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.
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