Morning Team Trainer - More Advil Please

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/activities/57312186

Galen sent out an invite yesterday asking if anyone was interested in coming out this morning, and foolishly I agreed after being punished during yesterday's lunch ride.  I threw out the idea of doing the Coffee Crew ride thinking it may be my saving grace given their relatively moderate start, but Vince chimed in indicating he was joining us and that we'd figure out what to do in the morning at 6 a.m.  When I got up from the couch last night at one point, I realized my legs were feeling pretty cooked and was so close to sending an e-mail indicating I couldn't make it.  Then I found out Gary was coming out too, so I couldn't miss that given I hadn't ridden with the guy for months.  Thus, today was just another day where Advil was a part of my breakfast regimen.

When I pulled up to bldg 11, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Verm had come out too!  I think it has been even longer since I've ridden with the guy, so it was nice to have him join us again.  You can see he's been putting in some miles on Strava where on his last ride, Shannon and I commended and coaxed him to come back out with us.  I guess Finance guys succumb to peer pressure rather easily.  Paul B. was arriving at the gym just as we were heading out and wisely opted to do his own thing...wisely because these rides are nutty!

The riding conditions were pretty ideal this morning given the overcast above and the relatively low winds.  The temperature was mild, but I still half expected that we would take it easy for the first few miles to allow some blood circulation so early in the morning.  The moderate pace lasted until we got to E. Peltason with Galen breaking away for a bit, followed by Verm breaking away on Anteater.  Gary did make a comment after the ride how everything is still the same including how I complain about starting so fast.  HA HA.

We did regroup on Bonita Canyon and pretty much were all together by the time we made the left onto NPC.  That lasted for only a little bit, as immediately upon starting the climb, Galen, Vince and Verm began to break away.  Social riding is just not within these guys makeup.  Since Gary expected we were going to do our thing and would never want us to wait (given he's still building up his base mileage but still BAM through and through), I stood up and started climbing after the three.  It took until almost the light before the 73 underpass before I finally made it up to Vince and Galen with Verm not too far behind.  After yesterday's ride, I opted to swallow some humility pills and stay behind these two with Galen leading us all way up to the top.  While this seems easy enough, it's not.

We started rotating after San Joaquin and down NPC, and just when you think we're going pretty fast down the hill, someone would jump ahead and go even faster.  Okay, so I'm equally guilty, but hey...we moved up in position on the Newport descent segment so isn't that what it's all about?

Steve wasn't far behind, so he joined us on PCH and we were off.  There were some solid pulls and everyone seemed to be working well together as we made our way toward Laguna Beach.  I rather enjoyed the teamwork, but you gotta know, I mean you seriously gotta know, someone's going to change that at some point during the ride.  Sure enough, madness ensued on the 133.

While the beginning of the climb up the 133 was fairly cooperative, it seemed after the 73 underpass that things started to get nutty.  There's something about that highway that seems to spark a fire under Galen, regardless of the direction, so the climb was pretty intense.  Unfortunately, it got a little too hot for the Verminator, but Vince and I hung on while Galen seemingly did his best to make us hurt.  It was near the top of the first crest where he finally decided to back it down, so I passed to take a turn.  He eventually came around and once again had a pace that seemed to be full of bad intentions, but Vince was right on him and I was able to barely latch back on.  As it started to flatten out and upon descending, Vince launched at least 2 attacks (this is evident by him pedaling off the seat in a sprint manner) and attempt breakaways.  I think it was the 2nd one that had Galen calling out how that was just mean.  Ironic.  We were always able to close the gap, but it definitely took some work to do so.  By the time we arrived at Laguna Canyon, we were spent.

Vince led the two of us to the Knollcrest climb since Galen and I have never done it before.  We paced Vince going up the hill, but once he stood up and started climbing, we knew we must be near the top, so Galen and I instinctively did the same.  It does look like a good hill to include more often during our lunch rides, so I'm thinking we'll be changing the top 10 rankings on those segments to include more "- Team Broadcom" in the near future.

Steve was actually not far behind us when we climb, and we were all able to regroup once back on Quail Hill.  The climb up Shady was at a relatively moderate pace with no attacks, and the same on the descent given the possibility of early morning pedestrian traffic.

Once we got back on the road after the gate, Galen turned it up while we all hung on all the way to the top.  Vince took over after followed by Verm, who started to elevate the pace as we started to make our way to the bike trail opening.  I figured I'd give the ol' sprint a try and came around Verm to go for it.  I thought I was moving at a pretty good clip where I was going to arrive ahead on the trail uncontested, but Galen passed me just before.  Kudos.

On Bonita Canyon, I took the lead and brought the pace up to a respectable 29 or so mph all the way until after the 73.  To show their gratitude for my pull, I get passed by all three of them at a rate that was just plain mean.  HA HA.  Gotta love 'em.  Even Vince decided it was too painful and opted not to stay on, but fortunately we caught them both at the light at the top.

The rest of the ride was still fast, but fairly incident free.  I did expect that someone would try to close out the ride with a sprint to California, but I was the only idiot who took off.  There was too much traffic anyway, so....

