Strava: http://www.strava.com/activities/75431137
With Vince becoming a daddy tomorrow, he wanted to get a longish group ride in today and understandably so. It may be his last for a while. I had planned to ride Sunday, but just couldn't pass up the opportunity to ride with a veteran team member under these circumstances. The plan was to get about 50-60 miles in, make it a no-drop ride, have fun on some hills and cruise the rest as Vince announced. At first, I thought no one else could make it, but Mitchell decided to come out of his summer hibernation, Vin came out and intercepted and accompanied us for a good portion of the ride, and Trevor opted to make his debut appearance under the premise it would be a "fun group ride."
"Fun group ride" is usually defined differently for our cycling team than most, but we were not going to be leaving anyone behind today...at least not for too long. This actually made for a great training day because we got to work on things that we wouldn't usually be able to do when we're just so busy trying to keep up. And with Trevor coming out for his first time with us, we were going to be good ambassadors to the sport of cycling and ensure that we made the pace more than manageable. We'd pull away on occasion to train, but altogether never really made the pace too manic.
Vince originally planned for us to go down 133 to Laguna Beach, but we opted for a slightly safer route and went over NPC to PCH instead. It was "fun" to work that hill off the seat all the time for me, and having my wingman Mitchell wit me was a bonus. We regrouped at the top and stayed together down to PCH, over to and through Laguna Beach, and ultimately to Crown Valley. It was a little hairy going through downtown Laguna Beach in that direction as always, but we all got through it incident free.
We would string out on occasion as we got on Crown Valley, but never for very long. We were holding a good pace, and made our way together to meet Vin just after crossing the 5 freeway. He seemed to come out of nowhere, and Vince was already trying to instigate how he and I should pick it up on Live Oak together. As if we'd stay together (wink wink).
When we got on Antonio Parkway and making our way toward Live Oak, another cyclist had passed us. Shortly after, another cyclist passed us. Vin rolled up and started joking around how he can't believe we could let them do that. I told him I wasn't really interested in chasing anyone down today, but I wondered if Vin noticed the uncontrollable eye twitch I was having from having been passed without responding.
As we neared Santa Margarita, which heads to Live Oak, Vince mentioned how a large group was coming up fast behind us. When I turned around, I see a group of at least 20 riders coming sure enough. 1 or 2 riders, okay, but a whole group was just too much to pass up. We were hoping everyone would be able to latch on, and if not, we would deal with the fallout subsequently.
Vince started pushing up to the front of the group and attempting breakaways immediately. The rest of us opted to ride with the group and see just how fast they were. As we started to look around, we did notice some familiar faces from the Como Street ride. At that point, we knew this must be a regular Saturday group training ride but we just didn't know which one. Nonetheless, Vince still opted to breakaway and actually succeeded early on after just getting through a stop light with a few others. After awhile, we lost sight of him.
We went down the tight zig zagging turns as a group, but being toward the middle, there was already a gap forming in front of the couple riders ahead of us once we got to the bottom. A guy on a TT bike started to try and reel them in, so I jumped in behind him hoping he would reel them in with us in tow. After I saw that he wasn't getting it done, I swung around and closed the gap myself. I think Mitchell and Vin did the same eventually and/or had gotten with others who did as I did see them as we started to make our way up.
The pace was pretty fast, so people were popping off left and right. This made it even more intense because we'd have to get around them and latch back on to the front group. Eventually, the attrition took its toll and there weren't too many people in this front pack anymore as we approached the last part of the climb. It was here where we finally made our way to Vince, who had been working with another guy to try to keep the breakaway. He was just starting up the steeper ascent at the end when the front group started to make their way past him. I would have called out but I was pretty short of breath from closing gaps and just trying to keep up. By the time we got to the top, I was worked. It was nice to get some rest as we descended to the bottom.
