Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/80346740
Given the heat lately, I had sent out an e-mail yesterday wondering if anyone was even going to make it out for a lunch ride today. I even mentioned that IF we did go out, I was good with "cruisin." Who'd have thought that the ride would be as loaded as it was today with Shannon, Todd, Vince, Galen, Adrian, Mitchell and Vin coming out? I had even forgotten my water bottle in my car and was just going to wing it without it, but once I saw these guys rolling up to get ready, I got dressed quickly and rode over to my car and picked it up. It would have been suicide otherwise. I will say that it was nice to have Vince back from paternity leave, Galen coming back out on a lunch ride, and Mitchell also leaving the comforts of his air conditioned office and return to riding with us again. Woo hoo!
Todd got us started heading down California, and like a trooper, pretty much led us out most of the way to Back Bay. I know I wasn't in a hurry to get up front with this crew (even having told Mitchell I'll stay in the back the whole time), but that's only out of respect for the amount of power I expected would be generated from today's ride. Think nuclear....
The rotations began slightly before the drop down into Back Bay, and we were off! Now the head/cross winds were definitely upon us as we rode down, so having achieved a ~25 mph average definitely took some good strong pulls. At first, I wasn't sure if everyone was going to push up to the front today, but Mitchell, Adrian and even Vin pushed up to bear the brunt of the winds. Not all pulls were equal (you can definitely tell when the power monsters were up front) I must say, but a pull is a pull is a pull.
The pace continued on and everyone stayed together as we made our way to Jamboree. I had darted up after it was clear not expecting to separate from the others, but I did. Let me just say that this is never a good thing to do with this crew as it just incites some to want to "return the favor" at a different part of the ride.
When we got on PCH, we started the rotations again and Avocado seemed to come up pretty fast. We made our way toward Fernleaf (that steep hill) together, and half-expecting that others were going to rush up the hill, I took off and gapped the others again. Yep...another stupid move on my part. I slowed at the top and then pointed out some eye candy walking across the street ahead of me at the intersection hoping the others would forget that stunt.
When we got going on Ocean, Shannon took the front and kept us moving at a pretty good clip to Poppy. Needless to say, admiring the local scenery on a hot day like today was not on the agenda. Bummer.
We got a little bunched up as we were making our way onto PCH, and sure enough, being at or near the back was definitely not the place to be given the major accordion affect. I don't know if this was caused by Vince or Shannon, but regardless, it hurt!
We got stopped at a light before hitting the long stretch, which was a great way to catch our breath, but another rider who was ahead of us made it across and seemed like he was working hard to keep a good pace. Once we got going, however, we made our way passed him in no time given that our group had the strongest guys out there. The other rider was able to latch on and stay with us, albeit never pushing up to help keep the pace up, but we had enough people working already anyway. He even turned around with us once we reached El Moro, so I guess he was having fun riding on the Team BRCM super choo choo.
As we started nearing NPC, most of us were preparing for the long climb, but Shannon had other ideas. He took off, and you hear Todd saying "don't let him get away" or something to that effect. My thought was, is this something we can actually control? HA HA
When we started climbing up NPC, Todd and Shannon were just ahead of me, and I was able to just get behind Shannon before the first Pelican light. Now I could swear I looked up just before entering the intersection that the light just turned yellow, but I saw Shannon check up and stop. Having seen that no one was behind me, I kept going. I wasn't too far behind Todd, but when I got caught at a red light that he was able to get through, I knew he was gone.
Shannon and Galen rolled up at the light with me, and once it turned green, I tried to keep a good pace going up but good wasn't good enough to keep up with Shannon. From my vantage point, it seemed like he was making some ground on Todd. I was working on my off-the-seat climbing and was doing good where every once in a while, I'd check behind and see that Galen was with me. When I dropped down to my seat and spun up, however, Galen's earlier training got the best of him and he dropped off. I got to the top to an awaiting Todd and Shannon, and Galen, Vin and Vince came up shortly after. Vince, being vince, kept going, so after looking down the hill behind us and not seeing anyone, we opted to wait no longer and continue.
When we got going down NPC, Todd led first followed by Galen. Now since I was on a standard crank today, I took the front hoping to bring up the speed to a highly respectable level. Leave it to Shannon to pass me and serving me some humble pie simultaneously. I spun up even more to try and match his speed but we were arriving close to the underpass. We were still moving pretty fast as I made my way across the right turn lane thinking okay...I'm moving fast again only to have Vince pass me on my left. Todd and Galen eventually passed me too, and I was just able to latch on as we made our way to the bottom to regroup.
On Bonita Canyon, I believe Todd or Shannon started us off, and the reason I didn't really know was because I was focused on the fact that I was behind Galen. Galen seems to LOVE this section, so I was not looking forward to relieving him after he pulled. However, when I did, he gave me instant kudos, which is always nice to get. Shannon relieved me after, and sure enough brought up the level of instanity to where I wasn't sure I was going to be able to hang on anymore after a few more rotations. Vince gave me the spot ahead of him, and I guess he was done at that point. He expected he'd be off the first 1-2 miles originally, so not too shabby after a couple weeks off.
I barely hung on and eventually got to rotate back to the front one more time as we made our way to Bison. I may not have though and it could have been just from being delirious and believing I helped.
As for a sprint to California, I thought about contesting it but when I saw Vin pass to take off, I really didn't feel the need to show off my sprinting prowess given how easily he got passed the last time. I'm sure he believes otherwise, so who am I to crush his dreams?
It was a great turnout today with outstanding efforts by everyone. I know they're talking about riding in the morning tomorrow, but let's just see if my legs will be up for it given the beating they took today. THESE are the kind of lunch rides I love and hope to be a part of more often. Thanks to everyone who came out despite the heat!
