Lunch Ride - Turtle Rock Ring Loop

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/15739615

Attendees:  Shannon, Galen, Todd, Adrian, Jeremy, Vin, Hiroshi, Marc, Seon and Jaffe

Highlights:

• Fast going out where all I could do was leech off the back of people's wheel.  Shannon, Galen, Todd and Jeremy were rotating up front and keeping the pace high. 
• I was actually slightly off the back before we made our way onto Sunnyhill towards Turtle Rock and was barely able to latch on behind Adrian once on Turtle Rock.
• Even on Turtle Rock, it was hard to stay on, so I kept letting everyone rotate ahead of me...sometimes just because I was falling off the pace.
• As we got to the bottom, I was behind Shannon when he hit a pine cone (no one saw it beforehand) and it popped out his water bottle.  I stopped to make sure he was okay and was going to try and help him catch up to the others.  
• We made our way past Adrian, who ended up joining us for a little bit, but then it was just Shannon and me.  I had taken one pull, but Shannon was on catch-up mode where I was working just to stay on. 
• When he saw Jeremy off the back of Todd and Galen on Shady, Shannon cranked it up even more and snapped me off like a twig.  
• I was alone going down the other side and on the 405 bike trail where the winds were just ridiculous.  I lost sight of Shannon and Jeremy after a while.  
• I got caught by Adrian, Hiroshi and Jaffe at the first light on University, and they proceeded to ride with me to and up Ridgeline.
• Hiroshi took off up Ridgeline but I got behind Jaffe who eventually reeled him in based on the great pace he was holding.  Hiroshi jumped on though.
• I had gapped them when it pitched up the 2nd time and met Shannon at the top where we had talked about regrouping (I may have forgotten to share that info with Todd, Galen and Jeremy).
• Hiroshi got a head start, but Shannon, Adrian, Jaffe and I met up with him at the left onto Culver.
• Hiroshi took off again on Culver, but was slowly reeled in by Shannon who led us all the way up to the top.   We saw Vin make a left onto Bonita Canyon Blvd ahead of us, but we chased him down and he got back into the rotation.
• Shannon was offering me a lead out at the condo, but I just didn't think I had it in me today.  I did, however, end up getting behind him though as he made the turn onto Jamboree, and he gapped me instantly. 
• Despite hitting the bump at the corner, I had a good pace going up though, and Adrian stuck with me the whole time as we made our way up to Bison where he was able to make top 5 on that segment.  He talked about how he could have done better afterwards, but it's the same shoulda coulda woulda conversations we have after every ride.  HA HA
• Looks like Jeremy killed that segment despite a not-so-organized lead out and has now moved into the condo with Shannon.  Nice job!
• Vin was the only one who was up for a sprint at the end.  Adrian did not seem too interested, so neither was I.  :) 

Thanks for the workout today, gents!  

Hill Trainer - Sisters and More

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/15103901

It's been a while since I've been on the sisters, and today I was reminded why.  Unless we're training for some serious hill event, there's really no sane reason why people should be going up and down those things on a bicycle.  To boot, I went out with Todd and Jeremy who just live for climbing, so I knew I was in for a lot of pain. 

We met at Rock N' Road cyclery in Mission Viejo at 6:30, and despite the proximity to Vin's house, I could not encourage him to come with us.  After the ride, I'm thinking Vin is smarter than I give him credit for.  HA HA.  Both guys had ridden up from their house, while I drove there.  Upon Todd's arrival, he mentioned how he had a surprise for us today.  6:30 is way too early for surprises, by the way, but Todd's surprise was that we would start out on Live Oak first and then head over to the sisters via Antonio and Oso.   Yup...too early for surprises.

I told the guys they should just pretend to ride without me as I'm thinking I just want to survive today more than anything else.   They agreed thankfully.

When we got started, it seemed like every single time the road pitched up, Jeremy was taking off and just going for it.  If there was a Strava segment for a given speed bump, I'm thinking he would have gone for those too.  Jeremy was already off broken away as we were climbing up El Toro and subsequently Live Oak.  I just stayed and paced Todd, who I know manages his power output for the length of the ride.

We didn't catch up to Jeremy until just a little before the camp ground opening, but once on grade heading up RSM, he was charging again.  What a beast!  It was enough just to stay with Todd up the switchbacks for me.

We were all together again before we hit the left to go to Antonio Parkway to head down Oso.  Todd was doing a lot of the work, with Jeremy taking some turns to keep the pace up while I sat shamelessly behind both of them.  Actually, I was ashamed, but my survival instincts took precedence.

Even on Oso, Jeremy would charge up some hills as though he studied every single section of the ride, and Todd and I just stayed together at his pace.  Jeremy took a quick EPO, I mean BIO break at Pacific Park, but was able to make it back to the light for the intersection that we were waiting for. 