Great training ride, and especially great to see some OG riders back out again.  With Andy back in the mix, and PV talking about wanting to ride again, we'll just need Tim to come out and it'll be like the old times.  Thanks for coming out, gents!  Now where's that other packet of Advil in my office...?

Lunch Ride - Wow...That's All I Can Say

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/activities/57181891

It's an unspoken rule that if someone new comes on the ride OR if someone leaves for a bit and comes back that they need to pay their dues on our lunch rides.  After all the years I've been riding with these guys, I KNOW this.  Thus, I expected that today's ride would be no different and I expected to get the naan beat out of me after being off in India for two weeks.  I tried my best to train for it with what equipment they had over there, but there's really no way one can be fully prepared for riding with this lunch crew.  The word "nutty" comes to mind to describe today's ride.  There are other words, but they may be a little too profane.

It was a good turnout though with Vince, Shannon,  Adrian, Jeremy,  Hiroshi, Mitchell, Andy, Vin and Jaffe coming out representing BRCM jersey (except Jeremy..haha - listen next time).  Seeing this size of a group, I was both pleased AND anxious at the same time.  It was pleasing to see everyone come out but in the back of my mind, the anxiety rose based on knowing that it was just a longer gauntlet I'd have to walk today on my return ride.

The ride started out pretty calm, and I was holding the back just to see where my legs were to make sure I didn't drop off before we even crossed Bonita Canyon to get to Shady.  HAHA.  From the back, I wasn't sure who was working the front as we made our way through East Peltason and up Anteater.  After feeling like I wasn't going to drop, I took the front just before we got to Bonita Canyon.

When we started to up the Shady start segment, someone took the front early but I came around shortly after since I found a pretty good pace to be on off the seat.  Jeremy was just behind me, and he asked me to let him know when to come around (nice), so I took the opportunity to take a break shortly after.  I thought we were climbing at a pretty good clip and half expected some attrition early on, but not today.  This crew has definitely been training up as EVERYONE stayed together up the climb.  I should have taken that as a sign....

When we got onto Sunnyhill and ultimately on Turtle Rock, Adrian had the lead and had a little gap initially, but that was closed shortly after.  There were some good rotations on the descent down Turtle Rock, albeit not from everyone...which is okay.  Once we passed Campus and started the climb, Jaffe got it in him to take off and break away from the group.  Vince was at the front at the time, but I came around to lead up the hill but not at the pace Jaffe was going.  While Jaffe had a good run, his pace was just a little too hot, so we made our way past him about half way up.

I was still leading the group after Starcrest, but then Shannon, Vince and Andy (nice!) passed me.  I matched their pace once they did, but then Jeremy decided to go on the offense and launched an attack.  I still had some naan in me at the time, so I countered and managed to pass him before getting to the stop sign.  This act of aggression on my part, however, probably led to my undoing later on, but I'll get to that.

Vince and Shannon had gotten past me after the stop sign and seemingly were on a mission to break away.  They almost would have by Sunnyhill, but thankfully the truck that was approaching the stop sign beside some of us let us go.  Vince ended up relegating himself behind me and/or Jeremy while Shannon had a little breakaway on the Shady bike trail.  I didn't think it would be a good idea to try and close the gap early while trailing behind Shannon, so I was waiting until after the bridge to see if I could make a move to close the gap.    However, Vince and Jeremy came around me at that sprinter hill, so I latched on as they worked their way up to Shannon.  I believe there were still others behind me as well, but I never looked back to see and obviously they were very courteous (wink wink) to let me jump in behind Vince or Jeremy.

Shannon kept the front after we latched on, but Jeremy and Vince made a move near the top with Vince finishing first, but I jumped on behind them with Shannon and the rest behind me.

On the descent, we all stayed together but Jeremy and Shannon opted for the less dangerous use of the streets while Vince, myself and the others opted to stay on the trail.  Vince raised his arm up at this point seemingly making a WTF? gesture (haha), but upon getting on the final bike trail toward the 405 ended up latching on to Jeremy and Shannon who had momentum coming in from the street.  I couldn't get on to the trail fast enough, and the three amigos broke away.

I knew I couldn't catch the three on my own, so I tried to maintain a good pace just so I wouldn't lose sight of them.  Then, Adrian came around and started to work with me where I thought we started to gain some ground.  However, with just the two of us, it was not enough.  Mitchell was behind us, but the pace was probably too high early on so he was not able to contribute to the cause.

Adrian, Mitchell and I made our way to Ridgeline, and Adrian started off the climb breaking away early and holding a pretty good pace.  At one point, I think he even started to pull away for a bit (now it was my turn to think WTF?), but once it pitched up, I managed to reel him in and pass with Mitchell still behind me.  I could see Vince just ahead of us, so I turned it up a little more dropping Mitchell in the process, but I was just a few seconds behind Vince once he started the descent down Turtle Rock.  Since Vince can descend, I knew all I could do at this point is wait and hopefully catch him at the light on Campus and Culver.  Sure enough, that's just what happened.  We had to sit through 2 cycles since the left turn light didn't turn green for us, so both Mitchell and Adrian were able to roll up on us as well.

