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!
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