I trailed them all the way up to Highland, but once we got on that road, they went nuts!  Todd was just a brute going up that hill, and had gotten away from Jeremy, who had gotten away from me.  There was no way I was going to put down that much effort expecting to try the likes of Nyes, Summit and Park after.  F that noise.   When I got to the top, the guys were nowhere to be seen.  Nice.

I descended and made my way onto Pacific Island and I did start to make some ground on them where they were just ahead of me making a u-turn at the top.  I got a little held up by a car that wanted to turn right, so when I made my way down, neither of them were in sight again.  Sigh.

I didn't really know the route, so I thought they made a left to hit the other side of Highland.  After climbing it and seeing no one ahead of me the whole time, I figured they must have gone straight to hit the other side of Pac Island.  Thus, I made a right turn on Niguel and made my way down to Alicia and Crown Valley.

Now my plan was to go up the other side of Pac Island as well and hopefully meet them up there.  However, I goofed and accidentally turned right on Club House, which I think was the turn before Pac Island.  I was thinking I was doing good on Pac Island only to come to an intersection where I could see Pac Island as the cross street.  Oops.  I turned left and climbed it again chasing down 2 guys ahead of me just for fun.  When I got to the top, both Jeremy and Todd were just getting to the top from the other side.  Perfect timing.

We all headed back down towards Crown Valley and onto PCH, where Jeremy was up front leading for a bit.  He had me pull up to the front (where in my mind I was yelling noooo!) and I did lead the guys for a bit towards Nyes.  Just before it, Todd took over and I waved Jeremy on so I don't get in his way.

Before going up Nyes, Todd was saying how the beginning always makes him nervous.  When we started to ascend, I knew exactly what he was talking about.  That hill is just crazy.  I was standing and pounding it just to be able to keep up with the two guys, but after making the right turn at the first stop sign, they both just took off and literally left me in the dust.  I didn't care at that point, however, since all I kept asking myself was am I going to make it without stopping.  Even alternating the seated and off the seat climbing, I was dying.  I did finally make it all the way to the top, while I saw the guys already off their bikes as I made my way past the park.  I had to hit the top stop sign since Todd was already referencing female reproductive organs for those who don't.

We took a short break there and refilled water, but we were off not too long after.  I was behind Jeremy, but since he was on carbons, he let me go by and I got to descent just behind Todd.  When we got on PCH again, we were all together where Todd then led us over to Bluebird.

Now I really don't remember Bluebird too much, so I kept a pace behind Todd originally.  However, after I saw how long and steep that road was, I waved Jeremy on so as to not slow him down.  I again was thinking to myself, can I make it up this damn hill or not and at one point when it turned and pitched up pretty good, I was thinking this just can't be good for me.  HA HA.  I did keep going and while I couldn't see the guys, I did come up to the left turn just before the top where Todd then Jeremy was coming back down from.   After Todd confirmed I just had to make it to the top of that, I went on while they descended.

When I descended, I almost missed the right turn to take me back down to PCH, but I did realize what way I had to go (the sign that says PCH -->) helped.  Doh.  I did get behind a slow moving VW bug, and pretty much had to sit on my brakes the whole way down.  As I descended, I wasn't sure if I was suppose to go right on a side street, but I opted to stick with the familiar and turn right on PCH.

After not seeing Todd and Jeremy anywhere ahead of me, I wasn't quite sure where to go from there.  Rather than trying to find my way up and get lost, I figured I was just not up for the climbing but was willing to go up Park for a final hill.  Maybe I'd meet them at the park at the top.

After missing the turn to Park and finding my back onto it eventually, I started to climb when I started to feel my left hamstring twinging.  Not good considering I hadn't even started the serious part of the hill yet.  At this point, I had to decide whether to keep going anyways or live to fight another day.  The latter won.

I went and took the steep side street that took me toward the 133 and started heading up toward El Toro.  I can still feel my hamstring want to cramp, but a less than hectic pace did finally start to let it subside.  I did end up going up Aliso Creek only because I thought that would be a faster way back, but I was definitely managing my pace up it.

I did make my way back via Alicia > PDV > Los Alisos and finally back to Rock N' Road where I texted the other guys just to let them know I'm safe but a bonafide female reproductive organ.  I would have let them know sooner but I didn't have my phone with me.

Todd and Jeremy were definitely killing it on the hills today, and I was absolutely humbled by riding with them.  Jeremy is just getting so much stronger on the hills that it's downright nutty.  Todd's always scary, so nothing new there.

Epic fail on my part for trying to take on the sisters after a long hiatus and with two guys who live to climb.  I'm just glad to be back in one piece so I can celebrate Vince's matrimonial incarceration celebration later.  Good job, guys!

P.S.  My knees hurt.