Vince was definitely annoyed at the light situation, so he took off first once it finally turned green.  Having rested though, I ended up taking the front and leading the guys up I believe even past the first light.  Adrian took the lead after followed by the others and started amping it up where I started to fall off.  I hadn't lost hope though as I knew if I maintained my pace that I'd have a good chance to reel them back in once it flattened out.  When I saw the red light at the Shady intersection though, I knew I was going to be able to regroup.  Or so I thought....

Apparently, the traffic light was only red to me (haha), so I ended up sitting it out and finishing the rest of the ride on my own.  Did I mention how today's ride seemed "nutty?"

In the end, I got a great workout that one can only get by coming on our lunch rides.  I'm so glad to be back (I think), and obviously with everyone trained up even more, I'll be getting a beatdown every week until I can find a way to not only be better conditioned but also be more tactful.  You get the best of both worlds here, folks.

Thanks for the welcome back beatdown, gents!  

Tuesday Lunch Ride Virtual Report from the Land of Naan

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/activities/55545774 (Winner of best overall average speed)

First of all, I wanted to say thanks again to the guys who are posting their Strava stats up and letting me check it out while I'm abroad.  It's been very helpful to use as a tool to motivate me to exercise during my stay here, and it gives me some insight on how everyone is riding in preparation for what I should expect when I return.  Of course, the segment stats do not paint a complete picture of what's actually happening on the ride (say should someone breakaway using a traffic light for example), but it's better than nothing.  Galen even dedicated one of his rides to motivate me, so how cool was that?  Anyway, onto my virtual evaluation of Tuesday's ride.

Based on the Strava uploads, it looks like Shannon, Todd, Vince, Adrian, Jeremy, Hiroshi and Jaffe made it out.  I'll also assume Mitchell made it out despite never posting up his stats...too amateur I guess.  All-in-all, it looks like everyone's lining up to make me walk through the gauntlet upon my return.  I know, I know...the world doesn't really revolve around me, but hey, you don't know these guys like I  know these guys.

The pace going up through the S-Gary Peltason segment was fast, but it appears everyone managed to stay together through that point.  It was only through the climb up NPC that the numbers changed dramatically with Todd and Shannon seemingly on their own.  The odd thing is it seems they were the only ones who did the Pelican loop.  Even Jeremy, who was the one who announced the route, rode down NPC instead.  WTF?  HAHA.

There must have been a regrouping at some point after since it looks like the stats were fairly familiar (and fast) on PCH. Continuing onto the bike trail by the trailer park, it seems Hiroshi may have been the only one who had not stayed with the group as the rest of the stats there were similar.

On Back Bay, it seems the pace was upwards of 27+ mph average for only 4 people but wait...Jaffe was one of them?  Hmm....  Shannon gave him kudos for his stats and mentioned how he took the lead at one point to get his time.  I'm thinking ONLY point, but hey...maybe I'm wrong.  I'm just sayin'.  In any case, it's no easy feat to stay on, so kudos to Steve nonetheless.  Jeremy didn't look like he was too far behind, but Adrian averaged 16.2?!?  How's that for an endorsement to buy a Cannondale Evo?  Just kidding, Adrian.  Must have been a mechanical (wink wink).  Todd and Vince had top speeds on the final climb out of Back Bay, so I'm assuming they probably launched from behind Shannon the workhorse (although I hear Jaffe had also said he didn't seem like he was working enough out there...talk about poking the bear).

It seems the Todd, Shannon and Vince were broken away from everyone at this point as they had comparable speeds on University, but Vince seemed like he was in cool down mode up CA as Todd and Shannon made their way up back to work.  Everyone else seemed to follow behind and go up CA at a similar speed.

I come back on Saturday, and obviously, I'm going to have to get on a REAL bike during the long weekend just to prepare for a beat down.  The funny thing is I probably won't make the Tuesday ride due to an appointment unless the guys want to get out early.  That should give me a chance to train up a little more and lose some of the naan and Indian barley weight I'm sure I've gained over the last two weeks.  As if that would make a difference....I'm getting abused either way.

Thanks for reading!  HA

Virtual Ride Report from Thursday Lunch Ride

When I woke up Friday morning here in India, I couldn't wait to see who posted their ride stats from the Thursday ride.  This lets me know who made it out, how they did, etc., but primarily it gives me some incentive to get in the gym and train.  I try to break down the ride based on segment and overall ride stats, so here's how I envision how the ride went. 

As Strava shows it, it looks like Todd, Vince, Adrian, Vin and Jaffe made it out for the lunch ride.  However, based on the way their GPS stats posted, it seems that Todd and Vince pretty much broke away by the S-Gary Peltason segment and just never looked back.  It is odd that Vin, Adrian and Jaffe had a fairly low average speed through that segment, so maybe there was also a flat?  However, the move time and the elapsed time doesn't appear to support it with less than 3 minutes between them, so I'm thinking Todd and Vince just  took off.  

