and work my way back up to them on the hill.  After getting some nourishment, I picked my pace back up and up ahead saw Vin  had stopped to wait for me.  It was a nice gesture, but I had hoped he would keep going because I knew that the Descanso hill would be an equalizer.

Vin jumped on and we were on our way up the hill.  I had a pretty decent pace going, but then a guy in the red jersey passed where I jumped on his rear wheel and we eventually started pulling away from Vin.  I stayed with the guy in red for a bit then pushed ahead toward the end of one of the ascents, but then he came around and eventually broke away in a pace I wasn't willing to do.  I also got by World Cycles again and a couple other riders and was on my own for the long descent on the other side.

As I arrived at the Pine Valley turnoff, I stopped to make sure Vin wouldn't miss the turns like we did last year.  After the riders I passed went by, Vin came up and we rode on through Pine Valley to the residential SAG to stop and replenish our water.  This is the same SAG we stop at every year that's run by one guy from his house.  Super nice guy.  Shannon was there waiting for us thankfully.

After getting our bottles refilled and having a little to eat, the three of us were on our way again.  Once we got back on Old Hwy 80, we got back on the long hill and I started to climb it at my own pace again where I started to pull away from Shannon and Vin.  I was on my own for a bit and passed a rider or two on my way up, but 3/4 of the way up the top, Shannon came by.  This time, I wasn't ready for him to break away, so I jumped on his wheel and rode up the rest of the hill with him.  As we got to the flat and descents, Shannon and I started trading pulls (70/30 ha ha).

We continued to stay together through the additional side course through Descanso where Shannon kept the pace up to help us pick off riders one by one.  I did what I could to help, and at one point, I thought he gestured for me to pull.  I tried to pass him, but was having a difficult time since his pace was still pretty high.  I let him know if he wanted me to pull he's going to have to slow down a little, but it turned out he was just stretching or something else where it wasn't the pass and pull gesture I thought it was.  Thank God!

We kept the pace up as we got back on Japatul Road, and we picked up one guy who jumped on our draft.  However, we decided to wait for Vin underneath the 8 underpass, so we can all do the descent together.  Our passenger and a few other riders passed but Vin rolled up shortly after, and we were off.  Shannon and I were taking turns up front as we rolled down the descents and kept the pace up fairly high where we started picking off everyone who passed us on the underpass.  The pace got a little too hot for Vin as he started cramping up, so Shannon and I were alone working past several riders.

At about 8 miles out from the end of the ride, I tried to shift my rear gears but found that chain dropped to my small ring up front instead.  This somewhat broke our tempo and momentum, so I apologized to Shannon for my misshift.  After getting the chain back on the big ring, I tried to shift my rear gears again and realized that the shifter cable must have snapped.  I was stuck on the 26T for the rest of the ride.

I tried to encourage Shannon to go ahead while I made my way back in a 50/26T gear, but he stayed with me instead.  His energy level, according to him, dropped after we broke our momentum, but honestly I think it's just Shannon being the nice guy that he was that had him ride with me for the rest for the ride.  We still had some climbs to do, but I did not want to shift to the 34 ring up front just in case I couldn't get it back up for whatever reason.  Thus, I was on fixie mode.   There was one hill that was pretty steep, but I just worked it as best as I could in the 50/26 and even picked off another couple riders.  The flats and downhills sucked in this short gear, and I thought we would be passed at some point because of it.  However, no one ever passed us and we made our way back to the end in this config still managing to finish under 4 hours even besting last year's time on the same course.  After we picked up our finisher medals, Vin rolled up after obviously having passed some of the other guys we passed as well.  Good job!

Some Italian brews at the car followed by some nice hot food and even more brew in the beer garden was tops. We didn't see too much talent under the tents though, and come to find that some of the people we were hoping to ride with went out and did Breathless Agony instead.  It was a bummer since I'm sure the additional competition would have made it more interesting.  Nonetheless, I thought it was a good outing and team Broadcom represented in typical BAM fashion.  Good job, gents.