Lunch Ride - Anteater Starcrest Ridgeline Shady Summit Condo

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/14743247 (lost connection to satellite 2 miles away from the end)

Attendees:  Shannon, Vince, Todd, Jeremy, Adrian, Vin, Hiroshi, Mitchell and David

Highlights:

• Despite group firepower today, Jeremy was set to try and take S-Gary Peltason segment.  The kid's got heart and took 4th all by his lonesome.  Sa-weet!
• The pace was fast already on Culver but everyone pretty much stayed together until we hit Turtle Rock. 
• On Starcrest, more attrition set in and as it pitched up toward the end, it was only Shannon, Vince, Todd and me.  
• Vince and Todd turned it up near the top and ended up breaking away from Shannon and I.  
• Shannon and I took turns going down Ridgeline in chase mode of the two guys but on the bike trail, it was ALL Shannon.  He was able to reel Todd and Vince in just at the end of the straight away with me in tow.  
• The 4 of us went up Shady together with Todd leading us up and over the top.  They began to exchange pulls after, but I was just struggling to hang on.  
• I did end up taking a pull or two after the gate as we made our way up and over toward Bonita Canyon Dr.  Shannon broke off for a sprint at the end followed by Vince while I sat comfortably behind LTJ.  I know...I know.
• When we went up Turtle Ridge, I did start to fall off just a little, but I was able to recover enough to catch the left turn onto Summit with the guys.  
• On Summit, LTJ was leading us up with Shannon and Vince ahead of me.  I had a good pace and passed Vince as a gap was forming behind Shannon.  Vince groaned as he dropped off first, and I dropped off Shannon's wheel after a sloppy downshift where I lost some momentum.  Todd and Shannon amped it as the reach the turnaround, and Vince was hot on my tail where he was almost just behind me as we made our u-turn.  
• As we descended, we see Jeremy making his way up Summit on our side of the road (WTF?) so Vince and I checked up a little bit.  Vince passed me after that and we were able to regroup at the light on Bonita Canyon.  Jeremy rolled up and made the light with us too.  
• We exchanged pulls up through McArthur, but after the light, Todd and Vince gapped the rest of us.  
• Jeremy was asking about the Condo segment and wanted a piece of that, so he eventually pulled ahead of me as well.  Shannon didn't make his way past me until we were near the bottom of the turn to go up the Condo.  
• Shannon had been indicating the wind conditions were ideal to go for KOM on the condo before we hit it, so that's exactly what he did.  He sent me packing by one second.  It was just a matter of time.  And here I thought we were friends.  Just kidding.
• Jeremy had a good run up it too, and although I was gaining on him on the hill a little, he was able to pull it back out after we crested.  In the end, we both had the same time where he bumped Hiroshi out of top 10.  Good job.
• I could see the guys were thinking about sprinting at the end on Bison, and Jeremy made the first move and took off gapping the rest of us pretty good.  As I sprinted past the others, Todd told me "Get him!"...so I did.  Great effort though for Jeremy.    

Another good workout for the week.  Thanks to Todd, Vince and Shannon for tolerating my drafting as much as they did.  I pulled when I could though...does that count?

Lunch Ride - Triple Bypass Route Revisited

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/14372819

Good turnout today with Vince, Shannon, Adrian, Mitchell, Jeremy, Vin and Jaffe.  Todd was supposed to make it out too, but must have just missed us due to a meeting.

We haven't done this route in a while, and now I remember why.  It's tough.   I think we used to go through the trailer park bike trail twice before, but since I forgot, we only did 18.8 miles today.  It was enough though for sure.

I led initially on the way down California, but Shannon took the front on the bike trail and led us almost all the way to the Back Bay.  This goes to show the anxiety within the group in that no one wanted to jump up front too early given the expected amount of work it will take to keep up.  This would be called the non-hero clause.

When we got on Back Bay, Vince was leading us first followed by Adrian, and I relieved him to take the pull.  It was nice to see my wingman (Mitchell) relieve me after my pulls on Back Bay at least twice, but everyone was doing their part up front when they can.  Jaffe had the front for a while as well, so everyone was going to work today.

We pretty much stuck together through most of Back Bay, but Shannon led a sprint attack to the gate at the end somewhat causing some disconnection among us.  Vince and Jeremy had made their way past him after the sprint and heading toward Jamboree.  Once on Jamboree, Jeremy and Vince started gapping the rest of us and held a pretty good breakaway.  I tried to close the gap early on but when Vince took the front and they started working together, all I could do was try to keep a steady pace that would slowly close in on them by Bayside.  Shannon was on recovery mode from his sprint, so I knew it was what needed to get done.

When we got onto the bike trail behind the trailer park, I had just been on Jeremy's wheel for a little bit as he was behind Vince when he started to wave me ahead.  I didn't have anything at that point because of the chase from Jamboree, so I kindly refused.  HA HA.  Both of them ended up leading us through the bike trail to Back Bay drive.

I wasn't sure who was still there at that point, but I think it was just 5 of us including Mitchell and Shannon.  We all started working together once we got on Back Bay and felt some tail wind to help keep the pace up. I would wait patiently (or rest) until I was pushed up to the front to pull, but it got pretty nutty after awhile.  When Jeremy got out from being up front, he tried to rotate in but was waiting for Mitchell roll up on us, but Mitchell was already spent where he was saying "no mas" (if he could speak Spanish, that is).  Unfortunately for Jeremy, this caught him sleeping so Vince, Shannon and I broke away.  I think Vince was waiting for me to push up to the front before it pitched up, but I was a little blown out so I help back for a little bit.  Once we got closer though, I took the front and led us up the hill.