In most of the segments, Vince and Todd were killing it, but Adrian, Vin and Jaffe had some good numbers on the flat sections and the latter part of the ride.  Hell, Adrian even got a KOM on the Chambord Shuffle segment, so it looks like the three in the chase group were going for it after all the climbing was done.  It even looks like Adrian and Vin had a little sprint at the end, but with matching speeds on the Landing Strip segment, let's just say it was a tie.  

a 21+ mph average with 1600+ feet of elevation gain including some notable climbs is hella impressive, so it looks like Todd and Vince are preparing to give me a brutal beating when I return.  Even the ~20 mph average for the chase group is impressive, so I'm thinking starting a Jenga team sounds pretty good about now.  Just so you guys know, I am continuing to do the interval training here on the stationary recumbent bike and on the upswing intervals, I'm rattling off ALL your names in my head for the entire 2 minutes.  Crazy?  Probably...haha.  I just know it won't be pleasant returning to ride with you guys after a two week hiatus, so a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.  

Good job, gents, and thank you for your continued inspiration!   

BRCM Lunch - My Virtual Report of their Tuesday Ride and the Resulting iBAM (i for India)

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/activities/54254626 (not worth clicking on the link though)

I’ll bet you’re wondering how the hell I can blog about a ride that happened thousands of miles away from me.  I’m wondering the same thing, but I thought I’d give it a try based on Strava information alone.

It looks like Shannon did a warm-up ride on Monday to see where his legs were by doing some Orchard Hills loops prior to joining the Tuesday ride.   Obviously, he was still in good form, so he came out and joined the likes of Todd and Galen, which might be compared to three storm systems coming together making for F5 hurricane like conditions.  It looks like Jeremy, Hiroshi and Andy came out to join some of the “fun” too, and if anyone else joined, you know what they say?  If it ain’t on Strava, it didn’t happen….

I can only imagine what it must have been like in the locker room (not that way) as far as realizing who was going out on the ride.  I’m sure everyone was cordial and joking around, but you have to think deep down inside there was probably a little (or a lot) of anxiety with what kind of ride would it be with these guys out there.  It was probably the same for Hiroshi and Andy as they saw everyone who was going out at the corner gathering spot.  I get anxious just thinking about it. 

The start of the ride seemed rather slow, and guessing alone I’d think it was just a level of mutual respect to where no one wanted to go nutty too fast and not have enough to finish in the front group.  Either that or the strategies were already in effect early on.  On a rare possibility, it could have just been hot where no one wanted to take off right away since I’ve been hearing about how warm the weather’s been there.   My salty nuts might beg to differ considering the 109 degrees here in India.

For the most part, it seems everyone stayed together all the way to Bonita Canyon and even up toward San Miguel.  By the time the climb for Spyglass occurred, it looked like the front group dwindled down to Todd, Galen, Shannon and Jeremy (here he comes again).   It seems based on the stats alone that these four stayed together up San Joaquin and even up Ridge Park given very comparable segments stats.  I won’t care to venture guessing who was at the top first, but I’m sure there were some exchanges in positions going on. 

Jeremy indicated he dropped a chain at some point, so it looks like by the time they got to the Pelican section to climb, it was just the three storm systems clearing the path for everyone behind them.   The three continued on seemingly together down toward Back Bay and up CA still with relatively comparable stats.  The problem I see, however, was the route was set to finish going up Jamboree toward Bison after Back Bay, so I’m thinking they opted for the route offering a better cool down given how hard they worked.  ~20 mph average for that much climbing is definitely legit. 

Hiroshi, Jeremy and Andy seemed to have all opted to do their own thing since none of their routes were the same by the end of the ride.   I’m sure Jeremy’s chain drop was a big contributor to his route change, but everyone was still out there doing their thing and getting it done.  Andy is definitely coming back as he indicated he was giving some on the hills and not just getting it. Kudos to all.

As for me, I will write briefly that I saw the guys’ Strava info as soon as I woke up and was getting ready for the gym.  I studied it further as I sipped my coffee trying to imagine what the pain session was like.  When I finally got to the gym, I had originally planned to do elliptical work to change it up since I’ve ran and cycled on the last 3 days.  However, I kept their Strava information fresh in my mind and opted to do more cycling work on the stationary recumbent bike.  I did intervals again as I did a couple days ago, and had the settings on 5 for the low and 10 for the high with each running for 2 minutes.  It was during the level 10 intervals that I would try to spin between 100-110 rpms for the whole time, which on the Precor bike was pretty tough.  Every single time I’d hit those intervals, I would imagine each and every one of the guys on the team taking turns trying to punish me for being absent for two weeks.  I must have looked ridiculous to others sharing the gym, but I didn’t care.  I will say that by the end of my workout, one of the guys lifting weights nearby asked me how long I was exercising for that day.  After I let him know it was just an hour, he said wow, that’s a lot of sweat on the ground.  So yes, even in friggin’ India, people are ragging on me about my sweat problem. 

Good job on the ride yesterday, gents.   Hope you don’t mind me using you for inspiration.  

Lunch Ride - The Fast and the Furious BAM Edition

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/activities/53312751 

Having missed a ride on Tuesday because I thought it was going to rain, I could not wait to get on the bike today and get some pedaling in.  Others did make it out on Tuesday and managed to get a good ride in, but subsequently made references to me about Velominati rule #5 (harden the F up).  Wow.  I'm still wondering where they were for the BWR ride though, but I'll chalk it up as another focal point to make today's training ride that much more interesting. 

Answering the call to help me get a great training ride before taking off from training for two weeks, Vince, Adrian, Jeremy, Jaffe, Mitchell, Andy and John L. came out and joined me.  Great to see that Andy's coming out more regularly and that he brought his TT bike for the action, and equally great to have John come out again to participate in the madness. 


