Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/39305190
Attendees: Galen, Vin, Todd, Vince, Adrian, Mitchell, Jaffe, Seon (welcome back!), Jeremy
Nice to see a good sized crew out today and with the exception of only a couple peeps, representing BRCM white at that. The weather was warmer than it has been, and overall the winds seemed relatively calm making for optimal conditions.
Before I start writing about the ride, I do want to mention how I literally almost fainted after yesterday's spin class. My point in bringing it up was that I thought that was probably about as bad as it'll get as far as pushing myself to the limit in that relatively short period of time. I come out for today's ride thinking it couldn't possibly be THAT bad. Damn...I was wrong.
Going down California, I came up from the back and decided to do a little taunting of another breakaway similar to Tuesday's ride. However, no one came with and we got caught at the first light before University. I didn't figure one would stick anyway, but it was fun to make people nervous. #twisted
When we got on the bike trail, Todd, Jeremy and Galen led us out to Back Bay. Todd had come off the front at one point going backwards to get in the rotation, but knowing we were doing hills I decided to let him in front of me (I was in #4 position) just to tire him out a little more. I knew he wouldn't care.
On Back Bay, I knew we had a good crew to be able to push the charge to San Joaquin, so I did start to get into the rotation along with Galen and Todd. We were pushing pretty hard but surprisingly it didn't string out the group as I thought it might. Just goes to show you how much stronger everyone is getting. Vince ended up letting in front of him one point so I can get back in the rotation with the other two (thanks? ha ha). When Todd didn't end up relieving Galen (maybe my earlier strategy worked?), I took the final pull having tired of watching Galen look over his shoulders with this WTF? look. AHA.
As we hit the little sprinter hill on San Joaquin leading up to Jamboree, Jaffe decided to launch an R5 attack and just started going for it. When I looked back and saw no one responding, I felt somewhat compelled to keep Jaffe honest and charged on up after him. I did manage to catch and pass him, but I think I literally blew my wad for the rest of the ride as a result. I honestly could have turned around at that point and called it a day for my lunch workout.
When we started making our way to McArthur, I was pretty much on survival mode so while Vince, Todd and Galen pushed the group, I would suck on anyone's wheel who was willing to let me just to keep up. I was hoping I would recover enough so that I wouldn't fall off that much going up past Spyglass. However, before we hit that street, Vince had ran over something that kicked something up and ultimately had Vin run it over blowing out one of his tires. As I was just behind him, I checked up a little but having seen Jeremy stopping as a result and confirming he would help Vin, I pressed on. Of course, Vin calls me out at the gym telling me now he knows who his friends are. Maybe he should spend more time thinking about knowing where to buy new tires that toiling over stupid shiz. Just sayin'.
Anyway, I did try to make my way up to the guys who kept going ahead of me, but just missed the light on Spyglass along with Adrian as Mitchell, Galen, Todd and Vince kept going. What was funny here was how Adrian started cursing at how the light was turning red, but from my vantage point it looked like he could have made it if he really wanted to. After coming to a stop, he says out loud about Vince and Todd that they better keep going or something to that effect inferring somehow that it was their only chance to get away. Adrian, if you read this, please click on this link: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/delusional?db=dictionary. What made it even funnier was as soon as the light turned green, I popped him off faster than a person who just left fat camp removing the top of a Coca Cola bottle.
I was hoping to make my way up to the others, but only managed to reel in Mitchell, who may have just been playing possum to let me catch him in order to perform his wingman responsibilities. I think I even heard a "click" as he locked onto my rear wheel after I passed. He did help me during that climb and pretty much all the rest of the climbs as well as a pull on Bonita Canyon subsequently so THANK YOU, Mitchell. Good job.
Adrian did manage to catch up to us as we got on NPC, and lo and behold did take the front finally as we began descending down NPC toward the bottom Pelican. Can you say "finally?" By the way, have I mentioned he's the only one still sporting his aero bars? Just pointing out the facts....
After exchanging pulls down the hill, Mitchell and I pulled away once we got on Pelican. As we made our way toward the last part of the climb, Vin had made his way down the opposite way and u-turned to join us. When we got to the top and made the left turn on NPC, he took this opportunity to accelerate away from us and stayed ahead for the rest of the climb up Vista as well. I felt like I was about to die on the last part of Vista, so I was never able to reel him in. Mitchell once again came to my rescue there.
With no one there on Ridge Park upon our arrival, we just kept going and ultimately ran into Vin, Hiroshi and Jeremy on NPC. Hiroshi and Mitchell were both getting in the rotations going down NPC or on Bonita Canyon subsequently, so when Vin finally made his way up front as we hit the crest before McArthur, he was once again in breakaway mode or so it seemed. Well, I wasn't about to let that happen again this time. I let the guy lead us onto Bison holding him out just as he'd been sitting in the draft for most of the ride, and when he tried to bust it after the 2nd light over the 73, he got slapped down like a redheaded stepchild. Of course, when I tried to give him kudos on his sprint attempt, he tried to play it off like he wasn't sprinting. Typical.
We never saw Vince, Todd or Galen after they broke away until we got back in the locker room, but in a way, that was a good thing. They tore it up and averaged more than 1 mph faster than the rest of us. Here's a link for them: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/overachievers?s=t.
Okay, so maybe I didn't almost pass out after the ride, but I did see glimpses of my past similar to what I would expect when arriving at death's door. I can't ask for anymore than that in terms of training. #sick
Thanks for coming out, gents!
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Lunch Ride - The "Snooze You Lose" Trainer
Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/39087269
Attendees: Todd, Vince, Adrian, Vin, Jeremy (welcome back!), Mitchell, Jaffe, Peter and one other gent
As a previous underwriter for an insurance company, my main responsibility back then was to assess risks. In order to do so, you must take into account factual variables like historical data, statistics, etc., and based on that information, you can somewhat predict the likelihood of future events. With regard to today's ride, taking into account Todd having his TT bike, him typically generating 300-350 watts average with speeds for solo runs in the 23's, you gotta think it would be predictable that he would be in crush mode today. I know I did when I saw him take off initially. Vince caught on early as well, but the rest of the bunch got caught sleeping not having given enough weight to the aforementioned variables. Amateurs! I literally had to sprint when I took off since Todd had already gapped the rest off us early on, and Vince also had to do the same in order to catch the both of us on Peltason. Everyone was long gone behind us by that point...and we were less than a mile out.