Although the plan was to regroup at the top of Jamboree on Bison, Vince and I still made work out of the climb to the top.  He was ahead initially, then I took the front, and then he led the last part of the climb all the way to the light.  Never a dull moment.

We regrouped with everyone at that point, and we were off.  Vince started up front, but I relieved him next and led up until it pitched up again before San Joaquin.  I forgot who took the initial pull from the light, but I was in the #3 spot again and then back at 1 leading us to Back Bay drive.  When we got on Back Bay Drive, however, Mitchell and Jeremy were ahead of me when Vince out of nowhere launched an attack.  BAM!  

There was some confusion as to who would give chase, but eventually Jeremy got on it followed by Mitchell and then me and everyone else.  We were able to contain Vince just before the Back Bay entrance, but that burst of acceleration had us not going full steam ahead once we were actually past the gate.  That didn't last, and after a while we were booking. It was nice to have regrouped too because there was more people to work with.  I was following the no-hero clause again here and just waiting my turn patiently before I'd get up to the front.  Adrian had taken the front and thought to bring the guys up into a frenzy with a mad pull, and this almost blew some of the guys up.  However, I think it eventually did more damage to himself as I don't remember seeing him after that.  Way to sacrifice for the team!

As we were approaching the top of Back Bay, I was about 5 back, so when Vince and Shannon attacked up front, I had to make my way up to come up just a little bit behind Shannon.  Vince had gotten to the top and had created a pretty good gap on us.  Although Shannon had just taken a super pull at the end of Back Bay, he was still just a little bit ahead of me where it took a while to be able to get on his wheel.  I could see Jeremy was lingering just behind us as well.

Once Vince saw us coming, he checked up some and let me pass to take the pull to California. Vince swung around before the end and started hammering past me, where all I could to respond was just jump back on his wheel to the end.  Nice!

On California, Jeremy still had a lot of fire in him and decided to charge to the top.  Vince was behind him originally, but waved me on seemingly not wanting any part of trying to chase Jeremy down.  As no one else went, I decided I'd keep Jeremy honest and went after him despite the size of the gap where it took almost 2/3 of the hill just to get on his wheel and rest.  However, Jeremy started accelerating again as we neared Bison, so I busted a little sprint there and got by him to finish up front.  I know he'll make me pay on another ride since he's climbing so strong nowadays, but I'll take it for now.

Great workout, everyone.

2012 Pasadena Gran Fondo

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/14186733

This morning, I got up early (3:20 am) so I can get ready for this hilly ride with Shannon.  I picked up Shannon and we made it out to Pasadena with plenty of time to pick up our packets.  We parked at the designated parking for the event 2-3 blocks away, and conveniently, there was a gas station nearby where we took a bio break in lieu of the 4-5 porta-potties at the start point. 

We lined up just before 7 a.m. and was somewhere mid-pack when they let us all go for an actual mass start ride…something we haven't seen in a while.  It came with a full police escort, so we were able to blow through a bunch of lights and stop signs up until we were heading up the mountains.  We were kind of in the middle, or so i thought, when we first started but it looked like there were a whole bunch of riders ahead of us.  I was taking it easy thinking we were going to take it easy until the KOM section.  We did start falling behind a bit, so Shannon pushed ahead and started to work to close the gap.  I made some effort to stay with him, but that didn't last once we started climbing.  I could see him ahead of me, but I wanted to save it since I knew it would be hot and remembered how bad it got for us at L'Etape. 

I ended up getting together with about 4-5 guys as we headed up, and Shannon joined us after waiting a little just after one of the SAGs.  I was content to stay in this group as was Shannon, so we did stay in the line for a bit that had grown to about 7-8 riders.  I did get a little board after a while, and decided to push up and bring the pace up a little but I guess that caused some of the guys to drop off according to Shannon.  Oops. 

Shannon and I continued in this group, which eventually thinned out to about 4 of us after one of the descents.  A couple of guys had caught up, but it ended up being just the two of us after one of the turns (more on this later).  Shannon had pushed ahead of me and I was content just to keep him in sight.  When we got to the KOM section, Shannon had taken a BIO break, so I thought it was a good idea and did the same. 

A few guys had passed while we did this, and once we started again, Shannon had indicted he wasn't really going to go for this KOM.   We still rolled up to 2 or 3 of them, and while we were riding, one of the riders pointed out that one of the riders was the guest rider of the event:  Francesco Moser - winner of the 1984 Giro d'Italia.  I remember the announcer talking about him in the beginning and saying how he wondered if anyone was going to be able to keep up with him.  Well, here was our chance to ride with a legend.