I also brought my TT bike as planned, and with all the motivation from what I wrote above, I was ready to work and in turn make sure everyone gets a good workout also.  While I was not up front when pulled away from the corner and subsequently crossed the intersection on Bison, I pushed up right away and immediately brought the pace up hoping to give the guys a taste of what was to come.  No one flinched though, and everyone stayed with me all the way to the stop light at University.

Once I got on the bike trail, I checked up to make sure everyone was lined up behind me before turning the screws up again to prevent any accordion effect.  Imagine that.  Jeremy noticed though and gave me kudos.  HA.  I felt good on the bike, so I brought the pace up to a respectable level as we made our way toward and into Back Bay.  

Since we hit headwinds on the way out on Back Bay, Vince and the others pushed up to keep the pace respectable and I gladly took the opportunity to get a little reprieve from the wind rotating to the back.  Everyone was doing great and rotating up, and I would push up once recovered to continue with the madness.  Despite the winds, we still managed a ~26 mph average from gate to gate. 

When we got on Jamboree and PCH, a gap had formed ahead of us, but we managed to pull them back in by the time we got to Bayside.  We did heed John's warning and checked up some once we rode through the bike trail by the trailer park, but I wonder if anyone else would think a 24 mph average through it would be considered checking up.  HA

Once we got on Back Bay drive again, the madness ensued.  The pace was fast for sure with the average from gate to gate being 28+, but the good  thing about it was that it was fairly smooth.  Adrian did amp it up on his new EVO frame near the end, but that only catapulted me to finish to the top with Vince in tow. 

Vince ended up leading us onto the climb up Jamboree, but the no mercy rule was in effect so I took the front and started to push the pace again.   Vince was game and stayed with me as we climbed to Bison, and took the lead after to help keep us broken away.  Jeremy,  John and Mitchell caught us at the light on East Bluff though, but Adrian opted to time it perfectly to zoom by the moment it turned green. 

I watched to see if anyone would respond, but I guess everyone figured Adrian blow up anyway (now why would they think that?).  I finally decided to give him a little chase, and passed him midway up the climb on the other side.  At that point, I guess I had broken away from the others and started to pull away from Adrian as well.  I crossed San Joaquin and was about ready to set up my pace so that I can maintain a gap all the way back through the 3rd pass.  Then I hit the following light and thought, screw it.  HA.  Everyone rolled up on me at that point anyway, so....

 The third pass through Back Bay was almost similar as the previous one with everyone pushing up and doing a share of the work.  Okay, so maybe a couple guys needed some coaxing, but they pushed up eventually nonetheless.  The only difference was that Vince took the front toward the end and started to power up to charge up the wall, but Adrian had set it up and sprinted up the hill ahead of everyone with me chasing him up.  He got to the top first, but missed the sidewalk due to oncoming traffic. 

To keep him honest, I picked up the pace with Vince behind me and we hoped to break away but Adrian managed to jump back on the bike trail at the intersection and latch on.  Vince took the front before the Jamboree underpass, but knowing Adrian was behind me, I waited until we got past the last little rise before taking the front again.  Seeing that it was clear ahead of me, I knew I would be presented with the likelihood that someone would sprint by me before California.  I opted to utilize the Shannon/Galen method of defense though and started to really ramp up my speed about half way as an option to prevent the sprint and guess what...it worked!  Sweet!

Even with the pace we were setting throughout, Jeremy, John (who I found to be really impressive given his infrequent outings with us), and Mitchell were STILL right there coming up behind us within seconds.  Jeremy and John even started us up the climb on CA, but despite Vince declaring it recovery hill (or something to that effect), I pushed up again and decided to make the best of the end of the ride.  I wasn't sure who was behind me and/or who would contest for a sprint to Bison, so I just kept the pace up as much as I could hoping for the same defense strategy I just used on the bike trail.  While it worked again, Mr. "Let's_make_CA_recovery_hill" was just behind me as I started to cross the Bison intersection.   HA.

Given that this was our fastest group average for this route (23.7 mph), yet only have one medal and not even anywhere close to a KOM, I think this indicates how we pretty much rode at threshold most of the time.   I just looked and Strava proved this showing 71% of the time was spent in this zone.  This hopefully proves how a smoother but elevated pace can  be overall faster than some of the interval-type surging rides we do typically at lunch.  Prove, shmove...it's fun either way.  HA.

Thanks for the workout today, gents!  Great work out there for sure.  See you in a couple weeks! 

Windiculous Saturday Morning Training Ride

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/activities/52344820

Todd, Jeremy and I opted to train together this morning starting from the Rock N Road in Mission Viejo.  It is an ideal start point for a 4th, but we'll just leave it at that.  The plan was to hit the canyons, ride down to PCH via BB, head to Dana Point and head back hitting Pacific Island and Highland before Alicia and Los Alisos.  It was a 68 miler, which was probably a good distance for Todd and Jeremy given they haven't put in extended miles in a while.