We regrouped at the bottom sans Trevor, so I decided to go back and make sure he was making his way up okay. I was descending on the other side when I saw Trevor, but I couldn't turn around too quickly as he continued to make his way up. I motioned him to keep going, and I turned around when it was safer to do so. As I started to make my way too him, I see something move on the side of the road. When I looked down, it was a racoon that looked like it got hit and was on its back moving, which scared the bejeezus out of me. I eventually made my way up to Trevor, and rode with him to keep him going at his pace. We made it up and over together and regrouped with the others who were waiting for us on El Toro.
We went up Glenn Ranch from there and down toward Portola. Vin opted to head home from here and turned left, while the rest of us turned right to head toward Alton. When we got to Alton, there were a group of riders who were crossing Portola in front of us. We got on Alton and started to descend, but still managed a respectable pace. Then, a few of the riders who crossed in front of us passed us but ended up getting caught at a light ahead of us. We also arrived at the light, so when it turned green...BAM! Vince, Mitchell and I started taking turns and Trevor hung on while we snapped those riders off. BAM BAM!
We made our way back to work via the San Diego bike trail off of Alton, but Trevor was feeling worked from the long ride. I had hoped that we could have taken a break before we went up Live Oak, but that group having come up on us at that time prevented it from happening. With us so close back, we just did what we could to stay together. After we got past the bridge after Harvard, the winds were a little stiff so this made it even harder. Eventually, Mitchell and I had gotten ahead and opted to chase down a guy who had drafted us but got away after we spun up to regroup. Vince helped Trevor make it back to California, and we all were able to finish the ride.
62 miles with 4K of climbing is a pretty legit route. Trevor has now been officially exposed to team BAM, and hopefully had a great ride out of it. It was definitely nice to have Mitchell back out with us, and he says he should be joining the lunch rides again soon. Vince seemed to have had a great ride as well, and I hope one that he'll want to repeat again once he can break away from his daddy duties. Thanks, buddy, and best wishes for a smooth delivery of your healthy baby boy tomorrow.
With Vince becoming a daddy tomorrow, he wanted to get a longish group ride in today and understandably so. It may be his last for a while. I had planned to ride Sunday, but just couldn't pass up the opportunity to ride with a veteran team member under these circumstances. The plan was to get about 50-60 miles in, make it a no-drop ride, have fun on some hills and cruise the rest as Vince announced. At first, I thought no one else could make it, but Mitchell decided to come out of his summer hibernation, Vin came out and intercepted and accompanied us for a good portion of the ride, and Trevor opted to make his debut appearance under the premise it would be a "fun group ride."
"Fun group ride" is usually defined differently for our cycling team than most, but we were not going to be leaving anyone behind today...at least not for too long. This actually made for a great training day because we got to work on things that we wouldn't usually be able to do when we're just so busy trying to keep up. And with Trevor coming out for his first time with us, we were going to be good ambassadors to the sport of cycling and ensure that we made the pace more than manageable. We'd pull away on occasion to train, but altogether never really made the pace too manic.
Vince originally planned for us to go down 133 to Laguna Beach, but we opted for a slightly safer route and went over NPC to PCH instead. It was "fun" to work that hill off the seat all the time for me, and having my wingman Mitchell wit me was a bonus. We regrouped at the top and stayed together down to PCH, over to and through Laguna Beach, and ultimately to Crown Valley. It was a little hairy going through downtown Laguna Beach in that direction as always, but we all got through it incident free.
We would string out on occasion as we got on Crown Valley, but never for very long. We were holding a good pace, and made our way together to meet Vin just after crossing the 5 freeway. He seemed to come out of nowhere, and Vince was already trying to instigate how he and I should pick it up on Live Oak together. As if we'd stay together (wink wink).
When we got on Antonio Parkway and making our way toward Live Oak, another cyclist had passed us. Shortly after, another cyclist passed us. Vin rolled up and started joking around how he can't believe we could let them do that. I told him I wasn't really interested in chasing anyone down today, but I wondered if Vin noticed the uncontrollable eye twitch I was having from having been passed without responding.