Vince and I knew better than to jump ahead of Todd and take a pull while he's on that speed machine. I wouldn't say we sat comfortably behind him the whole time as it still took a lot of work just to keep up. Hell, we did a 21.3 average sitting behind him all the way up to Bonita Canyon.
Even as we climbed up San Miguel and Spyglass, we were still just hanging on all the way to San Joaquin. As we started climbing up San Joaquin, I couldn't hang so as Vince put it, Todd #5'd me. He and Todd gapped me pretty good, so when I had the opportunity to cut on Ridge Park to NPC (they went straight), I took it hoping to head them off. Fortunately, I was able to get ahead of them just as I got on NPC where they were both stopped at a light. Now I could have slowed down and waited for them to catch up, but what fun would that be?
I knew it would just be a matter of time when they'd catch back up to me, so I kept peering behind me every so often just so I can be prepared for when they pass. I thought for sure by Pelican they'd be reeling me in, but surprisingly I didn't see them until they were just coming up to the light on Poppy on PCH. It turns out Todd dropped his water bottle on Pelican and they both went back up to get it before chasing me down. Now it makes sense.
We made our way through Ocean and finally onto Avocado where we ended up running into Jeremy, Jaffe, Mitchell and Vin. We just hit the green light upon arriving at the intersection, but the guys were all ready as we passed where everyone jumped on Todd's pain train on PCH. I think I just barely latched back on at the time and was thankful we got caught at the light going onto Back Bay Drive from Jamboree.
On Back Bay, Todd kept the pace up and none of us were too eager to try and get past him. Vince did relieve him at some point as did I subsequently, but after Todd passed again, we just sat and rode him out all the way to the end. Awesome pull. We did see Mike Z. going the opposite way. Nice to see him come out!
On Jamboree, initially Vince took the lead, but I made my way up to and past him. Todd came by eventually and passed us both, but Vince was able to keep up with him whereas I was just over it (Vince points out this was where I got #5'd for a 2nd time). Yeah, Todd's a beast on that TT bike, so he can #5 me all day long on that thing. Nothing new here, folks.
I wasn't sure how the sprint on Bison was going to go, but when Todd started to gap everyone, I was just content to try and ride up to him. As I showed him my wheel, however, Todd wouldn't have it and STILL was able to amp it up enough to get to California first.
Now after reading about how we sat behind Todd most of the time, you'd think maybe that we didn't get a great workout. I'd beg to differ. We need that kind of punishment more often.
Thanks for coming out, gents!
Attendees: Todd, Vince, Adrian, Vin, Jeremy (welcome back!), Mitchell, Jaffe, Peter and one other gent
As a previous underwriter for an insurance company, my main responsibility back then was to assess risks. In order to do so, you must take into account factual variables like historical data, statistics, etc., and based on that information, you can somewhat predict the likelihood of future events. With regard to today's ride, taking into account Todd having his TT bike, him typically generating 300-350 watts average with speeds for solo runs in the 23's, you gotta think it would be predictable that he would be in crush mode today. I know I did when I saw him take off initially. Vince caught on early as well, but the rest of the bunch got caught sleeping not having given enough weight to the aforementioned variables. Amateurs! I literally had to sprint when I took off since Todd had already gapped the rest off us early on, and Vince also had to do the same in order to catch the both of us on Peltason. Everyone was long gone behind us by that point...and we were less than a mile out.
Vince and I knew better than to jump ahead of Todd and take a pull while he's on that speed machine. I wouldn't say we sat comfortably behind him the whole time as it still took a lot of work just to keep up. Hell, we did a 21.3 average sitting behind him all the way up to Bonita Canyon.
Even as we climbed up San Miguel and Spyglass, we were still just hanging on all the way to San Joaquin. As we started climbing up San Joaquin, I couldn't hang so as Vince put it, Todd #5'd me. He and Todd gapped me pretty good, so when I had the opportunity to cut on Ridge Park to NPC (they went straight), I took it hoping to head them off. Fortunately, I was able to get ahead of them just as I got on NPC where they were both stopped at a light. Now I could have slowed down and waited for them to catch up, but what fun would that be?
I knew it would just be a matter of time when they'd catch back up to me, so I kept peering behind me every so often just so I can be prepared for when they pass. I thought for sure by Pelican they'd be reeling me in, but surprisingly I didn't see them until they were just coming up to the light on Poppy on PCH. It turns out Todd dropped his water bottle on Pelican and they both went back up to get it before chasing me down. Now it makes sense.
We made our way through Ocean and finally onto Avocado where we ended up running into Jeremy, Jaffe, Mitchell and Vin. We just hit the green light upon arriving at the intersection, but the guys were all ready as we passed where everyone jumped on Todd's pain train on PCH. I think I just barely latched back on at the time and was thankful we got caught at the light going onto Back Bay Drive from Jamboree.
On Back Bay, Todd kept the pace up and none of us were too eager to try and get past him. Vince did relieve him at some point as did I subsequently, but after Todd passed again, we just sat and rode him out all the way to the end. Awesome pull. We did see Mike Z. going the opposite way. Nice to see him come out!
On Jamboree, initially Vince took the lead, but I made my way up to and past him. Todd came by eventually and passed us both, but Vince was able to keep up with him whereas I was just over it (Vince points out this was where I got #5'd for a 2nd time). Yeah, Todd's a beast on that TT bike, so he can #5 me all day long on that thing. Nothing new here, folks.
I wasn't sure how the sprint on Bison was going to go, but when Todd started to gap everyone, I was just content to try and ride up to him. As I showed him my wheel, however, Todd wouldn't have it and STILL was able to amp it up enough to get to California first.
Now after reading about how we sat behind Todd most of the time, you'd think maybe that we didn't get a great workout. I'd beg to differ. We need that kind of punishment more often.
Thanks for coming out, gents!
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Lunch Ride - Bike Trail Laguna Cyn Shady Bonita Cyn University CA
Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/38366990
It was nice to have more people out for today's lunch ride (Vince, Todd, Mitchell, Vin, Hiroshi and Steve), but "nice" may be subject to interpretation. "Nice" would usually be associated with friendly and fun, but I don't know if being on a ride where the mode of operation is to try and drop others would fall under either definition. At least the weather was somewhat nice...warm sun and calm winds. I could have done without the dryness though.
I think Todd started things off with an early breakaway going down California. I followed but only slowly made my way up to him but having a slight gap behind me. When we caught the light on University, I had just gotten up to him and thought we would cross possibly breaking away from the others at this point. However, the rest of the group made their way through the light and were just behind us as we both got on the bike trail.
