Strava: http://app.strava.com/rides/19836605
It's been a while since I've blogged about a ride on the weekend since I've been riding solo for the last few weeks. It was nice, however, to plan a ride with Gary and Shannon as it's been a while since we've ridden together. Unfortunately, Gary ended up not being able to make it out, so it was just Supertrain and me.
We met at the Starbucks parking lot at Pacific Park and Alicia where we used to meet all the time back in the day. As always, Shannon was already there when I arrived despite me being there 15-20 minutes before our departure. The guy is always raring to go. What a great attitude.
After he downed his coffee, we decided to make or way to PCH via Alicia to Crown Valley. I was hoping for a slightly slower warm-up, but Shannon got in front early on and was already moving out. Now it wasn't lunch ride crazy, but it was definitely something I had to get used to again for a weekend ride.
Now the weather was a little cool, so it was pretty ideal except we could not ever really identify what direction the wind was going. When we were going through Laguna Beach, Shannon thought he felt a tail wind, but I was like holy ish...he's moving. I would take my turns up front when I could, but my pace was probably just slightly under his desired pace, so it wouldn't be long before he would jump up front again.
We both were working pretty hard and by CDM, I told him I think I had a good enough workout and was ready to turn around already. HA HA. After that didn't work, we kept pushing forward and noticed Jaffe in the Strava Hunter jersey, the same I was wearing, going the opposite direction. After he realized who we were, he turned around and caught us at a light to ride with us. Sweet.
While Shannon and I were pushing a pretty good pace, Jaffe did get in the rotation for a couple pulls. After a while, however, he was relegated to just stay in the back and let us two work keeping the pace up all the way to Huntington Beach. It was around here that Jaffe had to turn back around since he had time constraints and needed to get back early.
Shannon and I pressed on and we were on a TTT pace where it wasn't necessarily maxed out, but it was fast where all we were doing were reeling people in ahead who were ahead of us. No one cared to join us on the way out, but we could see a whole bunch of cyclists going the opposite direction and couldn't wait to turn around.
Once we got to 2nd street, we did a check to see if we needed to stop or can we make it back with what we had. I was still good food and fluid wise, and Shannon was too so we opted not to stop and just kept going. Now we had agreed to try to continue our managed pace and not kill it at any one point just to keep our pace up. Then, one guy hopped in our draft and as expected, that changed everything.
I was still trying to manage my pace, but I was able to hold a good speed. Shannon was definitely pushing it a lot harder since he was in drop mode, so I would just jump on and then relieve him as much as I could while we tried to drop the guy in the yellow jersey who was riding behind us.
Impressively, the guy was able to stay back there for a while, but we were able to drop him after a small incline and after passing a group of other riders. No one else ventured to try and hang on either, and understandably so given we were carrying speed upwards of 25 mph and holding it.
When we got back to Huntington Beach, we did get caught at a few lights and the guy with the yellow jersey caught us there again. We dropped him pretty early after the road stretched out again, but Shannon was starting to get some cramps so i offered to keep a good pace just to haul us both back. I was feeling pretty good and was able to find that "sweet spot" of resistance and cadence where I was able to hold it for a while.
As we neared Newport Beach and hit a light, I was leading when the guy in the yellow jersey caught up and finally decided to pass. As Shannon was spinning out his cramp, I decided to mix it up with this guy since we were almost at the point where we were going to descend. I jumped on his rear wheel and waited until we crested, and as I hoped he would try and take off, he instead opted to pull off and make a left turn. Darn!
Shannon was feeling better after we crested, to we started rotating again and worked all the way back to Aliso Viejo via 133/El Toro/Aliso Creek. In the end, we averaged ~21.2 mph. According to Garmin Connect, our move average was almost 22 mph.
Now I felt good when we got back, but after the adrenalin/endorphins were gone, my body crashed pretty hard and my legs felt pretty cooked. I went to watch my son's soccer game after the ride, and toward the end of the game I just lost consciousness. At least I was there in spirit.
Great training with Shannon again. Hopefully, we can get more out for these longer rides. I'm sure we'll need to get more elevation training as well, but we can start that next month. Go Team BRCM!
P.S. Happy Anniversary, Shannon and Dina.
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