Lunch Ride - Turtle Ring Route with Strava Incentive

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/7761293


Okay, so I missed yesterday's ride and needed to find a way to give people the incentive to come out today given Wednesday rides are not the norm.  The sell was if we can attack certain Strava segments and get KOMs, one may be entitled to receive a tasty 6 pack beverage for the "worthiest" KOM.  Well, I got some people to come out (Jeremy, Vin, Mitchell, Jaffe, Hiroshi and Mike Z. - they all probabloy would have come out regardless) but none of us were successful in achieving a KOM.  HA HA.

My plan was to attack two segments in today's route:  "Shady Start" and "Ridgeline."  However, after stepping out of the gym and feeling the wind, I knew it would not be a good day to try them.  Despite this, I did so anyways.  HA HA.

Going out was really slow, and the pack let me lead them out to Bonita Canyon at my pace.  We tried to get a little organized for a run up Shady Start and even attempted to be rolling once the light turned green, but it didn't really work out too well.  Jeremy broke away early on, so I was in chase mode (almost sprint) to get up on his wheel.  However, by the time I caught up to him, I already had momentum where I opted to just pass him and try to hold onto my pace.  Vin came out of nowhere and passed me for a little bit, but he was tired from his effort to catch up so I was around him shortly after.  Now the funny thing is (which i probably shouldn't admit) is that I never really studied the segment.  It was over a mile long!  Again, I was in almost sprint mode from the very beginning, so at some point I popped like an old balloon and was barely going 17 mph...not exactly the right speed when I'm trying to achieve over a 25 mph average.  Looking at the comparison tab in Strava though, I was ahead of my PR run on it for the first half mile, but the wind beat me down pretty good after that making for almost a laughable attempt.  So it goes.

Jeremy, Vin and the others caught or passed me before we got on Sunnyhill, and the guys helped shield the wind on Turtle Rock subsequently...well, almost.  I was a little off the back still trying to recover.  When we went up the other side, Jeremy, Vin, Mitchell and Hiroshi had broken away, so although I wanted to save some for Ridgeline, I figured I'd have enough to pick it up a little here and passed Hiroshi with Jaffe in tow.  We didn't catch the 3 ahead of us until they were headed back onto Sunnyhill.

Going up Shady, Vin led the initial charge, but Jeremy had broken away where it got steep right after the first bridge.  Mitchell didn't seem interested in closing the gap, so I went ahead and did so just to keep my legs warm.  I tried to shake Mitchell off at the top to keep him honest, but he flipped that script and stuck to my rear the whole time.

When we made our way down, the guys regrouped and allowed me to sit in the back and prepare for the climb up Ridgeline.  Jeremy kept looking back to make sure I was okay...either that or he was thinking WTF?  Get up here and help.  HA HA.

Going up Ridgeline, Hiroshi broke away pretty early, as did Jeremy but Jeremy was looking back waiting for me to latch on.  Since there was a good sized gap, I was not about to blow myself up too early, but I had to work just to be able to catch both of them.  As on Shady, once I did, I didn't really spend any time behind them and went around to try to keep the pace up as I ascended.  Mitchell, my wingman, stayed behind me the whole time going up.  In this run, I was again ahead for a little bit early on, but fell off the pace after 2/5 of the way up.  That's a long hill too!

Mitchell came around and helped going down Turtle Rock, and after everyone caught us to go on Culver, everyone was doing their fair share of work going through Bonita Canyon.

When we got on Ford, I started to pull back a little while Mitchell, Jaffe and Hiroshi went ahead.  Vin and Jeremy stayed back with me and asked if I was going to try the Condo.  I told them I'd give it a run.  After rounding the corner, I took off and got past the three guys ahead of me in the first quarter of the hill.  I didn't have enough to contest the prior record because...well...I'm old and I'm slow.

After regrouping at the McArthur light, I stayed in the back to see what the plan was for a final sprint.  Hiroshi ended up breaking away early and Jaffe was in the chase group with Vin and I behind him.  Vin came around and reeled Hiroshi in and I stayed on his rear wheel as we passed him.  I wanted to sprint off the seat, but I had nothing left and I was just able to get beside Vin as we neared the corner to California.  Good enough.

That wind was pretty tough today, so this was actually a lot tougher than I expected.  Although not immediately visible, I did break some power records today holding 8.6 W/kg for a minute, 6.7 W/kg for 2, and 5.4 for 3 minutes.  It went south fast after that though. Now if only someone would explain to me what that means.

Thanks for the training, gents!