Shannon was with us for a while but because he was not quite happy with the aroma he smelled in the presence of other riders, he broke away leaving 4 of us.  There was one rider that appeared to be riding with Francesco, but he ended up popping off as did the other rider leaving it just us two.  Wow, I get to ride with Francesco during the KOM section.  How cool is that?  I was sure he was going to drop me at one point despite being older, but curiously, he wasn't breaking me off on the hills as I expected.  I would ride his wheel as he would mine after I would pass him, and on the last hill 1K away from the finish, he did seem to pick it up a little.  However, I stayed on and about 100 yards from the finish, I ended up cranking it up a notch while in front and I could see that he had dropped off my rear wheel where I got to the timing mat a few seconds ahead of him.  I tried to thank him afterward, but I don't think he spoke any english.  He did shake my hand though. 

We rolled on to the SAG station where Shannon was waiting, and after refilling the bottles in preparation for a lot more riding, we were off as was Francesco.  He was leading us down in the beginning while we rode behind him, but I decided to push forward since we were going downhill.  Both of them followed, and Francesco ended up getting beside me on one of the turns as we were descending.  Shannon then pushed ahead and Francesco followed him as the hill flattened out, but I decided to drop off thinking we still have a bunch of climbing to do. 

I did end up descending on my own, and I really wish I had my GoPro since that was a fun descent too.  The turns were all swooping and you never really had to brake even at speeds.  I was able to get past a couple guys on the way down, and just as I was nearing the bottom, I could see Shannon red's jersey where I was able to ride up to him just as we made a turn towards a residential area for another SAG stop.  He indicated he was working hard down the hill to drop Francesco, and sure enough, he did.  Francesco, however, impressed him with his descent speed and how he's able to ride down the hill with one of him hands behind him on the seat (more aerodynamic?). 

At the SAG, we were the only ones there and I thought we just got welll ahead of everyone.  To my surprise, we found out we actually missed one of the turns in the route and ended based on a missing arrow.  Neither of us saw the turn, but after Shannon looked up the route slip, that's exactly what happened.  We were both a little bummed, but we didn't see any point in going back up again just to do the segment we missed.  That would have added a significant amount to our route, and we figured we'll just have to come back and do this route again. 

As we started to ride back, we went back through the residential area that we had ridden through.  At all the stop signs that we had ridden through, there were signs that we had to come to a complete stop and it turned out with good reason.  There was a police car sitting just around the corner of each of them (I'd say about 8 or so).  We even saw how one of the riders had gotten pulled over and was being ticketed as we passed.  I thought the whole thing was pretty shady, so this was one of the things I really did NOT like about this ride.

We made it back pretty early and finished doing only 66 miles with over 6000 ft of climbing.   Shannon, good job out there.  Although we didn't get to do the whole route, it was just cool to hang with Shannon again both during and after the ride.  Riding with Francesco was fun too!   Cheers!

Ready to go!

Lunch Ride - NPC PCH CDM BB CA

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/13856046

Attendees:  Galen, Todd, Vince, Vin, Jeremy, Mitchell, Marc, Adrian, Hiroshi and Jaffe

Good sized group today, so I was glad I prefaced it by indicating I would not take any pulls in preparation for this weekend.  Doing so does seem to incite some in the group to do whatever it takes to drop me (they detest weakness and try and make one pay).  Nice, huh?

Early on, the pace was fast on Peltason with Galen, Jeremy and Todd leading the pack.  I stayed in the back to prevent getting pushed up front, but this actually made things a little more difficult when we got on Anteater since the group started to string out and I was not yet warmed up (or willing) to give chase.  By then, Vince and Adrian had caught up and started riding with the others, and fortunately for them caught the light to turn left onto NPC...unfortunately for the rest of us who got caught on the red.

Hiroshi didn't want to give up the break, so he was the first to go on NPC having the rest of us follow to see if we'd have a chance to close the gap.  Mitchell led to get us past Hiroshi, but I decided to take the reigns after to see if we can close on the others.

We caught Adrian first before the 73 as he was just waiting for someone to help him at that point.  He latched on and began to complain about my pace, so when we got past the offramp, I stood up and started pedaling breaking him off accordingly.  Mitchell, my wingman, stayed on.

Vince had gotten separated from the others, but was definitely eager to regroup once Mitchell and I got with him after San Joaquin (thanks for the work, Mitchell!).  From there, the 3 of us started working together down NPC, Pelican and on PCH.  We saw that Jeremy had fallen off Todd and Galen's pace on PCH, so at this point, we smelled blood and amped it up some more where we were all able to come up just behind the three of them as they arrived to turn left on Poppy.

Now given that I did more work that I originally prefaced, I reminded the guys again at this point that I was done with pulling.  I really need to do this more often.  They took pity on me and obliged.

CDM was your usual slow pace (thanks to hotel transport van and a car crawling on Ocean), but once we got on PCH, the madness ensued.  The pace was going up fast, but the first light after getting back on PCH caught us causing some disapproving grunting from those up front.