I guess Todd wasn't happy about this and already started cranking the pace up ahead of me. While I was slowly making my way back up to him again, I guess I wasn't doing so fast enough as Vince came around from behind me and closed the gap faster. Vince eventually took the subsequent pull, and I took the one after.
Just when I thought that the three of us would likely be doing all the rotations up front, lo and behold that Hiroshi, Mitchell, Jaffe and Vin pulled up beside me to also participate in the rotations. Today would be a good day to buy a lotto ticket. That dwindled eventually after a couple pulls as far as the bike trail is concerned, but it was still appreciated nonetheless. I did end up rotating back behind some of them only to watch while Todd gets held out a few places, but I can't really say it didn't serve him right for all his breakaway attempts today.
Of course, when we get off the bike trail, Vin takes the front after comfortably sitting in the back for a while, and seemingly tried to encourage Todd to break away with him on Laguna Canyon. Fortunately, that was hindered by hitting the light on Alton. I think he tried again after the light turned green, but with less success as no gap ever formed as a result.
Todd took the front after and again seemed to amp it up a little before we hit Quail Hill, but I was still on and able to get to the front and stay there ALL the way to Shady...WTF?!? HAHA. Although I knew I was probably getting setup, it was still a good workout if I got dropped at that point.
I started climbing up Shady and tried to maintain a consistent pace but when I looked back after hearing Vince say something, I realized I started to gap the other guys. Now having ridden with this crew for as long as I have, the one thing I've come to know is never fully expect any breakaway to stick...especially on a hill! I stood up and tried to get a little more momentum, but sure as sh!t, Todd's making his way past me about 3/4 of the way up. Told ya. I tried to spin up to get on his wheel, but it was just enough to not let him gap me too much. I knew if I worked harder to catch him that I'd probably pay the price of getting dropped after the top.
Todd was still in breakaway mode on the descent and was able to keep me out of his draft until that one little kicker hill after the bridge. I was able to close on him there enough, so that when he slowed to cross that one opening, I was able to be right there with him. There was no way I was going to take the front at that point, however, as I knew he'd just used me up and spit me out.
I waited until we got to the rise after the gate (okay maybe 3/4 of the way up) before taking the front again and leading us down. Todd jumped to the front to relieve me on the descent, but I shamelessly jumped to the front before the bike trail opening. By the time we got to the light, it had just turned green and I was further relieved to believe that the breakaway we had would stick.
However, once we got on Bonita Canyon, Todd started telling me to speed up as the rest of the crew was coming up behind us and coming up fast. Damn! I was a little worked at this point, but we both started rotating more to try to keep the rest of the guys off. We were very lucky that traffic lights were very cooperative, and we knew that crossing either McArthur or Jamboree just as it was turning yellow had sealed the others fate at that point. You'd think we'd slow down as a result, but Todd doesn't roll that way.
We kept the pace up on Eastbluff, even getting me a 9th place on Strava for that street, and hardly ever slowed down even after getting on the sidewalk/bike trail headed to University. One guy on a recumbent bike, however, opted to try and cut in front of me just as we were nearing the underpass, where I did have to slow down not only to avoid crashing but to also check my shorts for dookie.
Todd took the front after that hardly slowing down, and we both pushed on all the way to California. Even climbing California was tough, but I knew better than lead Todd up. HA HA. I held his wheel again here until about 3/4 of the way up (again) and passed him (although calling it out vs. doing it sneakily). I'll admit I had passed him at a pretty good clip, but Todd being the competitor he is just wouldn't let me get to the top ahead of him. With the light being green on Bison, we got to the light together but he had more momentum so he got to the other side ahead of me. Vin and Vince were rolling up at the intersection too, so they came in with us at that point. 22.5 mph not too shabby despite today's antics.
Nice? Maybe I should have chosen a different word. At least it was yet another great workout with the team. According to Vince, it was a great workout for everyone else as well. Thanks, gents!
It was nice to have more people out for today's lunch ride (Vince, Todd, Mitchell, Vin, Hiroshi and Steve), but "nice" may be subject to interpretation. "Nice" would usually be associated with friendly and fun, but I don't know if being on a ride where the mode of operation is to try and drop others would fall under either definition. At least the weather was somewhat nice...warm sun and calm winds. I could have done without the dryness though.
I think Todd started things off with an early breakaway going down California. I followed but only slowly made my way up to him but having a slight gap behind me. When we caught the light on University, I had just gotten up to him and thought we would cross possibly breaking away from the others at this point. However, the rest of the group made their way through the light and were just behind us as we both got on the bike trail.
I guess Todd wasn't happy about this and already started cranking the pace up ahead of me. While I was slowly making my way back up to him again, I guess I wasn't doing so fast enough as Vince came around from behind me and closed the gap faster. Vince eventually took the subsequent pull, and I took the one after.
Just when I thought that the three of us would likely be doing all the rotations up front, lo and behold that Hiroshi, Mitchell, Jaffe and Vin pulled up beside me to also participate in the rotations. Today would be a good day to buy a lotto ticket. That dwindled eventually after a couple pulls as far as the bike trail is concerned, but it was still appreciated nonetheless. I did end up rotating back behind some of them only to watch while Todd gets held out a few places, but I can't really say it didn't serve him right for all his breakaway attempts today.
Of course, when we get off the bike trail, Vin takes the front after comfortably sitting in the back for a while, and seemingly tried to encourage Todd to break away with him on Laguna Canyon. Fortunately, that was hindered by hitting the light on Alton. I think he tried again after the light turned green, but with less success as no gap ever formed as a result.
Todd took the front after and again seemed to amp it up a little before we hit Quail Hill, but I was still on and able to get to the front and stay there ALL the way to Shady...WTF?!? HAHA. Although I knew I was probably getting setup, it was still a good workout if I got dropped at that point.
I started climbing up Shady and tried to maintain a consistent pace but when I looked back after hearing Vince say something, I realized I started to gap the other guys. Now having ridden with this crew for as long as I have, the one thing I've come to know is never fully expect any breakaway to stick...especially on a hill! I stood up and tried to get a little more momentum, but sure as sh!t, Todd's making his way past me about 3/4 of the way up. Told ya. I tried to spin up to get on his wheel, but it was just enough to not let him gap me too much. I knew if I worked harder to catch him that I'd probably pay the price of getting dropped after the top.
