Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/49766934
This is a fundraiser ride to help build schools for underprivileged children in the Philippines...where I'm from. This official name of this ride is Sikad Ng Bayan, which is tagalog (native Philippine dialect) for Pedal for the Nation. I try to do this ride regularly to pay homage to my origin (3rd time so far), but I missed last year due to a schedule conflict. I'm glad I made it out today though as I got to meet up with some friends from where I grew up in San Diego. They ride as part of a group called the Mira Mesa Cycling Club (MMCC). I had tried to get others on our team to join me previously, but this year I had pretty much expected to do it alone again. At least I got to ride with MMCC.
It's been so windy the last few weeks that I was a little worried it would continue through today. While it was still pretty windy in some sections, it did appear to have calmed down noticeably where it wasn't too rough today...finally! The temperature was actually a little cool at the start but it was pretty nice out there otherwise. I had gotten back before it started to get real warm (80s).
Although I ate like crap on Friday night (my wife loves to feed me), I was still content to just ride in the peloton throughout the ride. I figure with 63 miles and a trek through the canyon, I would likely burn enough calories to offset my previous night's dietary recklessness. That's 3+ hours of riding after all.
When we were riding out, the pace was decent on the bike trails. When we got on Lincoln, it seemed to slow down a bit but it wasn't too bad. When I looked up to see who was up front, I noticed it was this big guy who was pretty muscular but probably weighed about 210-220 lbs. We had ended up running into another group on E. Santiago and for some reason, we sat behind them as they went even a slower. When I saw the big guy come out of the line and start pushing up again, I decided I would help him to keep the pace up to a "respectable" level. HA HA. I guess when I got up front though, I gapped the group a little up a hill as we made our way to Cannon. I saw another group up ahead and I was just trying to close the gap.
Now I hadn't paid attention to the route change they made, but apparently they changed it to go over Cannon toward Chapman as opposed to going straight and ending up on Jamboree. I hadn't really planned for a climb that steep, so when I made the right turn onto Chapman, I was interested in just finding a pace that I could keep steady on my standard crank bike. I ended up closing in on the group who had made the turn ahead of me, and then started pushing up to the front. In doing so, I turned and noticed another rider latch on to my rear wheel, which to me was cool. Then I saw a guy who I remember mixing it up with on GMR on one of our training rides before, and he started to make his way by me. I pushed it a little more and started to pull ahead of him again only to have him try it again near the top. When he did, I dropped to my shortest gear and just spun it up and broke him off before we got to the top. From that point on, the type A switch was flipped and I was just wanting to get it done.
I got to Chapman and got the green light ahead of the others behind me. I then was just in chase mode from here and started reeling rider after rider in. I passed riders near the top of Chapman, going up dump, and on the following descent waiting to see if anyone would latch on and no one. I kept reeling in riders and past the SAG after Silverado just as some other riders were just pulling in. When I got to Modjeska, I saw a few more riders and made my way past them too. One guy, however, was able to keep me off up the climb to the first crest before descending down to Cooks. I set him up for a pass by the 2nd and final crest and past him with authority where he just couldn't latch on. BAM! HA HA.
I descended and past a couple other riders but then got stopped at a light after Cooks. This allowed the guy I past on the 2nd crest catch up to me, and he latched on for the descent down to Trabuco. He didn't have his bib on but confirmed he was also a part of the ride, so I thought it'd be cool to have someone to ride with. He was saying he wasn't as strong, but he'd do what he can...so I said cool. He did take some short pulls, but stayed in the draft mostly otherwise. We ended up splitting up on Jamboree where he opted to wait for his friend, so from this point on I was on my own.
I ended up making my way back following the well marked course and didn't see any other 63 mile riders ahead of me. I saw some of the shorter course riders though but made my way past them without anyone wanting to work with me. Oh well. When I got back to the finish, the lady asked what route I was part of and I told her the 63. She mentioned to me I was the first one back from that route, and by looking at those who were back (not a lot), I believed her. Let's just say you can tell that those who were there just didn't seem like they can do a 20 mph average 63 miler. HA HA
I rinsed off and changed by my car and watched to see the riders coming in. I didn't see anyone come in right away, so I just sat in my car having a cold one hoping to see someone I recognized. When i didn't see anyone, I opted to just go ahead and eat by myself. The Filipino cuisine was tops and was a great way to top the ride since I was starved. I only brought two gels with me and 2 shotblok cubes, so I was starving! After I ate, however, I was good to go.
Since the ride was well organized and the food was tops, I'll be doing this ride again next year for sure. Maybe I'll take it easy for that one. Maybe.
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