Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/46551106
Since next week is the Belgium Waffle Ride, the hills were no longer on the training agenda so the only thing we were interested in doing was getting in a lot of miles. The original plan was to ride down to the McDonald's in Camp Pendleton from the Irvine BJs, which would have been ~108 miles OAB, but our plans were foiled by the Half Ironman that took place in Oceanside ultimately closing the road to Trestles. We still got in about 94 miles (some more based on riding from home) after deciding to head up to Warner in Huntingon Beach and then back through Back Bay and the bike trail. Good enough.
I arrived first in the parking lot and Shannon came in after and parked behind me. I wondered if anyone else was going to come (other than Noah and Kevin who were going to ride in), and when I didn't see any other cars I recognized I figured it would just be the four of us. Then I had looked at my rear view mirror and saw Shannon was talking to someone. When I looked at my other rear view, I was surprised to see that Eddie made it out. Although he sported BRCM black (everyone else wore white...even Noah), it was great he could make it out. I guess IM training is on again.
Once we got going, I noticed how the temperatures seemed pretty ideal. It was one of those days where it wasn't freezing at the start and never really got too warm during any part of the ride. Winds were present through certain parts of the ride, but nothing too crazy. I can only hope that next week's race will have comparable weather. We'll see.
Starting the ride, the pace was pretty moderate where everyone seemed to respect the idea that we were going long and not racing for segments...my favorite type of ride. Everyone was taking turns up front, including Eddie who pushed up a couple times despite not having ridden with us for a while. Of course, my definition of moderate may differ from others on the road, but the fact that we pretty much stayed together the whole time speaks volumes. While there were surges on occasion, especially when called for (more on this later), this was actually a group ride that stayed as a group. Amazing.
Eddie opted to turn around after getting 20 miles in since he had to get back, and 40 for the day was good enough. The rest of us continued on toward San Clemente even after we realized that we probably wouldn't be able to go beyond Cristianitos. We were going to figure things out when we got there. We took a quick pit stop at Dana Point, but kept going after maintaining a strong steady pace incident free all the way.
As we got on Avenida del Presidente, we happen to see Brad (Noah's other buddy) heading the opposite way, so he turned around and joined us. Brad's a trooper too, so having an extra person to work the rotation was great.
We opted to go over the freeway onto El Camino Real and decided at that point that Huntington Beach via PCH would be how we would get more miles. We thought about going up Antonio, but the weather was great so the coast seemed like it would be optimal.
Just after going under the 5 freeway, an older guy in a Velosport kit opted to join the ranks. He seemed content to be in the draft, but as we neared the protected bike path, that changed where he seemingly tried to break away. After I reeled him back in, Shannon launched an attack and I followed hoping to keep the gap. Kevin, however, seemed to have broken one of the crit rules of pulling someone back into the breakaway, and the next thing you know, he and Mr. VS were behind us again. We all rotated once again after they caught up, but when Mr. VS took the front I thought it would be fun to just open it up again and drop him on the stretch. BAM! He opted to cross the street there, where the rest of us went through the parking lot and headed toward the harbor.
Then, someone got it in their head that it might be good to go up Cove on the way back. I was definitely not looking forward to it since the last time I went up with Todd, we both felt pretty cooked after it despite not having been riding too hard beforehand. Plus, I had a standard crank today and the last time was on my compact. I hung back and actually chatted with someone who had rolled up and asked where we were going, but as we got closer to Cove, I dropped to my small chainring right away already and was just going to charge it off the seat to get momentum and hopefully make it up at a good pace. I ended up passing the other guys early and Noah commented how I was going to do that because I'm an "angry rider" (or something to that effect), but the truth is I was more of a fearful rider just wanting to finish the hill. Surprisingly, I did make it all the way up off the seat, so maybe I was angry. HA HA Too bad the segment is marked hazardous now.