Todd was still in breakaway mode on the descent and was able to keep me out of his draft until that one little kicker hill after the bridge. I was able to close on him there enough, so that when he slowed to cross that one opening, I was able to be right there with him. There was no way I was going to take the front at that point, however, as I knew he'd just used me up and spit me out.
I waited until we got to the rise after the gate (okay maybe 3/4 of the way up) before taking the front again and leading us down. Todd jumped to the front to relieve me on the descent, but I shamelessly jumped to the front before the bike trail opening. By the time we got to the light, it had just turned green and I was further relieved to believe that the breakaway we had would stick.
However, once we got on Bonita Canyon, Todd started telling me to speed up as the rest of the crew was coming up behind us and coming up fast. Damn! I was a little worked at this point, but we both started rotating more to try to keep the rest of the guys off. We were very lucky that traffic lights were very cooperative, and we knew that crossing either McArthur or Jamboree just as it was turning yellow had sealed the others fate at that point. You'd think we'd slow down as a result, but Todd doesn't roll that way.
We kept the pace up on Eastbluff, even getting me a 9th place on Strava for that street, and hardly ever slowed down even after getting on the sidewalk/bike trail headed to University. One guy on a recumbent bike, however, opted to try and cut in front of me just as we were nearing the underpass, where I did have to slow down not only to avoid crashing but to also check my shorts for dookie.
Todd took the front after that hardly slowing down, and we both pushed on all the way to California. Even climbing California was tough, but I knew better than lead Todd up. HA HA. I held his wheel again here until about 3/4 of the way up (again) and passed him (although calling it out vs. doing it sneakily). I'll admit I had passed him at a pretty good clip, but Todd being the competitor he is just wouldn't let me get to the top ahead of him. With the light being green on Bison, we got to the light together but he had more momentum so he got to the other side ahead of me. Vin and Vince were rolling up at the intersection too, so they came in with us at that point. 22.5 mph not too shabby despite today's antics.
Nice? Maybe I should have chosen a different word. At least it was yet another great workout with the team. According to Vince, it was a great workout for everyone else as well. Thanks, gents!
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Mellow Saturday Ride with THE Todd Jacobs
Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/38014787
After racing last week and all the training that led into it, it was nice to go out and do a ride like we did yesterday. The plan was to do something reasonable in the form of pace and reasonable it was. It was just Todd and I, and I wasn't sure I'd ever seen Todd do a ride that was fairly leisurely but he was totally on board. We wanted to ride and enjoy the sunshine, taking breaks, and just not being dead tired at the end of the ride. In the end, 1 out of 3 wasn't bad.
It was suppose to warm up this weekend, so both Todd and I had donned our new kits with arm warmers, and I had on a baselayer underneath my jersey. For the most part, we were dressed for the warmer weather. Todd started from his house where the temp was around 62 degrees, but as he rode down Antonio and arrived at my house, he looked liked me when I arrived at the first SAG during the San Diego Gran Fondo on our first outing...frozen. When we started to roll out, even riding down toward the bike trail that heads to Doheny was enough to have my fingers turn purple from being so cold. According to my Garmin, the lowest temperature of the ride was 35 degrees. No wonder. Fortunately, it warmed up some by the time we got by the ocean and actually hit about 71 degrees as the high for the day.
True to his word, Todd was not pushing the pace at all and I think I now know what Hiroshi and Vin mean by conversational pace. Todd and I talked the whole way down to Las Pulgas just at the top of Camp Pendleton. There was hardly even a need to get a drink to that point because we were cruising for the most part. We did wonder how come we didn't see too many riders out there while we were heading out and kept looking back believing that some would even pass us. However, no one was out there to mix it up on our way out.
On our way back, it was a different story. We turned around at the gate near Las Pulgas and started up the hill pedaling at a little more decent pace as we made our way to one guy on a TT bike. It wasn't like we were pushing it either, but we did catch up to him 3/4 of the way up. At first, it seemed like he latched on so we upped the pace a little more as we made our way up to the second gate before the parking lot. By the time we got to the parking lot, we were alone again.
We opted to cruise again in through the state beach parking lot, and eventually, someone did come up behind us again. We weren't sure if it was the TT guy again or not, but we started to pick up the pace again. It was only Todd and I who were rotating to keep the pace up, so that also made us want to amp it up enough just to see if whoever latched on could hang on. By the time we were in front of the power plant, we were once again alone. We kept the pace up nonetheless all the way to Trestles just to make sure.
We chilled as we rode through San Clemente, but by the time we got to the long protected bike lane stretch we ran into two older gentlemen who seemed like they were holding a pretty decent pace. When we passed them, they latched on and seemed pretty strong holding our wheel as we kept bringing the pace up and up. After I had taken a pull, one of the two passed me with Todd on his wheel and took a good pull too. Then Todd took his breakaway pull where I had latched on, and we just snapped the guy off at that point. It's how we roll.
We did end up hitting up the Cove hill in Dana Point after as well as go on Crown Valley to Alicia and Oso. The weird thing is as easy as the first part of the ride was, we both felt tired from the antics we pulled on the way back. I was almost ready to call it and make a right on Marguerite instead of going all the way up to Antonio, but I manned up and did the route I intended to do from the onset. What a great workout.
I hope we can get more guys out for casual rides like this more often. We can push during certain parts of the ride to get some good training in, but still enjoy each other's company during and after the ride. Todd, thanks for inviting me out and for the great workout as well as the great company and conversation. Let's do it again sometime.
After racing last week and all the training that led into it, it was nice to go out and do a ride like we did yesterday. The plan was to do something reasonable in the form of pace and reasonable it was. It was just Todd and I, and I wasn't sure I'd ever seen Todd do a ride that was fairly leisurely but he was totally on board. We wanted to ride and enjoy the sunshine, taking breaks, and just not being dead tired at the end of the ride. In the end, 1 out of 3 wasn't bad.
It was suppose to warm up this weekend, so both Todd and I had donned our new kits with arm warmers, and I had on a baselayer underneath my jersey. For the most part, we were dressed for the warmer weather. Todd started from his house where the temp was around 62 degrees, but as he rode down Antonio and arrived at my house, he looked liked me when I arrived at the first SAG during the San Diego Gran Fondo on our first outing...frozen. When we started to roll out, even riding down toward the bike trail that heads to Doheny was enough to have my fingers turn purple from being so cold. According to my Garmin, the lowest temperature of the ride was 35 degrees. No wonder. Fortunately, it warmed up some by the time we got by the ocean and actually hit about 71 degrees as the high for the day.