Given the heat lately, I had sent out an e-mail yesterday wondering if anyone was even going to make it out for a lunch ride today. I even mentioned that IF we did go out, I was good with "cruisin." Who'd have thought that the ride would be as loaded as it was today with Shannon, Todd, Vince, Galen, Adrian, Mitchell and Vin coming out? I had even forgotten my water bottle in my car and was just going to wing it without it, but once I saw these guys rolling up to get ready, I got dressed quickly and rode over to my car and picked it up. It would have been suicide otherwise. I will say that it was nice to have Vince back from paternity leave, Galen coming back out on a lunch ride, and Mitchell also leaving the comforts of his air conditioned office and return to riding with us again. Woo hoo!
Todd got us started heading down California, and like a trooper, pretty much led us out most of the way to Back Bay. I know I wasn't in a hurry to get up front with this crew (even having told Mitchell I'll stay in the back the whole time), but that's only out of respect for the amount of power I expected would be generated from today's ride. Think nuclear....
The rotations began slightly before the drop down into Back Bay, and we were off! Now the head/cross winds were definitely upon us as we rode down, so having achieved a ~25 mph average definitely took some good strong pulls. At first, I wasn't sure if everyone was going to push up to the front today, but Mitchell, Adrian and even Vin pushed up to bear the brunt of the winds. Not all pulls were equal (you can definitely tell when the power monsters were up front) I must say, but a pull is a pull is a pull.
The pace continued on and everyone stayed together as we made our way to Jamboree. I had darted up after it was clear not expecting to separate from the others, but I did. Let me just say that this is never a good thing to do with this crew as it just incites some to want to "return the favor" at a different part of the ride.
When we got on PCH, we started the rotations again and Avocado seemed to come up pretty fast. We made our way toward Fernleaf (that steep hill) together, and half-expecting that others were going to rush up the hill, I took off and gapped the others again. Yep...another stupid move on my part. I slowed at the top and then pointed out some eye candy walking across the street ahead of me at the intersection hoping the others would forget that stunt.
When we got going on Ocean, Shannon took the front and kept us moving at a pretty good clip to Poppy. Needless to say, admiring the local scenery on a hot day like today was not on the agenda. Bummer.
We got a little bunched up as we were making our way onto PCH, and sure enough, being at or near the back was definitely not the place to be given the major accordion affect. I don't know if this was caused by Vince or Shannon, but regardless, it hurt!
We got stopped at a light before hitting the long stretch, which was a great way to catch our breath, but another rider who was ahead of us made it across and seemed like he was working hard to keep a good pace. Once we got going, however, we made our way passed him in no time given that our group had the strongest guys out there. The other rider was able to latch on and stay with us, albeit never pushing up to help keep the pace up, but we had enough people working already anyway. He even turned around with us once we reached El Moro, so I guess he was having fun riding on the Team BRCM super choo choo.
As we started nearing NPC, most of us were preparing for the long climb, but Shannon had other ideas. He took off, and you hear Todd saying "don't let him get away" or something to that effect. My thought was, is this something we can actually control? HA HA
When we started climbing up NPC, Todd and Shannon were just ahead of me, and I was able to just get behind Shannon before the first Pelican light. Now I could swear I looked up just before entering the intersection that the light just turned yellow, but I saw Shannon check up and stop. Having seen that no one was behind me, I kept going. I wasn't too far behind Todd, but when I got caught at a red light that he was able to get through, I knew he was gone.
Shannon and Galen rolled up at the light with me, and once it turned green, I tried to keep a good pace going up but good wasn't good enough to keep up with Shannon. From my vantage point, it seemed like he was making some ground on Todd. I was working on my off-the-seat climbing and was doing good where every once in a while, I'd check behind and see that Galen was with me. When I dropped down to my seat and spun up, however, Galen's earlier training got the best of him and he dropped off. I got to the top to an awaiting Todd and Shannon, and Galen, Vin and Vince came up shortly after. Vince, being vince, kept going, so after looking down the hill behind us and not seeing anyone, we opted to wait no longer and continue.
When we got going down NPC, Todd led first followed by Galen. Now since I was on a standard crank today, I took the front hoping to bring up the speed to a highly respectable level. Leave it to Shannon to pass me and serving me some humble pie simultaneously. I spun up even more to try and match his speed but we were arriving close to the underpass. We were still moving pretty fast as I made my way across the right turn lane thinking okay...I'm moving fast again only to have Vince pass me on my left. Todd and Galen eventually passed me too, and I was just able to latch on as we made our way to the bottom to regroup.
On Bonita Canyon, I believe Todd or Shannon started us off, and the reason I didn't really know was because I was focused on the fact that I was behind Galen. Galen seems to LOVE this section, so I was not looking forward to relieving him after he pulled. However, when I did, he gave me instant kudos, which is always nice to get. Shannon relieved me after, and sure enough brought up the level of instanity to where I wasn't sure I was going to be able to hang on anymore after a few more rotations. Vince gave me the spot ahead of him, and I guess he was done at that point. He expected he'd be off the first 1-2 miles originally, so not too shabby after a couple weeks off.
I barely hung on and eventually got to rotate back to the front one more time as we made our way to Bison. I may not have though and it could have been just from being delirious and believing I helped.
As for a sprint to California, I thought about contesting it but when I saw Vin pass to take off, I really didn't feel the need to show off my sprinting prowess given how easily he got passed the last time. I'm sure he believes otherwise, so who am I to crush his dreams?
It was a great turnout today with outstanding efforts by everyone. I know they're talking about riding in the morning tomorrow, but let's just see if my legs will be up for it given the beating they took today. THESE are the kind of lunch rides I love and hope to be a part of more often. Thanks to everyone who came out despite the heat!
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