On PCH, we were rotating and working together as a group all the way to Laguna Beach, where we opted to take another break at the gas station on the corner of the 133. After refilling bottles, getting something to eat, etc., we continued on. Everyone was still putting in work up front, and we were in CDM in no time.
It was sometime after Newport or possibly as we entered Huntington Beach that we ended up picking up some passengers. There were actually a few guys riding with us, and some getting in our line but not really pushing up to the front right away. If/when they did push up to the front, it seemed for the most part that they were trying to break off. One guy even tried to do so rolling through a light, but we were able to reel him back in pretty easily.
As we passed one rider where Bike Religion shorts but a Velosport jersey, I was actually behind another rider up front where the guy we passed tried to push his way onto the wheel of the rider in front of me. After calling out "left" twice, he responded with "chill pro rider" and relegated to getting in the line behind me somewhere. I was annoyed, but I did remember how I was in a BRCM kit and just bit my lip. As we hit the next light, I did turn around to look and see where he was in case he had more to say, but I didn't really see him.
As we pushed on to the long stretch, we decided to amp up the pace with some really strong pulls into the wind. This ended up dropping a bunch of the straggler, but VS rider #2 and a younger kid we passed who was on a BMC managed to stay in the draft (by having us rotate in front of them). After my last pull, I was finally relegated to the back of the pack and we were still moving at a pretty good clip with Shannon at the helm. Then, I saw VS2 pull out, stand up and begin sprinting. I hesitated waiting to see if anyone would respond when the kid on the BMC also decided to do the same thing. I took off from the back and managed to latch onto the kid who had broken away, I ended up passing and trying to chase VS2 down but all the work we did beforehand just made it impossible. Needless to say, I was a little annoyed. Noah pointed out that he probably rounded the corner at Werner and celebrated on his own mental podium for what he did, but personally I think he rounded Werner because he probably thought we'd go straight and show his punk ass what's up. Boy, I guess I am an angry rider. HA HA
We turn around at Warner and started heading back where Brad had gone off on his own to go home. I guess I was still pretty amped from what happened, so I took the front and held it for a while keeping a pretty decent pace. Shannon's efforts earlier got to him and he started cramping where he ended up slowing down a bit to recover. We regrouped at one of the light, and Shannon being the team workhorse, STILL kept pushing up to the front and even bringing the pace up because that's just what he does. How can you not love this guy? HA HA
He did end up pulling a disappearing act as we got to Bayside where we wondered where he was. After not seeing him, Noah, Kevin and I opted to keep going believing that Shannon probably got ahead of us. Sure enough, as we neared the entrance to Back Bay, there he was. He jumped back in the rotation and once again still kept pushing up front as did the other guys making for a good pace through Back Bay and the following bike trails. After some rotations, which Noah skipped a couple, Noah decided to pull a VS2 and break for the top of Back Bay. Nice. HAHA
On Harvard, I knew we were close and Noah mentioned earlier that we should just blow it out at the end. I stepped it up and brought the pace up just to leave it all out there based on this. Everyone stayed with me, but as we got closer to the bike trail opening Shannon indicated he was just going to spin the rest back so we pressed on. Rather than going onto the bike trail, Noah indicated it would be safer to keep going straight and jump on the bike trail ahead. Great idea! We pushed on and Noah and I were just working together all the way to where I exited to Bryan. Kevin was not far behind us, and I figured I'd see Shannon soon after I arrive at my car. However, despite still pushing it on Bryan, it was just as I entered the parking lot from a cross street there that Shannon was once again right there beside me where he obviously didn't drop off much at all. He's a feisty one, that Irishman.
Great group ride today, gents, and perfect way to get some good long miles in preparation for next week. 20.1 average on Strava (20.5 moving on GC), so obviously we were moving out there. Now it's just a matter of getting that ride next week done. I'm hoping we'll all be able to stay together as we did today, mostly so we can finish and start drinking all together. Looking forward to it! Thanks!
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