When we started going again, the pace kicked up real fast and I was content to let those pushing the pace rotate in front of me.  When Todd rotated out though, I guess I did not give him enough notice and Vince and Galen had started to break away a little.  Todd's a trooper though, so he gave chase as I knew he would  (although with a slightly annoyed "thanks, Rich" response if not verbally, mentally).  As I expected, Todd was able to close the gap eventually with me, Mitchell and Jeremy in tow.  Stud!

When we got on Back Bay, Jeremy had joined the ranks up front again and he, Vince, Galen, and Todd were pulling a mad pace.  While Mitchell was behind me, I was coordinating the rotations ahead of me by calling out who the person rotating out should fall behind.  This worked like a charm and the guys were working well together.  Todd found my role comparable to a coxswain (the guy who keeps the rowers on a boat coordinated), but I believe he and the others had a different spelling variation that was more suitable to how they felt about my wheelsucking today.

Anyways, at the end of Back Bay, Vince broke off and darted ahead of everyone to the top while I gave chase just to keep up.  He had a small gap on me, while I had a gap on Todd and Galen once we got on the sidewalk.  I figured the two guys behind me would close the gap sooner than I would since Vince was still moving pretty fast, but we inadvertently held Vince out until the bridge after the Jamboree underpass.  Sorry, buddy.  I did begin to pass after the bridge, but Todd and Galen pushed up front again and I jumped on for a free draft all the way to California.  Thanks!

Going up California, Jeremy was eager to try and see if he can KOM that section (another rider wrecked by Strava), so he bolted ahead.  Wisely, I stayed behind Galen and Todd, who were riding abreast one another, and they eventually reeled Jeremy in.  Jeremy was saying he wanted to shoot for that KOM at the locker before the ride, and although I didn't think the wind conditions were ideal for it, I just didn't have the heart to let him know.

Overall, this was another great training ride for this week.  Now what excuse can I come up with next week to keep sucking wheel?  Thanks for all the work, gents!

The "Be Gentle" Lunch Ride - Yeah, Right!

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/13675127


With this group, time off the bike can be measured comparably to dog years where 1 week can actually feels like 7.  Although a collective sigh could be heard from the group when we were notified that Galen and Shannon couldn't come out, there was still the likes of Vince, Vin, Todd, Jeremy, Mitchell, Gary, Jaffe, Seon  and Marc who came out and are quite capable of inflicting pain.  Thus, the plan today was to exercise my humility as much as my cardio/legs.

Now before I talk about the ride, three things had me scratching my head as to whether this was the group with whom I normally ride:  1) Marc offered to ride behind me to see if my bib shorts were worn out, 2) The first thing Mitchell says to me was I missed you, and 3) Jeremy said something about licking the sweat off my shoulders at the end of the ride.  Ummm...do we need to change our acronym from BAM to BAF/BAH?

Okay, so about the ride....

Gary, in typical fashion, led us out, which is what I like about this guy since no one really wants to start the ride up front.  However, he did so in a more manageable pace, which was perfect for today.  It wasn't until Anteater that Jeremy took the front but started to break away from everyone else.  Todd gave chase and then subsequently Vince, and I just sat on Vince's wheel as he worked to close the gap on the two guys ahead.

After we crossed Bonita Canyon, it was Vince, Todd and Jeremy doing all the work while I let them rotate back in ahead of me (e.g. humble pie mode). Vince did amp it up some after we got on the bike trail that swings out toward the bridge, and this started out some attrition within the group, but not much.  They pretty much kept the pace up all the way up and over Shady and along the bike trail parallel to the 405.  Vin decided to help though, but passed on the right without calling it out and was swiftly reprimanded by the guys up front.  LOL.  As a result, I think they held him out a little, and I did too subsequently after I let him rotate back in front of me.  HA HA

When we got on Ridgeline, Todd and Jeremy broke away a little bit, but Mitchell and I were able to latch on.  Vince knew it was a bad idea to let them get away, but his efforts earlier (that and his weekend of partying) took its toll. Todd pretty much led us all the way up the hill, and the 3 of us stayed in the back and just managed our pace to stay together.

It was only when we got back on Shady heading up towards Bonita Canyon that I decided to help out up front.  After seeing Jeremy's frustration from Mitchell holding him out, I figured I better do some work finally.  Todd did relieve me with a sprint pace heading toward the bike trail and we all just hung on for the ride after I was able to latch back onto his wheel.

We got lucky on Bonita Canyon and caught the left turn light as we approached it.  I did start to take more turns up front (finally) and helped keep the pace up as we made our way across McArthur (caught that green light too).

We made it to Back Bay and I think I took the first pull after rounding from San Joaquin.  They amped up the pace after and I actually dropped off a little bit (enough to let Todd roll back in to the paceline ahead of me).  Jeremy got a little flustered being held out again, but he'll someday learn that it's not in everyone to get up front and work.  I remember a time when....  HA HA.  He did take the last pull before it pitched up before Eastbluff, and I darted ahead only to have LTJ not take any prisoners and inch me out to get on the sidewalk first.  He ended up towing us to just after the Jamboree underpass, but after the bridge, I took the front and led all the way back to California.  No sprints thank goodness.