As we neared Santa Margarita, which heads to Live Oak, Vince mentioned how a large group was coming up fast behind us. When I turned around, I see a group of at least 20 riders coming sure enough. 1 or 2 riders, okay, but a whole group was just too much to pass up. We were hoping everyone would be able to latch on, and if not, we would deal with the fallout subsequently.
Vince started pushing up to the front of the group and attempting breakaways immediately. The rest of us opted to ride with the group and see just how fast they were. As we started to look around, we did notice some familiar faces from the Como Street ride. At that point, we knew this must be a regular Saturday group training ride but we just didn't know which one. Nonetheless, Vince still opted to breakaway and actually succeeded early on after just getting through a stop light with a few others. After awhile, we lost sight of him.
We went down the tight zig zagging turns as a group, but being toward the middle, there was already a gap forming in front of the couple riders ahead of us once we got to the bottom. A guy on a TT bike started to try and reel them in, so I jumped in behind him hoping he would reel them in with us in tow. After I saw that he wasn't getting it done, I swung around and closed the gap myself. I think Mitchell and Vin did the same eventually and/or had gotten with others who did as I did see them as we started to make our way up.
The pace was pretty fast, so people were popping off left and right. This made it even more intense because we'd have to get around them and latch back on to the front group. Eventually, the attrition took its toll and there weren't too many people in this front pack anymore as we approached the last part of the climb. It was here where we finally made our way to Vince, who had been working with another guy to try to keep the breakaway. He was just starting up the steeper ascent at the end when the front group started to make their way past him. I would have called out but I was pretty short of breath from closing gaps and just trying to keep up. By the time we got to the top, I was worked. It was nice to get some rest as we descended to the bottom.
We regrouped at the bottom sans Trevor, so I decided to go back and make sure he was making his way up okay. I was descending on the other side when I saw Trevor, but I couldn't turn around too quickly as he continued to make his way up. I motioned him to keep going, and I turned around when it was safer to do so. As I started to make my way too him, I see something move on the side of the road. When I looked down, it was a racoon that looked like it got hit and was on its back moving, which scared the bejeezus out of me. I eventually made my way up to Trevor, and rode with him to keep him going at his pace. We made it up and over together and regrouped with the others who were waiting for us on El Toro.
We went up Glenn Ranch from there and down toward Portola. Vin opted to head home from here and turned left, while the rest of us turned right to head toward Alton. When we got to Alton, there were a group of riders who were crossing Portola in front of us. We got on Alton and started to descend, but still managed a respectable pace. Then, a few of the riders who crossed in front of us passed us but ended up getting caught at a light ahead of us. We also arrived at the light, so when it turned green...BAM! Vince, Mitchell and I started taking turns and Trevor hung on while we snapped those riders off. BAM BAM!
We made our way back to work via the San Diego bike trail off of Alton, but Trevor was feeling worked from the long ride. I had hoped that we could have taken a break before we went up Live Oak, but that group having come up on us at that time prevented it from happening. With us so close back, we just did what we could to stay together. After we got past the bridge after Harvard, the winds were a little stiff so this made it even harder. Eventually, Mitchell and I had gotten ahead and opted to chase down a guy who had drafted us but got away after we spun up to regroup. Vince helped Trevor make it back to California, and we all were able to finish the ride.
62 miles with 4K of climbing is a pretty legit route. Trevor has now been officially exposed to team BAM, and hopefully had a great ride out of it. It was definitely nice to have Mitchell back out with us, and he says he should be joining the lunch rides again soon. Vince seemed to have had a great ride as well, and I hope one that he'll want to repeat again once he can break away from his daddy duties. Thanks, buddy, and best wishes for a smooth delivery of your healthy baby boy tomorrow.
That was probably Matt Ford on the TT bike.
ReplyDeleteHe looked Hispanic, so I'm thinking probably someone else. :)
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