Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/43761355
After finding out that Noah and Shannon were going to do the Belgian Waffle Ride down in San Diego (130 miles, 10K climbing and various terrain) in April, I couldn't resist joining them. I was actually thinking about joining Noah when he first brought it up, although I had some reservations given what I described about the ride above, but when Shannon signed up, my fate was sealed. Todd ended up signing up also, and there is the possibility that Galen will too. Obviously, we need to get some training in and in fast. After all, it's only in 4 weeks!
Shannon invited me out to ride with him and Noah, and Kevin (Noah's bud) came out with us on his spanking new Super Six EVO...sick bike! Todd opted for the sisters training route, so we'll have to get some miles with him another time. We opted to take a less crazy route given that neither Shannon nor Noah have had beyond a 25 mile ride in the last couple to few months. Still, I would never underestimate these guys especially when they get into competition mode. Even though I've been training regularly, my peak is probably their midway.
The 4 of us met at the corner of Jamboree and Portola, which conveniently is right there by Eddie's place where I opted to park and take off from. I did see Eddie before I left, but he had daddy duties to tend to...not that he would have come out otherwise, but....
We started out pretty close to 8 a.m. as scheduled, and were rolling up Jamboree toward the canyon at a pretty decent pace. I was glad the pace early on wasn't too manic, but I wonder if those we passed thought otherwise given that none of them latched on for a free ride. We all made our way up and over Jamboree together, and started the climb up toward Dump as a group. Kevin wasn't feeling too well, so he was bringing up the back sounding like he was coughing up a lung but hanging in there nonetheless.
Shannon, Noah and I alternated up front the whole time and worked very well together (at least I thought so...maybe they thought otherwise?). We had a good pace even going down the other side of Dump and to my surprise, Noah was right there the whole time! Sweet!
When we got to Silverado, the rotations continued although initially I wondered whether it would be a good idea for me to do so given that I'm not of the same climbing caliber as the two other. Nevertheless, I figured I better get some training in and did what I could. Our pace got a little too hot for Kev, but the three of us made our way to the top together the whole time. Kevin wasn't far behind though.
We took a little break at the top, but not too long to where any of us got cold. It wasn't as cold up there as I thought it would be, so we were still fairly warm when we took off down the hill. Since the roads were fairly wet, it was definitely not a race pace going down. Near the bottom, Shannon took the front and finished out the descent for us.
We worked together to get to Modjeska, and Noah led us onto the road headed toward the grade. I took the front before we got to the grade and then led us up for the steep climb. Noah came around midway and I came around as it started to flatten out near the top, but both of us were always thinking that it was just a matter of time before Shannon passed given this is what we're accustomed to. However, Shannon must have been either feeling the lack of road miles and/or had done some crosstraining previously, or he possibly was just trying to make us feel good so we're not discouraged when riding with him for the actual race. I think the latter is the most plausible.
Kevin had lost enough lungs from all the hacking and snot blowing where he ended up heading back after Modjeska, so it was just the three of us left from there. I didn't realize this, so when Shannon and Noah passed me on Santiago, I was still waiting for Kevin to join us. HA HA. Fortunately, I was able to catch up to Shannon and Noah by Cook's as they slowed to make the left turn toward Live Oak.
Shannon, like the Juggernaut he is, led us up the hill initially, and Noah took the reins about midway. Noah had a good pace going up, so I took advantage and sat behind for a while until near the top where I pushed up to take the front. The descent on the other side was less dangerous than Silverado since it was dry, so I took off after another rider I saw ahead of him. I managed to reel him in eventually, but as I was holding a good pace, Noah zooms past me. Wow! I had to pick it up just to get on his wheel, and he and I took turns as we made our way through the hairpin climb ahead. We picked up the first rider initially, but he broke off on the climb, but another rider had latched on to me while I led us up. At first, I thought it was Noah, but when I looked back I saw a different color kit. He said something at one point to me and in the context of what he said, all I heard was "push." So near the top, that's exactly what I did and popped him off accordingly. BAM!
Shannon and Noah caught up to me at the top, and the Juggernaut pushed past me and was again an unstoppable force. Noah and I gave chase and we all rode together down Santa Margarita. On the climb towards Marguerite, I was holding a good pace and Noah launched an attack in typical BAM fashion. Maybe "attack" is too strong of a description, but it was definitely an aggressive pass. I know once he gets more miles he'd have made it stick but I was thankfully able to catch up to him to finish the climb.
We turned on Marguerite and got on El Toro to head back through the canyon, and the three of us held a pretty good pace as we made our way to Cook's. As we approached Cook's, a rider in a Bike Religion (BR) kit came off the bike trail just ahead of us and seemed to be interested in keeping us out of his draft. Noah and I tried to reel him in on the climb, but just couldn't do so where the BR guy seemed pretty legit. On the first crest, I sprinted to try to catch him before he got over the 2nd crest but he still had a pretty decent gap ahead of me although smaller than after the first crest. He still seemingly tried to keep me off and even looked back a couple times just to see where I was, but I chased him down and finally was able to latch on some time after Modjeska. I was in recovery mode so I held him out for a while as he chased down a guy on a TT bike ahead of us. He sat on the TT guy's wheel to recover after, and then the three of us started rotating once we got past Silverado. On the climb up Dump, the TT guy was up front initially but I took the front and was holding a good pace. Then BR guy started motoring past me where I had to uphold the BRCM colors and latch on. I thought I was close to blowing up, but I managed to find some extra and pass him near the top. I did extend a "great job" as I passed him, and he latched on for the rest of the descent all the way down to Jamboree. We even chased down another guy on a TT bike in the process, so hopefully team BRCM left an impression. Isn't that what it's all about?
Noah and Shannon weren't far behind, and Shannon passed in typical Juggernaut style leading us again up the climb on Jamboree. He's a selfless rock, so it's nice to be able to ride with him again after his lengthy hiatus from weekend riding.
55 miles with 4400+ feet of climbing today...good enough for starters. I know we'll have to do more than twice this for the BWR, so I'm sure the training will just get rougher. With the way Noah and Shannon are, I'm sure they'll be popping me off on the very next ride with ease. With Todd and possibly Galen coming too, I'm thinking I'll need to find the first girl I see on that ride and just latch on to her wheel for as long as I can hold on. Yeah, it's like that.
Thanks for the training, gents!
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