True to his word, Todd was not pushing the pace at all and I think I now know what Hiroshi and Vin mean by conversational pace. Todd and I talked the whole way down to Las Pulgas just at the top of Camp Pendleton. There was hardly even a need to get a drink to that point because we were cruising for the most part. We did wonder how come we didn't see too many riders out there while we were heading out and kept looking back believing that some would even pass us. However, no one was out there to mix it up on our way out.
On our way back, it was a different story. We turned around at the gate near Las Pulgas and started up the hill pedaling at a little more decent pace as we made our way to one guy on a TT bike. It wasn't like we were pushing it either, but we did catch up to him 3/4 of the way up. At first, it seemed like he latched on so we upped the pace a little more as we made our way up to the second gate before the parking lot. By the time we got to the parking lot, we were alone again.
We opted to cruise again in through the state beach parking lot, and eventually, someone did come up behind us again. We weren't sure if it was the TT guy again or not, but we started to pick up the pace again. It was only Todd and I who were rotating to keep the pace up, so that also made us want to amp it up enough just to see if whoever latched on could hang on. By the time we were in front of the power plant, we were once again alone. We kept the pace up nonetheless all the way to Trestles just to make sure.
We chilled as we rode through San Clemente, but by the time we got to the long protected bike lane stretch we ran into two older gentlemen who seemed like they were holding a pretty decent pace. When we passed them, they latched on and seemed pretty strong holding our wheel as we kept bringing the pace up and up. After I had taken a pull, one of the two passed me with Todd on his wheel and took a good pull too. Then Todd took his breakaway pull where I had latched on, and we just snapped the guy off at that point. It's how we roll.
We did end up hitting up the Cove hill in Dana Point after as well as go on Crown Valley to Alicia and Oso. The weird thing is as easy as the first part of the ride was, we both felt tired from the antics we pulled on the way back. I was almost ready to call it and make a right on Marguerite instead of going all the way up to Antonio, but I manned up and did the route I intended to do from the onset. What a great workout.
I hope we can get more guys out for casual rides like this more often. We can push during certain parts of the ride to get some good training in, but still enjoy each other's company during and after the ride. Todd, thanks for inviting me out and for the great workout as well as the great company and conversation. Let's do it again sometime.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Lunch Ride - TR Shady Ridgeline Summit Condo Route
Strava: Garmin failing to connect...again! Hopefully I can upload from home.
It's nice to get out on a regular road bike again after riding the TT bike exclusively for the last several weeks. Today ended up being a beautiful day with the weather having warmed up enough not requiring any warmers of any sort. Bonus! The forecast this morning did threaten of winds in the 18-20 mph range, but as with yesterday, it changed and the winds were as bad as predicted. There were some sections that felt pretty route wind-wise, but nothing too horribly bad.
Mitchell, Adrian, Vin and Jaffe came out with me for this declared BRCM black jersey day. I would seriously question any technical specs Jaffe writes up that include color coding, since he was the only one who wore red. At least it was BRCM.
It was too bad none of the more aggro guys could come out on my first 2013 lunch ride...only because I knew it would be where I'd end up having to do most of the work. Of course when I said let's go, everyone waited patiently until I started to roll so they can line up behind me. smh. When we got on the climb on Anteater, however, Jaffe wanted to show his climbing ability on his new R5 and passed me as he pedaled off the seat. I looked back when he did, and of course, no one latched on so I had to jump behind Jaffe until he slowed down just before getting to the stop sign. I passed him and stayed up front until Culver with a respectable 19.6 average to that point.
When we turned left on Culver, Vin took the front and gapped early on, but I reeled him in and let him do some work as we climbed to the top. It was after we crested that I came around him to take over and keep the group pace up, and in typical Adrian fashion, he shot again as we neared Campus probably so he can advance in that Strava segment.
I kept Adrian ahead of me as we turned on Campus but got up front before we made the right on Turtle Rock. As we started the climb, I was trying to keep a good pace going up but did hope someone would relieve me at some point. I peeked behind me midway up and saw that there was only one guy behind me, but I couldn't make out who it was since I only glanced back quickly. When he started to come around, I realized it was my wingman, Mitchell. That's right...he came around and took pulls.
It was just Mitchell and I for the rest of the ride since it turns out Vin got another flat today while riding behind me. I'm not sure how Adrian and Jaffe were affected by this since we didn't see them anymore (except Mitchell did see Jaffe climbing Summit on his descent) He questioned why he seems to get a flat behind me (inferring that I must do something to sabotage his tires to slow him down), but the reality of the situation is 1) if he rode up front more, it's likely this wouldn't happen and 2) stop buying retreaded Contis at bargain prices. If you think Vin is not capable of #2, let me tell ya....
Mitchell was a trooper and would come around and take pulls just when I think I could use it. I did get ahead of him on some of the climbs, but he was never too far behind allowing us to finish together for the ride. Thanks, buddy! I owe you a hamburger in our next event!
Good to be back on the road bike for sure. Thanks, gents!
It's nice to get out on a regular road bike again after riding the TT bike exclusively for the last several weeks. Today ended up being a beautiful day with the weather having warmed up enough not requiring any warmers of any sort. Bonus! The forecast this morning did threaten of winds in the 18-20 mph range, but as with yesterday, it changed and the winds were as bad as predicted. There were some sections that felt pretty route wind-wise, but nothing too horribly bad.
Mitchell, Adrian, Vin and Jaffe came out with me for this declared BRCM black jersey day. I would seriously question any technical specs Jaffe writes up that include color coding, since he was the only one who wore red. At least it was BRCM.
It was too bad none of the more aggro guys could come out on my first 2013 lunch ride...only because I knew it would be where I'd end up having to do most of the work. Of course when I said let's go, everyone waited patiently until I started to roll so they can line up behind me. smh. When we got on the climb on Anteater, however, Jaffe wanted to show his climbing ability on his new R5 and passed me as he pedaled off the seat. I looked back when he did, and of course, no one latched on so I had to jump behind Jaffe until he slowed down just before getting to the stop sign. I passed him and stayed up front until Culver with a respectable 19.6 average to that point.
When we turned left on Culver, Vin took the front and gapped early on, but I reeled him in and let him do some work as we climbed to the top. It was after we crested that I came around him to take over and keep the group pace up, and in typical Adrian fashion, he shot again as we neared Campus probably so he can advance in that Strava segment.
