Strava: http://www.strava.com/activities/91475222
Dictionary.com defines progress as a movement toward a goal or to a further or higher stage. Considering that we rode further and had more elevation gain than last week's long ride, I'd say increasing our pace from 21.2 mph to 21.5 definitely falls under that definition. Plus, if you consider that this ride exceeded the elevation gain for Stagecoach and that this was only two of us, I'm thinking its fair to say we're on target for breaking our record there, which was a 21.5 mph pace with 4 guys. Wouldn't you?
Dictionary.com defines progress as a movement toward a goal or to a further or higher stage. Considering that we rode further and had more elevation gain than last week's long ride, I'd say increasing our pace from 21.2 mph to 21.5 definitely falls under that definition. Plus, if you consider that this ride exceeded the elevation gain for Stagecoach and that this was only two of us, I'm thinking its fair to say we're on target for breaking our record there, which was a 21.5 mph pace with 4 guys. Wouldn't you?
It was definitely a great day for a ride given the temperature never got too hot. There was overcast for most of the ride, so that kept us from draining our hydration packs as fast as last week's ride. It was a little cool in the beginning (I wore arm warmers), but once we got going it was pretty much perfect temperature-wise. The winds were mild, and didn't really play a factor (either as headwind or tailwind) throughout. The only part that was a problem was the fog we hit after we got out of the canyons and as we headed down toward Back Bay.
Todd led us out at the start, and this was a part of our strategy for the ride. Todd for one is a strong starter and is also stronger on the climbs than I am. Surprise. Leaving his house is an immediate hill and pretty much a series of hills as we head toward and up the top of the hill past Cook's, so Todd lead me up all the way setting the perfect pace. The good thing about Todd is that he doesn't mind letting us capitalize on his strength, and this worked to our advantage for sure. Once we got to the top, I'd take over and give him a break until he was ready to take the front again. We would alternate like this every time we'd get to a significant hill (Dump and Cook's), and it worked out perfectly as we made our 1.5 full passes through the canyon ending with an average of ~21 mph.
When we headed toward Portola to get onto the bike trail, we took turns and kept the rotations pretty smooth where it never felt like I had to accelerate too much whenever he passed. I believe Todd mentioned the same thing about my transitions to the front, so both of us were doing what we could to manage the pace AND the power output throughout. This, in my opinion, is what will be key to how successful we'll be in January. I can't wait to get this perfected with the 4 of us.
When we get on the bike trail and as we made our way down through Back Bay, there was a lot of traffic (bikes, people, dogs, etc.) where we had to tone down our pace for safety. The fog didn't help either. In some way, this may have actually helped our overall pace in that we didn't go too crazy where we may have ended up feeling that later on in the ride. We got to eat during that section too, so we took advantage of the controlled pace for sure. Curiously, Todd got a KOM that led us from the bike trail before Harvard all the way down to the end of Back Bay, so I guess our controlled pace was still pretty fast. We did pick up one rider on Back Bay for a little bit, but he turned off at San Joaquin or dropped. He would be the only rider that would latch on for the length of the ride.
When we got to 133, Todd once again led us up and was holding an excellent pace as we made our way to the 73 underpass. I took over after to help keep the pace up, and through our rotations we averaged 24.7 mph from the 73 to Quail Hill...22.6 mph from the base of the 133 to Laguna Canyon. Excellent.
We had originally planned to go through Quail Hill to get to Sand Canyon but opted to go up to Barranca and then Sand Canyon after. This change had us check up a little until we can coordinate the route between us, but we ended up realizing that if we were going to make a route change, it probably should have been to avoid Sand Canyon. The construction on the road made it difficult to navigate through, and the lights were not very friendly either. We were at a 22 mph average by the time we got to Laguna Canyon but that dropped after we went through Sand Canyon up to the 5 underpass.
We were able to start making it up once we got on Irvine Blvd, but the climb up Alton knocked it back down some. Todd led us up Alton, and we were holding a great pace up as we passed rider after rider, but it is a long steady grind where an ~18 mph pace was all we could do...especially 80 miles into our ride.
Once we got to the top, we were both feeling good and wanted to open it up to the finish but it was just more lights that kept slowing us down. We still gave it what we had and pushed on even on the hills that lead back to Todd's place, and at the end finished up with a ~21.5 mph pace for the ride. If we had a comparable final 7 miles left to the Stagecoach route, which would have been mostly downhill, we definitely believe we would have had enough to finish that up and be close to a 22 mph average. Sure it's only speculation, but neither of us had any problems cramping or lacking in fluids at all.
