Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/83668327
Needing to get rid of the extra calories from having celebrated my anniversary yesterday, what better way than to come out on an early morning barn burner with the guys, right? Galen had mentioned earlier this week he planned to ride this morning, so I was definitely expecting to get worked. Vince also opted to come with us to ride in invisible mode since he was on a road bike while we were on TT bikes. Although this would concern some, I knew Vince wouldn't have any problems keeping up as long as he stayed in the draft. That's no easy feat considering our average today, mind you, so props to him for coming out. We did see S-Gary in the gym with his bike as well, but he had an early meeting to attend and couldn't join us.
We didn't decide on a route until last minute, and ultimately I figured we should just go ahead and do a route that Galen is most familiar with...the dreaded 133 BB loop. We thought about going the opposite way, but I'd rather do a loop making mostly right turns vs. lefts to minimize stopping.
Having seen the speed and/or times Galen has achieved on this loop on his own, I was definitely not going to be too eager to jump up and help him up front right away. He's a trooper anyway, so he didn't mind. Galen pretty much lead the whole way to the top of the 133 with me maybe having relieved him only a couple times. I just didn't think I wanted a "fresh" Galen climbing up the 133. Believe me...that's no fun.
I finally took the front once we got to the top of the 133, and the rotations continued from there. Galen had a tendency to power up during passing early on, but this improved throughout the ride. I'm glad it did because everytime he'd pass me, I felt like I had to turn myself inside out a little just to latch back on.
We had a great pace going down the 133 and then going through Laguna Beach on PCH. There was one idiot who made a u-turn in front of us and opted to block the bike lane as we approached, a lot of traffic through CDM, and a bus who blocked us as well along with the lights we caught that broke some of the momentum on PCH. We may have taken more medals home had that not been the case.
We had some good rotations through Back Bay and Vince had considered helping out at the time, but rightfully decided that doing so would probably leave him off the back after he rolled out from the front. Galen took us to the top of Back Bay and ultimately also took us to the base of CA where his Garmin was showing an average speed of 24.8 at that point. Mine and Vince's showed 24.6.
I was able to catch my breath some as we waited for the light and decided to have us finish strong going up California after it turned green. We were lucky to hit a green at the 2nd light and were already in the 20s early on. I was hoping for a green light at Bison, but had to slow for the red and ended up getting a decent average up that hill (2nd best). Galen and Vince PR'd it.
All together, I show a 24.4 average while the others showed 24.5. Not too shabby. Not too shabby at all. It was definitely an excellent workout, and a great way to start the day. Thanks, gents!
Needing to get rid of the extra calories from having celebrated my anniversary yesterday, what better way than to come out on an early morning barn burner with the guys, right? Galen had mentioned earlier this week he planned to ride this morning, so I was definitely expecting to get worked. Vince also opted to come with us to ride in invisible mode since he was on a road bike while we were on TT bikes. Although this would concern some, I knew Vince wouldn't have any problems keeping up as long as he stayed in the draft. That's no easy feat considering our average today, mind you, so props to him for coming out. We did see S-Gary in the gym with his bike as well, but he had an early meeting to attend and couldn't join us.
We didn't decide on a route until last minute, and ultimately I figured we should just go ahead and do a route that Galen is most familiar with...the dreaded 133 BB loop. We thought about going the opposite way, but I'd rather do a loop making mostly right turns vs. lefts to minimize stopping.
Having seen the speed and/or times Galen has achieved on this loop on his own, I was definitely not going to be too eager to jump up and help him up front right away. He's a trooper anyway, so he didn't mind. Galen pretty much lead the whole way to the top of the 133 with me maybe having relieved him only a couple times. I just didn't think I wanted a "fresh" Galen climbing up the 133. Believe me...that's no fun.
I finally took the front once we got to the top of the 133, and the rotations continued from there. Galen had a tendency to power up during passing early on, but this improved throughout the ride. I'm glad it did because everytime he'd pass me, I felt like I had to turn myself inside out a little just to latch back on.
We had a great pace going down the 133 and then going through Laguna Beach on PCH. There was one idiot who made a u-turn in front of us and opted to block the bike lane as we approached, a lot of traffic through CDM, and a bus who blocked us as well along with the lights we caught that broke some of the momentum on PCH. We may have taken more medals home had that not been the case.
We had some good rotations through Back Bay and Vince had considered helping out at the time, but rightfully decided that doing so would probably leave him off the back after he rolled out from the front. Galen took us to the top of Back Bay and ultimately also took us to the base of CA where his Garmin was showing an average speed of 24.8 at that point. Mine and Vince's showed 24.6.
I was able to catch my breath some as we waited for the light and decided to have us finish strong going up California after it turned green. We were lucky to hit a green at the 2nd light and were already in the 20s early on. I was hoping for a green light at Bison, but had to slow for the red and ended up getting a decent average up that hill (2nd best). Galen and Vince PR'd it.
All together, I show a 24.4 average while the others showed 24.5. Not too shabby. Not too shabby at all. It was definitely an excellent workout, and a great way to start the day. Thanks, gents!
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