I kept Adrian ahead of me as we turned on Campus but got up front before we made the right on Turtle Rock. As we started the climb, I was trying to keep a good pace going up but did hope someone would relieve me at some point. I peeked behind me midway up and saw that there was only one guy behind me, but I couldn't make out who it was since I only glanced back quickly. When he started to come around, I realized it was my wingman, Mitchell. That's right...he came around and took pulls.
It was just Mitchell and I for the rest of the ride since it turns out Vin got another flat today while riding behind me. I'm not sure how Adrian and Jaffe were affected by this since we didn't see them anymore (except Mitchell did see Jaffe climbing Summit on his descent) He questioned why he seems to get a flat behind me (inferring that I must do something to sabotage his tires to slow him down), but the reality of the situation is 1) if he rode up front more, it's likely this wouldn't happen and 2) stop buying retreaded Contis at bargain prices. If you think Vin is not capable of #2, let me tell ya....
Mitchell was a trooper and would come around and take pulls just when I think I could use it. I did get ahead of him on some of the climbs, but he was never too far behind allowing us to finish together for the ride. Thanks, buddy! I owe you a hamburger in our next event!
Good to be back on the road bike for sure. Thanks, gents!
Sunday, January 13, 2013
2013 Stagecoach TTT - More Drama Than Daytime TV
Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/37472080
Team - Shannon, Todd, Galen and me
Attendees: Vince (solo TT 100) and Gary (solo 50)
Back in November, the prospect of having a team defend the Stagecoach TTT title again was quite grim. Shannon had originally expressed no interest in doing it, Noah was tired of training from his Ironman, Todd indicated he was out as he wouldn't be able to train due to a Boston trip and Vince also indicated he was just not trained up enough to participate at his best. Galen, who was definitely one of the best candidates from our team, had said he may have commitments with his daughter that would prevent him from training and/or fully committing to the race. Hell, even I didn't want to do it originally as I was thinking a solo TT effort might be more enjoyable. It took Shannon to step up and say he was doing it and subsequently picking from the others who indicated they were going as to who will be on his team (Adrian, Galen and me). Todd didn't like the idea of not competing, so he quickly changed his mind and took his rightful place on the team in lieu of Adrian (I'm sure to Adrian's relief). I was waiting for Noah or Vince to want their spot, which I would have gladly forfeited mine to do so, but I wasn't as lucky.
We did get some training miles in together here and there, but the training was definitely more individualized in contrast to our efforts for last year's race. Schedules were more difficult to line up, so everyone did what they could do to get miles in. We had some team outings, but the last full team training event was probably early in December. Still, we all did the best that we could under the circumstances and spent time either riding individually, spinning or getting out with others when possible. In the end, we felt we had a really good chance in once again defending the title.
Now, onto race day....
Galen, Vince, Shannon and Gary stayed in Galen's trailer parked right at the start location, and it was a sweet setup with a shower, heater, and plenty of amenities for comfort. Todd and I stayed in Alpine, but drove out to the race early and were able to get ready and stay warm in the trailer making for probably the most comfortable start in all the 4 times I've done this event. Considering that this year was probably the worst weather conditions (freezing) I've ever experienced in this ride, having the trailer there was BIG! Thanks, Galen!
All of us were worried about doing this ride at these temperatures as this added yet another layer of complexity in preparing for it. While we expected temperatures to possibly reach sub 30, we were "fortunate" that it never got THAT cold. It was still ridiculous starting out at 33 degrees and having an average temperature for the whole ride to be 41, but we all took the necessary measures to not have the coldness be too much of a hindrance. For me, it took having a thick full sleeve compression baselayer, a camelbak sleeveless baselayer, arm warmers, riding pants, our BRCM jersey and bib shorts, full shoe covers, full fingered gloves and a head cover. And given that we opted to use hydration packs this year, we had a minimum of 80 oz of fluids with us as well. Can you say heavy?
I really wanted to have the means to use splits this year and compare our results to last year, so I came up with the brilliant idea of using my Garmin 800's virtual partner feature. What it does is allow me to upload the results from last year, and then have it tell me how far ahead/behind we are this year compared to then. Easy enough, right? Well, I'm not even sure I used it right never having used the feature before. After selecting the course and being presented with the "GO" button, I instead hit start when I started rolling when presented with the automatic notification to do so. Now the virtual partner screen did report time and early on, I believed it was indicating we were ahead of schedule since it said so. Why would it lie, right? I was sharing the information with the other guys, but they didn't really let up despite the data I was sharing them. If so, it would be just a little. After a while, they just started ignoring me because what I was saying just didn't make any sense to them. I didn't want to believe that data was wrong, but when it was saying we were an hour ahead, maybe the other guys were onto something. HAHA. Anyways, never again and I hope I didn't mess up our ride as a result.
Now I could probably talk about the whole ride and describe each mile, but rather than doing so, I'll just talk about the ride as a whole. The ride out felt tough this year, but we did manage to improve over our time last year by over a minute. The way back seemed equally tough and there seemed to be some headwind on some sections that were difficult to push through. Despite this, we all pretty much stayed together with only about 3 or so "GAPS!" being called out. After climbing the final hill, however, I was no longer able to stay with the guys when they amped it up for the final charge down to the finish. It's possible I may have overextended myself a little in the valley, so after trying to keep up on the last hill with the "greater Todd Jacobs" and Shannon leading the charge up, I just didn't have enough and fell off leaving the 3 to finish the race ahead of me. We were still about 10 miles out at the time, but I kept going just in case someone suffered a mechanical or flat in the last stretch. In the end, they finished a couple minutes ahead of me. Unfortunately, our #3 time did not beat the record we set last year. Had the conditions been similar than last year, however, I'm certain we would have annihilated it!