Going up CA, Jeremy charged a little bit ahead after crossing University, but we all got caught at the first light.  Once we got going, he took off but Todd got beside him and stayed there while I sat in BOTH their drafts.  Because a car had pulled out of one of the side streets, Jeremy had to give up his spot beside Todd and got behind me.  I then jumped ahead to take the last pull toward the middle of the hill, and when we got closer to Bison, I took the pace up even more.  Mr. Take-no-prisoners wasn't having any of it and we got into a little race in the end.  He won.  Cool.

It was definitely a good ride for me coming back after a week off from the group.  I did ride on Sunday on my own, and having a 170 BPM HR average for the whole 60 mile route was another reason I had to take it easy early on since it'll take a little time before my heart meds kick in.  Today's average was 164.  Comparably, Todd's average HR was 121.  Sigh.

Thanks, gents!

Lunch Ride - BB PCH CDM NPC Bonita Cyn Jamboree CA Loop

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/12398371

I have a confession:  I'm not particular fond of riding on days when Shannon and Galen come out together...especially on windy days.  Today was one of those days.

It all started out innocently enough as we made our way down to the bike trail on CA.  I even led the guys down only to look back and see they weren't following too closely.  If only I got the light where I could have broken away for a while so I can ride at my own pace vs. theirs.  No such luck.

When we got on the bike trail, the pace picked up pretty fast.  I forget who was up front leading in the beginning (Hiroshi and someone else), but then Shannon got up to the front and then I think Jeremy.  As we dropped down to Back Bay, Shannon was again up front where from the back, I had some momentum and pushed my way up to the front to relieve him.  I think Galen, Vin and Jeremy came around amped it up enough splintering the group a little already where I had to work just to chase them down.  Galen broke away at the end of Back Bay as though he wanted a KOM for that segment, but I knew there was just way too much wind where giving chase would be a death sentence.

I did make my way past and led us onto the bike trail over by the mobile homes, but was relieved by Shannon and others as we made our way to Bayside.  Once there, we were all caught at the left turn light, but Vin and Shannon got the go ahead of us from having gone to the crosswalk.  Once the left turn light turned green, Galen was in chase mode and we all just lined up behind him.

Galen was definitely working to catch Shannon and Vin and appeared to have been making some ground, but not consistently since Shannon seemed to be ratcheting it up as well ahead of us.  I thought about relieving Galen, but it was hard enough just staying on his wheel so passing him when he wasn't slowing down seemed futile.  No one else behind me seemed too eager either since they, too, stayed in line behind us.

Going through CDM, we finally caught up to Shannon and Vin just before the little kicker hill that leads over to Ocean.  Jeremy took off up the hill, so I chased him and sat on his wheel all the way through Poppy.  The other guys had fallen off for a bit, but we were all caught behind some cars on Poppy so we regrouped at this point.

Back on PCH, Jeremy had a little head start but we were able to reel him back in and Galen led us over onto NPC.  Once there, Jeremy launched a major attack and broke away early on (way to go!).  I was hoping to get some off the seat training there and doing so allowed me to get past the others (except Jeremy) but only temporarily.  When Shannon and Galen came by, I thought I'd try spinning up with them...big mistake, Indy.  I watched the two slowly pulling away from me, and all I could resort to was spinning at a shorter gear that I normally do.  It looked like Shannon and Galen ended up catching Jeremy up ahead, but I was too far back to really know for sure.  Thankfully, they waited at the San Joaquin light where we were all able to regroup.

On the downhill, Jeremy led the assault and had even gapped the rest of us for a bit, but Galen was able to reel him back in eventually with me in tow.  As Galen was starting to make his way by him, I came around and wanted to see just how fast I could spin that compact crank.  Hitting a speed of 46.1 mph, I was spinning the hell out of that crank at 129 RPMs (confirmed by Mike Sherman's bicycle gear calculator...ha ha).  Boy was I winded at the bottom.

I led for a little after that light, but fell to the back of the pack and stayed there until I could recover more. As we neared the McArthur light, Vin and Galen started to break away and sprinted to make the green light.  I stayed on long enough just to be able to make it across, but was gasping after.  I was wanting to give the condo a try, so I backed off a lot.  Jeremy came around and offered a lead out, but I told him I was still recovering and couldn't hold the pace he wanted to set for the lead out.  Shannon came around as well where I went onto Jamboree just behind the 4 of them.  I did have to check up a little since Vin was just ahead of me where there was some cross traffic present rendering it unsafe to go wide.  Once I got going though, I made my way past the guys early and although they cheered me on, I ran out of steam about 3/4 of the way up and decided it just wasn't going to happen.

I kept going past Bison and down Jamboree and on University, Galen and Jeremy had caught up to me.  Galen past me just as I was checking out this hot Asian runner chick on the sidewalk.   Galen lead us out after, but I was having a hard time staying on his wheel.  Fortunately, I wasn't too far behind when we got on CA.