It was nice to finish off at Todd as he hosted a nice little post ride beerfest. Pam wasn't there when we finished, but she arrived to join us making for good company who also made pizza to go with the beers. It was a perfect ending to an almost perfect ride. I can't wait until Galen and Shannon can join us for one of these outings as I'm sure it'll be even more perfect. Thanks for the great workout and post ride replenishment, Todd and Pam. You guys are good people! Chalk up another excellent TTT trainer. It should only progress from here....
Todd led us out at the start, and this was a part of our strategy for the ride. Todd for one is a strong starter and is also stronger on the climbs than I am. Surprise. Leaving his house is an immediate hill and pretty much a series of hills as we head toward and up the top of the hill past Cook's, so Todd lead me up all the way setting the perfect pace. The good thing about Todd is that he doesn't mind letting us capitalize on his strength, and this worked to our advantage for sure. Once we got to the top, I'd take over and give him a break until he was ready to take the front again. We would alternate like this every time we'd get to a significant hill (Dump and Cook's), and it worked out perfectly as we made our 1.5 full passes through the canyon ending with an average of ~21 mph.
When we headed toward Portola to get onto the bike trail, we took turns and kept the rotations pretty smooth where it never felt like I had to accelerate too much whenever he passed. I believe Todd mentioned the same thing about my transitions to the front, so both of us were doing what we could to manage the pace AND the power output throughout. This, in my opinion, is what will be key to how successful we'll be in January. I can't wait to get this perfected with the 4 of us.
When we get on the bike trail and as we made our way down through Back Bay, there was a lot of traffic (bikes, people, dogs, etc.) where we had to tone down our pace for safety. The fog didn't help either. In some way, this may have actually helped our overall pace in that we didn't go too crazy where we may have ended up feeling that later on in the ride. We got to eat during that section too, so we took advantage of the controlled pace for sure. Curiously, Todd got a KOM that led us from the bike trail before Harvard all the way down to the end of Back Bay, so I guess our controlled pace was still pretty fast. We did pick up one rider on Back Bay for a little bit, but he turned off at San Joaquin or dropped. He would be the only rider that would latch on for the length of the ride.
When we got to 133, Todd once again led us up and was holding an excellent pace as we made our way to the 73 underpass. I took over after to help keep the pace up, and through our rotations we averaged 24.7 mph from the 73 to Quail Hill...22.6 mph from the base of the 133 to Laguna Canyon. Excellent.
We had originally planned to go through Quail Hill to get to Sand Canyon but opted to go up to Barranca and then Sand Canyon after. This change had us check up a little until we can coordinate the route between us, but we ended up realizing that if we were going to make a route change, it probably should have been to avoid Sand Canyon. The construction on the road made it difficult to navigate through, and the lights were not very friendly either. We were at a 22 mph average by the time we got to Laguna Canyon but that dropped after we went through Sand Canyon up to the 5 underpass.
We were able to start making it up once we got on Irvine Blvd, but the climb up Alton knocked it back down some. Todd led us up Alton, and we were holding a great pace up as we passed rider after rider, but it is a long steady grind where an ~18 mph pace was all we could do...especially 80 miles into our ride.
Once we got to the top, we were both feeling good and wanted to open it up to the finish but it was just more lights that kept slowing us down. We still gave it what we had and pushed on even on the hills that lead back to Todd's place, and at the end finished up with a ~21.5 mph pace for the ride. If we had a comparable final 7 miles left to the Stagecoach route, which would have been mostly downhill, we definitely believe we would have had enough to finish that up and be close to a 22 mph average. Sure it's only speculation, but neither of us had any problems cramping or lacking in fluids at all.
It was nice to finish off at Todd as he hosted a nice little post ride beerfest. Pam wasn't there when we finished, but she arrived to join us making for good company who also made pizza to go with the beers. It was a perfect ending to an almost perfect ride. I can't wait until Galen and Shannon can join us for one of these outings as I'm sure it'll be even more perfect. Thanks for the great workout and post ride replenishment, Todd and Pam. You guys are good people! Chalk up another excellent TTT trainer. It should only progress from here....
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