Now onto the controversial topic: the results. On a positive note, our team time did beat the time of a racer that the promoter (in our conversation from the day before) touted as someone capable of beating the solo TT record of 4:37 set by a national champion since he had done this course a couple times with results besting it. That speaks volumes considering the conditions of yesterday's ride. However, we did not get the best TTT time of the day as 2 Descenders "officially" recorded faster times than we did even besting our record from last year. They had a new participant this year, however, by the name of James Wingert (rhymes with ringer coincidentally) who appears to either be a professional racer or at a minimum a CAT 1 after doing some research. He unfortunately did not wear a timing chip and was not able to get an "official" time recorded, but the promoted tried to set an arbitrary time for him since he arrived with the first 2 guys. The promoter awarded the win to them originally, but another team contested the result and couldn't understand how someone without a timing chip could be considered. While we also had questioned among ourselves how the promoter could do so arbitrarily, Vince (who was incognito in yesterday's ride wearing a black jersey for warmth) happened to see them pass him in the race. However, rather than 4 of them passing him in their paceline...there were 7! Vince did jump in their paceline and eventually pulled up beside some of them saying "you guys do realize this is a 4 man team race, don't you?" Ultimately, one of the guys muttered it isn't worth it and broke off. It was because of THIS indiscretion that we too contested the decision with the promoter and shared what we saw. I believe it was enough to have two teams contest the promoter's ruling that should have led to the Descenders team A being DQ'd, but the act of indiscretion hopefully should be addressed as well. We saw something similar last year, so it's a wonder why it seems so important to beat our team with tactics that seem questionable at best. Wasn't a ringer enough? We wouldn't have said anything otherwise.
Here's what the timing company page shows for the TTT: http://www.ceptiming.com/2013/misc450/13Stagecoach-Teams.txt
I do want to acknowledge what true BAM spirit is with Vince's and Gary's efforts for this event. Vince, who would have stepped up as a backup if it was necessary, came out despite the conditions and the fact that he'd be riding alone and did the whole 100 miles by himself! Gary, who had crashed a few month ago requiring hip surgery, trained up on his own and came out and did the 50 mile route all on his own as well! That is BIG considering he wasn't even able to walk for a while after his accident. The character and conviction of these guys exemplify the true spirit of our team beyond what we did in the race in my opinion. Super kudos to the both of them for coming out and representing!
Thanks again to Todd, Shannon and Galen for letting me participate in the team. You guys are absolutely amazing, and it was an honor to be able to ride with you guys on this ride. Thanks for the beer and food, Shannon...good stuff!
Pictures to follow once I can get them from Gary and/or others who took some. Here's one though of what I call BRCM Cycling heart and soul....
Updated with some of Gary's pictures:
The rest of the pictures can be found here (thanks, Gary!): https://picasaweb.google.com/114303683088857890912/SC2013?authkey=Gv1sRgCMf0teSB84PjYw#
Team - Shannon, Todd, Galen and me
Attendees: Vince (solo TT 100) and Gary (solo 50)
Back in November, the prospect of having a team defend the Stagecoach TTT title again was quite grim. Shannon had originally expressed no interest in doing it, Noah was tired of training from his Ironman, Todd indicated he was out as he wouldn't be able to train due to a Boston trip and Vince also indicated he was just not trained up enough to participate at his best. Galen, who was definitely one of the best candidates from our team, had said he may have commitments with his daughter that would prevent him from training and/or fully committing to the race. Hell, even I didn't want to do it originally as I was thinking a solo TT effort might be more enjoyable. It took Shannon to step up and say he was doing it and subsequently picking from the others who indicated they were going as to who will be on his team (Adrian, Galen and me). Todd didn't like the idea of not competing, so he quickly changed his mind and took his rightful place on the team in lieu of Adrian (I'm sure to Adrian's relief). I was waiting for Noah or Vince to want their spot, which I would have gladly forfeited mine to do so, but I wasn't as lucky.
We did get some training miles in together here and there, but the training was definitely more individualized in contrast to our efforts for last year's race. Schedules were more difficult to line up, so everyone did what they could do to get miles in. We had some team outings, but the last full team training event was probably early in December. Still, we all did the best that we could under the circumstances and spent time either riding individually, spinning or getting out with others when possible. In the end, we felt we had a really good chance in once again defending the title.
Now, onto race day....
Galen, Vince, Shannon and Gary stayed in Galen's trailer parked right at the start location, and it was a sweet setup with a shower, heater, and plenty of amenities for comfort. Todd and I stayed in Alpine, but drove out to the race early and were able to get ready and stay warm in the trailer making for probably the most comfortable start in all the 4 times I've done this event. Considering that this year was probably the worst weather conditions (freezing) I've ever experienced in this ride, having the trailer there was BIG! Thanks, Galen!
All of us were worried about doing this ride at these temperatures as this added yet another layer of complexity in preparing for it. While we expected temperatures to possibly reach sub 30, we were "fortunate" that it never got THAT cold. It was still ridiculous starting out at 33 degrees and having an average temperature for the whole ride to be 41, but we all took the necessary measures to not have the coldness be too much of a hindrance. For me, it took having a thick full sleeve compression baselayer, a camelbak sleeveless baselayer, arm warmers, riding pants, our BRCM jersey and bib shorts, full shoe covers, full fingered gloves and a head cover. And given that we opted to use hydration packs this year, we had a minimum of 80 oz of fluids with us as well. Can you say heavy?
I really wanted to have the means to use splits this year and compare our results to last year, so I came up with the brilliant idea of using my Garmin 800's virtual partner feature. What it does is allow me to upload the results from last year, and then have it tell me how far ahead/behind we are this year compared to then. Easy enough, right? Well, I'm not even sure I used it right never having used the feature before. After selecting the course and being presented with the "GO" button, I instead hit start when I started rolling when presented with the automatic notification to do so. Now the virtual partner screen did report time and early on, I believed it was indicating we were ahead of schedule since it said so. Why would it lie, right? I was sharing the information with the other guys, but they didn't really let up despite the data I was sharing them. If so, it would be just a little. After a while, they just started ignoring me because what I was saying just didn't make any sense to them. I didn't want to believe that data was wrong, but when it was saying we were an hour ahead, maybe the other guys were onto something. HAHA. Anyways, never again and I hope I didn't mess up our ride as a result.
Now I could probably talk about the whole ride and describe each mile, but rather than doing so, I'll just talk about the ride as a whole. The ride out felt tough this year, but we did manage to improve over our time last year by over a minute. The way back seemed equally tough and there seemed to be some headwind on some sections that were difficult to push through. Despite this, we all pretty much stayed together with only about 3 or so "GAPS!" being called out. After climbing the final hill, however, I was no longer able to stay with the guys when they amped it up for the final charge down to the finish. It's possible I may have overextended myself a little in the valley, so after trying to keep up on the last hill with the "greater Todd Jacobs" and Shannon leading the charge up, I just didn't have enough and fell off leaving the 3 to finish the race ahead of me. We were still about 10 miles out at the time, but I kept going just in case someone suffered a mechanical or flat in the last stretch. In the end, they finished a couple minutes ahead of me. Unfortunately, our #3 time did not beat the record we set last year. Had the conditions been similar than last year, however, I'm certain we would have annihilated it!