Todd rode from his place to the bike shop parking lot, while Jeremy and I drove there and got ready in time for a 7 a.m. start.  It looked like it may be a foggy start driving over there, but fortunately it cleared up before we got going.  What was noticeable, however, was how windy it was even early in the morning.  Given the title of the blog, I'll be talking more about this wind I'm sure.

We've started from this location on several rides before, and when Todd rides up from his place, you know he's already warmed up.  Based on this, I knew it would be best to stay behind him until I can actually get some blood circulating through my legs.  Jeremy pushed up a little early on and had a little gap on us, but Todd rolled up on him by the time we started heading up El Toro.  I was fine just staying behind Todd.

We all headed up past Cooks with Todd up front, and pretty much had him lead us all the way up to the first crest.  When I finally felt warm enough, I did try to take the front and start my share of the work before the last crest and descent, but I guess I encroached on Todd's domain where he opted to pass me just before hitting the 2nd crest.  Cool.

Going through the canyons, it was great team work with the three of us rotating to the front in an orderly fashion.  There were some riders out there, but no one to mix it up with so the three of us made our way to Dump pretty smoothly and incident free.   I had led us to the base of Dump but Todd took over for the climb.  This time, I thought to go ahead and challenge him as we neared the top, but he wouldn't have any of it either and accelerated to the crest ahead of me again.  What a stud!

We made our way toward Jamboree and as we started the climb, Jeremy accelerated to start us of at a pretty good clip showing that he's in great climbing form.   It took some effort to get by him before the crest, but unlike the hills before I was surprised Todd didn't assert his billy goat dominance.  It was probably just not steep enough I thought to myself.

We got on Portola and started making our way toward Back Bay via the bike trails.  This was when we started to notice that the winds were getting a little rough.  I think the people on the trails made it less noticeable just because we had to check up here and there, but we still managed to hold a good clip passing several riders on the way down.

When we got to Back Bay, we REALLY started to feel the  wind and were pretty certain we just experienced what it was like to ride in an F5 tornado.  Despite this, we still managed a 23 mph average but the effort was definitely more significant.  I think at times, I would look down and see us dipping under 20 mph, but we pushed when we could. 

We took our first break at the restroom at the end of Back Bay and there, you can really see the trees moving with debris moving all over the roads.  Look at the direction of the winds, we just knew PCH was going to be ridiculous heading south.  When we got up to light at Jamboree to get on PCH, I joked how we should head to Long Beach instead.  I think some major KOMs could have been set (proven by Hiroshi's KOM run with the coffee crew heading North from Laguna Beach), but we stuck to the plan and headed south straight into that evil disgusting wind.

We opted to go through Ocean rather than CDM downtown hoping to see some "scenery" but the talent pool was closed.  Jeremy took the opportunity to have a good run up Fernleaf, but we were just behind him at the top.  The rest of the way through we just kept the pace moderate.

Once we got back on PCH, we were all working together again and staying low as possible just to minimize the drag against the headwind.  It was so windy and the roads were full of debrs that I thought about suggesting that we just turn around and go back several times just because it was just no fun, but I bit my lip and pushed on.  When we got to the last hill before entering Laguna Beach, Jeremy started us off at a good clip and I spun it up near the top to take the front and keep the pace up.  

The rotations continued on through Laguna Beach downtown, and everyone was doing their share still.  At least there were three of us rotating and working together as I couldn't imagine riding through that mess alone.   Not a peep from the other guys about quitting or anything, so I'm glad I didn't say anything earlier either.  HA HA.

As we neared Crown Valley, we saw a guy in a Bike Religion kit on his own in front of us, and he looked like a legit rider.  We didn't reel him in too quicky, but eventually passed him where he jumped in our line as I expected.  He wasn't willing to get in the rotation, but we didn't mind him being back there.  I was just thinking he may eventually charge past us (this isn't normal, right?), so I took the back from the light as we crossed Crown Valley and prepared for any attacks on the hill heading toward Salt Creek (Strava segment called Salt Creek bump).  Todd and Jeremy jumped the light right away, so I had to sprint just to get back in line and I guess that acceleration was enough to already discourage BR guy not to follow and/or hang on.  I did end up practicing a sprint up the hill just to see what I would have had in case he had come with us, but maybe I should have told Jeremy and Todd as they weren't ready for it when I did.  I did say sorry at the top.  HA

 We headed toward Dana Point together still pushing through that dreaded wind barely hitting 18 mph at some points.  The plan was to hit Cove after Golden Lantern, but Todd wanted to get some water before the climb.  Unfortunately, the rest room at the base of the climb was closed when we stopped there so we opted to just push on and get water later on when convenient.

As we approached Cove, the winds seemed to have  shifted to where it seemed going up the hill would be against the wind.  As we started the base of the climb, Todd wisely opted to not charge up based on these conditions but my ignorant ass just wanted to finish the hill and took off.  It was a little scary since there were cars wanting to go on it behind us, but they ended up being able to pass without incident.  As I got to the bend in the middle, I think I took the worse line possible and ended up probably at the steeper angle than had I gone a little wider.  I was standing off the seat climbing and shifting all my weight from side to side as I pedaled truly believing that if I sat down, there was no way I'd be able to spin my standard crank.  I didn't get to sit down until after making the right turn at the top, so I felt pretty cooked from that effort.  Todd came up just behind me, and Jeremy caught up as we were getting ready to make our way back onto PCH for the return trip.

