Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/48849356
After the Belgian Waffle Ride last week, I was ready to get back into some shorter but more intense riding. I did some solo rides on my TT bike on Tuesday and Thursday that were pretty intense where I even set a PR for the route by .5 mph and got some KOMs in the process. However, I knew a true test of intensity would be to get back on the Como Street ride. I thought it's only been a few months since I did it, but after looking it up, it's actually been a whole year! I'm glad we chose the short course to start off with.
Vin's been a regular on this training ride for some time now, so I thought I'd rely on his experience to reintroduce me back to the ride. Since he typically starts from his house in Mission Viejo, I thought it would be good to start with him there. It was a cold start from his house, but Vin's pace to the start of the ride was more than adequate to warm us up. Umm...23 mph average from his house. I looked down while we were on Irvine Blvd and we were bouncing over 30 on occasion. Yeah, we were warm all right.
We passed a couple small groups on the way in but before 8 AM, but we ended up waiting with another guy at a corner until the real Como ride came by. When they went by, there were about 40 or so in the group but it kept growing as we made our way toward Irvine Blvd. Cool. I saw team RockForm there in good numbers including Sol, so we opted to stay behind them in case there would be a break where they can give chase with us in tow.
Once we got on Irvine Blvd, there were a couple people making breakaways, but the group never really panicked. In fact, the pace was fairly easy with only a couple spikes but I believe the headwind had a lot to do with it. Thus, the group stayed together all the way to El Toro.
Once we got on El Toro, Vin and I started moving up and working to get in a better position...and the timing was almost perfect. As we pushed up, some guys started turning up the heat up front, and we were just able to get in the line and keep up with everyone. It happened a couple times up until we got to Santa Margarita where the long course group breaks off from the short course. We managed to stay in a good position despite those surges.
The pace was still pretty tough climbing the rest of the way towards Cooks, and you can see some people feeling it as they popped off. There were two ladies who were doing well, but one popped off just before Cooks only to be able to latch back on at the climb. Impressive. Once we got past Cooks and started climbing, there were more casualties and the front started to thin. The lady who didn't drop was doing well holding on, but she ended up dropping just after 3/4 of the way before the first peak. I think Vin ended up falling off shortly after. I managed to keep the pace and had visions of grandeur thinking I could pass some after the first crest, but opted to still play it safe and held the back over the 2nd crest.
Once we got over the crest, there were about 7-8 of us in the group and I waited patiently in the back to rotate to the front and do my share of the work. The pace was fast but we were working pretty efficiently. I think we could have gone a little faster though, but when I would pick it up just a little as I took the front, one guy would ask me to back it down some and keep it smooth...I complied.
After a while, 1-2 guys would skip the rotation, but I didn't mind the extra work. We did get picked up by a chase group after the lake, but that just meant more people to work with so cool. As we approached dump, I was toward the rear of the pack where I couldn't see when others made a break. Once we started climbing though, I started pushing up and actually closed a gap from some guys who had taken off at the bottom. Others had latched on to me as I made my way up, and then passed me before the top only to have me latch on to them. When we crested, I was with two or three other guys and we started to reel in someone ahead of us who I couldn't tell if he were a part of the group or some random person.
We did get stopped at one of the lights over the toll road, but as one light turned green, one guy thought he'd try and break away and I ended up chasing him down alone and latching on just before the last little rise before Jamboree. I wasn't in full aggro mode though and just stayed there, but then two guys ended up passing us where I swung around and jumped on to keep them honest.
When we got on Jamboree, the guy on the Masi bike who's big but unusually fast was there along with someone on his team and a RockForm guy. I had gotten in the back on the turn where several others had arrived there with us, but the three aforementioned guys ended up breaking away without a response from the group. I was a little annoyed, so I came around and broke away from the group to try and give chase hoping that I may get lucky and catch them at a light. I ended up riding alone in between both groups though all the way to Portola.
Two guys ended up passing me after crossing Portola, so I sprinted and latched on. I was thinking they were going to take turns but the #2 guy held out #1 for a while. I finally came around to take the front hoping they would latch on, but they were just off the back and I guess just done. No point in doing anything more at that point.
The Starbucks was where Vin and I agreed to regroup, and he was there only minutes after I arrived so he was definitely not far behind. He ended up working with other people as well and had a good ride also. We rode back on our own together, and I think I ended up actually feeling more worked after that only because there was some pretty good headwind when headed toward his house. Also, he pointed out a couple hill sprint sections that he does, so add that to it and I was done by the time we got to his pad.
I think I'll be doing this ride more regularly because it IS a great workout and I'd like to get out when the pace is really fast (according to Vin, it wasn't that fast today). It'd be nice to see what that's like. Thanks for hosting, Vin!
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