Now onto the controversial topic: the results. On a positive note, our team time did beat the time of a racer that the promoter (in our conversation from the day before) touted as someone capable of beating the solo TT record of 4:37 set by a national champion since he had done this course a couple times with results besting it. That speaks volumes considering the conditions of yesterday's ride. However, we did not get the best TTT time of the day as 2 Descenders "officially" recorded faster times than we did even besting our record from last year. They had a new participant this year, however, by the name of James Wingert (rhymes with ringer coincidentally) who appears to either be a professional racer or at a minimum a CAT 1 after doing some research. He unfortunately did not wear a timing chip and was not able to get an "official" time recorded, but the promoted tried to set an arbitrary time for him since he arrived with the first 2 guys. The promoter awarded the win to them originally, but another team contested the result and couldn't understand how someone without a timing chip could be considered. While we also had questioned among ourselves how the promoter could do so arbitrarily, Vince (who was incognito in yesterday's ride wearing a black jersey for warmth) happened to see them pass him in the race. However, rather than 4 of them passing him in their paceline...there were 7! Vince did jump in their paceline and eventually pulled up beside some of them saying "you guys do realize this is a 4 man team race, don't you?" Ultimately, one of the guys muttered it isn't worth it and broke off. It was because of THIS indiscretion that we too contested the decision with the promoter and shared what we saw. I believe it was enough to have two teams contest the promoter's ruling that should have led to the Descenders team A being DQ'd, but the act of indiscretion hopefully should be addressed as well. We saw something similar last year, so it's a wonder why it seems so important to beat our team with tactics that seem questionable at best. Wasn't a ringer enough? We wouldn't have said anything otherwise.
Here's what the timing company page shows for the TTT: http://www.ceptiming.com/2013/misc450/13Stagecoach-Teams.txt
I do want to acknowledge what true BAM spirit is with Vince's and Gary's efforts for this event. Vince, who would have stepped up as a backup if it was necessary, came out despite the conditions and the fact that he'd be riding alone and did the whole 100 miles by himself! Gary, who had crashed a few month ago requiring hip surgery, trained up on his own and came out and did the 50 mile route all on his own as well! That is BIG considering he wasn't even able to walk for a while after his accident. The character and conviction of these guys exemplify the true spirit of our team beyond what we did in the race in my opinion. Super kudos to the both of them for coming out and representing!
Thanks again to Todd, Shannon and Galen for letting me participate in the team. You guys are absolutely amazing, and it was an honor to be able to ride with you guys on this ride. Thanks for the beer and food, Shannon...good stuff!
Pictures to follow once I can get them from Gary and/or others who took some. Here's one though of what I call BRCM Cycling heart and soul....
Updated with some of Gary's pictures:
 |
| Does my butt look big with this hydration pack on? |
 |
| Let's see...caffeine...check. |
 |
| Prepping the motor.... |
 |
| Double TTrouble |
 |
| As if my head wasn't big enough.... |
 |
| The man...the machine.... |
 |
| Hard to be nervous when freezing. |
 |
| Off 4 of us go... |
 |
| ...and back with the top 3. |
 |
| Checking in. |
 |
| Still representing hours after.... |
 |
| The most aggressive seating position ever. |
 |
| How we do |
 |
| Vince - the Stagecoach Iron Chef |
 |
| Hosting our BRCM San Diego rider and wife |
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| S-Gary in the house...or trailer that is |
 |
| Chillin' |
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
2012 Reflection and What's Up for 2013
I know I haven't blogged for a bit, but it's definitely not because we haven't been riding. On the contrary, we've actually been riding a lot in preparation for an upcoming race this month. Instead, I've limited our ride reports to our team internally just to add a little mystery for anyone who may be reading my blogs and wanting to see what we're doing in preparation for the race. Silly, I know, but you'll come to find that that's how I roll.
Anyway, one of the things I wanted to write about today was not so much about a particular ride but just to reflect on what 2012 has been for our team. In contrast to 2011, I don't think we went as big as we did then but that's because a lot of things have happened during the year. Shannon was enjoying his first year of marital bliss, Vince and Marc both also married this year, Gary suffered injuries from a crash, and there were some other sport venues that others were training for other than cycling-specific that "got in the way." Despite this, Team Broadcom still had a full year of accomplishments that I tracked on a separate page: http://broadcomcycling.blogspot.com/2012/01/2012-accomplishments-and-accolades.html. Congratulations, Team Broadcom!
I'm truly blessed to be part of such a great group of guys, and I hope our union continues on for many years to come.
For 2013, we'll be starting of with the Stagecoach TTT with other participants also attending the ride. It'll be a challenge for us, but I think we're all ready to do our best to defend the title for another year. I know I'm anxious to see how it turns out.
The rest of the year remains undetermined for us, but lunch rides will always be a part of our training regimen along with rides during the weekend. We'll also probably do some of the usual popular rides of the past, but I think everyone is playing it by ear at this point. Life does tend to get in the way, but rest assure that our cycling interest has not waned. We still plan to represent the Broadcom jersey in the manner we have in the past: honorably and passionately.
Anyway, one of the things I wanted to write about today was not so much about a particular ride but just to reflect on what 2012 has been for our team. In contrast to 2011, I don't think we went as big as we did then but that's because a lot of things have happened during the year. Shannon was enjoying his first year of marital bliss, Vince and Marc both also married this year, Gary suffered injuries from a crash, and there were some other sport venues that others were training for other than cycling-specific that "got in the way." Despite this, Team Broadcom still had a full year of accomplishments that I tracked on a separate page: http://broadcomcycling.blogspot.com/2012/01/2012-accomplishments-and-accolades.html. Congratulations, Team Broadcom!
I'm truly blessed to be part of such a great group of guys, and I hope our union continues on for many years to come.
For 2013, we'll be starting of with the Stagecoach TTT with other participants also attending the ride. It'll be a challenge for us, but I think we're all ready to do our best to defend the title for another year. I know I'm anxious to see how it turns out.
The rest of the year remains undetermined for us, but lunch rides will always be a part of our training regimen along with rides during the weekend. We'll also probably do some of the usual popular rides of the past, but I think everyone is playing it by ear at this point. Life does tend to get in the way, but rest assure that our cycling interest has not waned. We still plan to represent the Broadcom jersey in the manner we have in the past: honorably and passionately.
 |
| Lunch Ride Pic in the 2013 Kit |
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