Once we got on PCH, it was tailwind heaven.  Todd got us going, but I started rotating with him as we jammed toward Crown Valley.  Looks like we moved up some segments on there as a result.

I started the climb up Crown Valley but opted to start trying to prepare for the following climbs and didn't immediately follow Todd and Jeremy after they passed me and headed to PI.  I did roll up on them by the time we hit the intersection and made the left to PI.  When Todd started us up the climb, I had contemplated on just matching his speed and hopefully be able to stay on.  Instead, I opted to find my own pace and eventually pushed past both of them.  I actually had a pretty good pace going up and had a pretty decent gap after looking back.   Todd must have caught his wind at some point, and before it last pitched up made his way just behind me.  He made his way past me as we were getting close to the top, and I thought I'd make it interesting and started to spin up only to have him respond and hit the top ahead of me.  BAM!

We regrouped at the top, and Todd took off ahead down the other side.  Jeremy ended up passing me as I opted to have my first gel on the way down (I ate a LOT the night before).  As I ate my gel, I wondered whether riding down a hill at 40+ mph was a good time to be eating.  Probably not.

Todd made the left turn onto Highland and I had just gotten ahead of Jeremy to make the left when I decided to go ahead and charge this hill too.  It was more my type of hill anyway being it wasn't too steep and definitely not as long as the other side.  As I was approaching Todd, I called out to let him know I was coming and asked him to come with me.  I may have already had momentum when I passed, so Todd didn't jump on my wheel as I sprinted past him.  He yelled out something I couldn't discern, but I kept going where eventually I opted to look back over my right shoulder to see that he wasn't anywhere close by.  I sat down and began to spin up and even looked back one more time just in case Todd found his wind again. When I didn't see him, I figured I'd check up and just save it for the rest of the way back up toward Mission Viejo.  The next thing you know, I see Todd charge past me on my left with some serious bad intention.  It caught me so off guard that the only way I could possibly respond was to chuckle for being stealth bombed like that.  It was awesome! Todd called it Galen-esque as we talked about it at the bottom of Alicia.

At this point, Jeremy was content to just hang on while Todd and I alternated to get us back to Mission Viejo.  We did stop for a little water break on Alicia at the Mobile station (thanks, Todd!), but were on our way back soon enough.  We were to hold a pretty moderate pace on the way back given that we did a lot of work already, but the tail wind helped us get some more PRs as we did.  Jeremy hit one of the holes on the road on the way back pretty hard, but it didn't seem to keep him from being able to keep up at all.

Todd and I had been rotating on Los Alisos, and then he called out how he was going to make a right turn on Mustang Run to head back home.  I guess I lost my bearing a little bit because when he broke off, I thought Jeremy and I still had some ways to go so I asked him do we turn left on Santa Margarita to get back.  He told me we turn right and we're actually back, and there's no better feeling to know that the ride is over when mentally you think you still have a few miles left.  Sweet!

68 miles with 4K of climbing made for a great training ride during the hellacious winds today.   Staying together the whole time was definitely ideal, so maybe having had a 4th might not have worked out as well.  I guess we'll never know.

Thanks for coming out today, gents! 

Lunch Ride - Hmmm...Will They Miss Me When I'm Gone?

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/activities/51983436

Attendees:  Vince, Todd, Galen, Vin, Mitchell and Jaffe

As I sat at the corner waiting for everyone to gather for our lunch ride today, I pondered over how someday I may not be around to get in on some of the amazing training that we refer to as our lunch rides.  With the firepower out there today in the form of who came out, I knew it was going to be a good one for sure.  Ultimately, I concluded that I may as well make the best of what may be a limited amount of sessions left and give the others something to hopefully remember me by should that situation arise.  In other words, my objective would be that today, I'd make sure they knew I was out there so that they might be able to answer the question of the blog title with a resounding "yes."

It was a warm one out there with temps averaging in the mid 80's.  The winds were supposed to be off-shore, but looking at the flags on campus before and after the ride, it was obvious that the winds were on-shore since they were facing away from the ocean.  The ocean route was still the best choice for sure, but Back Bay into the wind definitely took it's toll.

Once we got rolling, Galen took the initial lead going down CA, but I took the front after to bring the pace up where I already began trying to fulfill my objective above.  Todd ended up taking the lead on the bike trail after the light, and I got pushed to the back due to another cyclist who was on the trail causing a lot of us to check up as we got on.

Todd had a good pace heading toward BB, and Vince pushed up after to keep it going once on Eastbluff.  Galen took the front on BB and immediately got us all going.  I was behind Mitchell in the rotation, so I waited for him to relieve Galen before pushing up the front.  Due to the pace, however, Mitchell took a little time to push up and once he did, he didn't seem to hold it where I would find him just inching past Galen.  Gotta give him credit for pushing up though, but I would come around probably just seconds after he did and take the front from him just to help keep the pace nutty.  I didn't want anyone to get too much rest.  HA!

Vince, Todd, Galen and Vin rotated up front keeping the pace up as well, but at some point, the wind/heat/pace/effort/partying the night before/add additional excuses here got the best of Vin.  I don't know if I would have mentioned that on today's blog, but Vince instructed me to do so at the light before getting on PCH.  HA HA.  Sorry, little buddy.