As we ascended, I didn't have a lot left and still kept hanging onto Galen's rear wheel as we climbed up the hill.  I did finally relieve him half way up, and as I was up front, was also working to catch my breath in case anyone wanted to get nutty just before Bison again.  I sprinted off on the last rise in case they did, but no one followed.

Vin ended up catching us at the light and in typical Vin fashion, taunted me for a sprint.  I didn't mind blowing  myself up so I took off but he didn't even go with me.  Boo!

Great training ride just before the holiday celebration tomorrow.  I hope I have some left for my ride down to San Diego, but if I don't, I'll just look for little Korean church girls to give me bottles of water on the way.  Thanks, gents!

Irvine Hill Trainer with Shannon

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/12226314

I always expect a good workout when Shannon makes it out for a training ride, and today was no different.  I did look around the BJ’s parking lot to see if anyone else would join us to share the pain, but I guess the thought of doing a hilly ride with Shannon probably scared everyone else away.  Admittedly, I had reservations riding with a machine, but the guilt from the last two days of eating gave me no choice.  I just hoped he would get as good a workout as I would.

We started out with a nice warm up pace as we got on Jamboree headed toward Chapman, but the pace picked up once Shannon got up front.  We did see a couple guys round Jamboree from Portola ahead of us where I hoped they weren’t wanting to mix it up, and thankfully we passed them without incident. 

We climbed up Jamboree together and worked with one another (more him than me) to get over it pretty easily.  The next hill was on Chapman, and that was more of the same.  Together, we did get top 10 placement for that segment. 

On the Cannon of Chapman, Shannon had never done that hill before, so he stayed with me as we climbed up and over.  Once we got on the other Cannon across from E. Santiago, Shannon led and as expected, began to snap me off after the last intersection heading to the top.  I tried to hang, but thought oh man, if I do this now, what will I have left for the rest of the day?  I did end up stopping in the middle of the last incline pitched up thinking I had a flat, but after verifying both tires were good was back on my way.  By the time I hit the top though, Shannon was no longer in sight. 

I made my way down the other side and tried to keep a decent pace on Nohl so Shannon wouldn’t have to wait for me at the top so long.  I was able to see him ahead of me before the last climb where it pitched up where he was looking back and waiting (thanks!).  I got closer to him but he hit the hill where it was go time for him, so I did my best to just finish that hill so he wouldn’t wait too long.  I did see him stop just as I was able to see over the crest, so I’m glad I didn’t keep him waiting. 

We made our way down Serrano and through E. Santiago together, but as we started heading up the canyon, he started to pull away from me just after the overpass.  Man, he’s got some holding power.  He crested and was going down the other side of Dump hill way ahead of me, so when I crested I kept a decent pace on the other side and made my way to Shannon who again slowed for me so I can catch up. 

We did alternate pulls at this point, but once we got on Silverado, I took one pull on it and the rest was ALL him.  I figure I’d just hold his wheel for as long as he’d let me, and thankfully, he let me all the way up where I was able to get a PR for that hill!  He did almost break me off at the very last steep pitch, but thankfully the end was near and I was able to roll back on his wheel just before we hit it. 

When we took off from a break up there, we made our way down and the plan was to not go too crazy on the descent.  This allowed us to stay together and continue on Santiago trading pulls all the way to Modjeska.  When we got on Modjeska, I shamelessly sat on his wheel letting Shannon lead us to the grade.  I was able to get a PR up that hill as well from all the resting Shannon was providing to me. 

We made our way to Live Oak after and after running into Bubba midway up for a quick chat, we continued on and stayed together both up the rest  of the hill and up to the Shell station on Plano Trabuco for one last break. 

When we got going again, we were doing pretty good on Santa Margarita but hit a few lights that would break our momentum.  We made our way to El Toro staying together and decided to take the bike path for a little as we headed down toward Trabuco. 

Once we got back on the road, we saw a guy on a BMC and made our way up to him where we were wondering if he’d come with us and share the load.  However, that didn’t happen even after having rolled up on us at a couple of lights on Trabuco.  We had a good pace between the both of us, so understandably he didn’t want any of it. 

On Irvine Boulevard, it felt pretty windy but we couldn’t really place the wind.  When we stopped, it didn’t look like the trees were moving much, but it sure felt like they should have been.  Despite this, Shannon and I were just ducking down low and keeping the pace high and hitting speeds over 30 mph even. 

As we got closer to the end, Shannon said at an intersection that he wasn’t going to pull a Gary and I said “Thank God!”  I did start out from the intersection standing up wanting to let everything out thinking Shannon was with me, but I guess I’m the one who probably seemed like I pulled a Gary.  smh

It ended up being a great ride with lots of PRs and some good hardware including Shannon’s 2^nd from E. Santiago to the top of Silverado.  Contratulations, big buy!  Thanks for all the super pulls today.