As we cross the street to start the climb up PCH after the trailer park, Jaffe (who hadn't taken the front AND was the only one to wear BRCM red with everyone else repping white) took off.  Todd had taken the front of the chase group initially, but I immediately jumped to the front not only to give chase but also purposely put the hurt on the others.  We passed Jaffe shortly after and at the top, I got kudos from the guys for the lead up, but what was especially rewarding was how I heard a complaint here and there about how legs hurt.  HA.

I got relieved I think after the first light at the top, but as soon as I could pushed up to the front again and got the pace going.  I think by this point, the group had thinned out to just Vince, Todd, Galen, Mitchell and me, so it would definitely take a lot more effort to try and make them remember.  A lot more.

We did have plans to enter "view appreciation" mode as we rode through CDM, but I did accelerate on Fernleaf just to see if I could wear the other guys down.  I don't think they reacted though, so so much for that.  HA.  While we did check up a little as we rode through Ocean, the talent pool was slim so we still rode through at a fairly decent clip.

Once we got back to PCH, Vince had jumped on the sidewalk due to some cars making a right from Poppy.  I, like Galen, thought Vince might make a break for it as he had gapped us a little when he got on PCH first (historically the case), but it wasn't long before we were all together again.  I pushed up as soon as I could, but I think Vince and/or Galen took a pretty good pull that finished us off on PCH to NPC where I thought better to bring it up anymore just prior to some climbing.

We all opted to cross from the crosswalk (vs. the left turn) and started up NPC.  Todd made his way up to the front, and I made my way beside him AND subsquently passed him before we got to Pelican.  Oh boy, talk about poking the bear.  We then made the left turn to Pelican and Todd took the front immediately where I thought...hell, I'll keep poking and started rotating the front with him.  Vince stayed in the #3 spot and just watched our antics...smart man.  When we got to the bottom of the final climb, Todd had gotten up front again and started us off.  I thought I had recovered enough where I started to climb past Todd breaking away from him and Vince, but probably about half way up realized that I had thought wrong.  I did have a gap on the two, but when I looked back half way up I realized that they were starting to reel me in.  I was yelling at myself internally, STAND UP or PEDAL FASTER, but at that point, panic had set in and I hit the detonate button resulting in Todd and Vince passing me unchallenged.  Bummer.  I did recover a little bit shortly after, but that just let them pull away from me a little slower than they were originally.  Todd had reached the top first with Vince not too far behind.

Fortunately, the light on NPC held them until I could catch up where I rolled up on them just as it turned green.  I thought it was just the three of us, but when I jumped to the front eventually to get us going again on NPC, I heard Galen behind me also.  He had dropped off a little on Pelican, so it was a nice pick up on his part to be able to make the light as well.

Going down NPC toward Bonita was as expected...manic.  Despite being on a compact crank, I was trying to help keep and/or bring the pace up but then my chain seemed to be hopping around making clicking noises while on the tallest gear.  I guess Todd's and Vince's bikes were having some issues and making some noise too where I'm sure the three of us together sounded like we were advertising cereal (snap, crackle, pop).   I skipped a turn as a result of my bike issue, but after the first light past the 73 underpass, I didn't care and pushed to the front again to finish the descent with the three in tow.

On Bonita Canyon, the four of us were doing our part to keep the pace up, and Galen pushed us through to make the green light on McArthur.  I opted to drop off from the three after we got on Ford just to recover from that sprint, so the three of them stayed together and made their way to Jamboree ahead of me.  Vince, in his infinite wisdom, made sure to create a good-sized gap since he knows that's my favorite sprint zone.  They made the left turn well ahead of me as a result but did have to check up for a car making a right turn onto Jamboree.  Unfortunately, that car was still sitting there when I arrived, so I didn't get the start I wanted as well.

Looking up just after the turn, I saw Vince was ahead of Galen and Todd with the latter 2 probably about 2/3 of the way up already.  I started to sprint up the hill and was only just able to latch on to Todd's wheel near where it starts to flatten out as Galen started accelerating again at that point.  Vince was still ahead of us the 3 of us, so I opted to give chase after a little recovery only to have Vince STILL be just ahead of me on the right turn to Bison.  He rightfully raised his arms up based on his triumphant strategy to get to Bison first soon after making the turn.  Nice.

We all made our way down to the light at MacArthur, and I wasn't sure at this point if anyone would be game to sprint to California.  Galen had talked about how he was going to just spin toward the finish to cool down, so I didn't think he would be game.  Once we got past the last light over the 73, however, Mr. I'm_just_going_to_cool_down took off.  By the time I realized it, Galen had momentum and all I could do was watch as he made it onto California ahead of me.  Call me lollipop.

That's one more for the books, and after next week, I'll be in India for 2 weeks where I'll just have to figure out some way to stay in shape for when I return.  I'm not looking forward to that at all.  2 weeks away from this group would be comparable to dog years.  In the gym and locker room, it seemed everyone had a great workout today and hopefully felt my contributions on this ride.  I hope I get in on next week's rides where my internal objectives will continue, so for those who make it out, plan accordingly.

Thanks, gents!