Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/93420120
Attendees: Vince, Todd, Hiroshi, Jeremy, Mitchell and Vin
In the locker room, I overheard Vince and Todd talking about how I brought the cheater bike in today again. I'm really finding it difficult to understand how exactly it would be considered cheating when 1) a TT bike is NOT made for climbing and today was full of hills, 2) I'm pushing up to the front to pull as much as I can no questions asked and 3) it's a lunch ride...not a race, people. When surrounded by type A guys, I guess any advantage, whether it's actual or simply a delusion, can render such a conclusion. The reality is this is the bike I'm racing with, so this is the bike I'm trying to get adequate seat time on. Hello? I've mentioned this probably on my last couple blogs already.
The weather was a little warmer than yesterday and the winds were also more noticeable, so this was indeed going to be a challenge. I thought at first that maybe I'll try and save some energy for the hills just so I don't drop that bad, but dropping really isn't such a bad thing. In fact, sometimes it's nice to fall off and set up my own pace but try not to let the group get away too far. Hopefully, as the grade flattens out, opportunities can be had to close the gap then. It ended up being a lot more challenging than I thought.
When we started out, I threw caution to the wind and decided I'll just try and get the best workout I can. I took the front right away to take the lead and started to push not really minding the speed and/or who's behind me, but just trying to get into a rhythm but at a respectable pace. I held the front all the way up to Anteater until Vince came around and passed me. He actually gapped me initially, but I was able to make my way back up to him after the last stop sign before Bonita Canyon. I thought there were others behind us, but it turned out we had gotten separated from the others. Todd was leading the rest of the pack, but he pointed out later on how everyone else just stayed behind him the whole time. Jeremy may have been more willing to help, but he had run over a pipe or something cylindrical upon making the turn on Bison and was probably worried more about his bike than the ride (speculation). Vince and I would have kept the breakaway had the light stayed green for us, but we ended up getting caught at the light where the others caught us.
When the light turned green, Todd took the front early on, but I wanted to push the pace again and jumped to the front as soon as I could. I led for a good portion of the climb up Shady, but after Todd and the others came around, I actually found myself a little winded and unable to latch on as the whole crew passed me and began to break away. I was certain I'd catch them on the descent and/or on Sunnyhill or Turtle Rock, but whoever was working the front definitely kept me at bay. All I could do was keep an eye on them and hope that sometime after Starcrest, I can somehow manage to close the gap again at least on some of them.
As I climb up Turtle Rock and Starcrest, I could see that there was already some separation among the front group. Despite this, I was still not able to close the gap enough to where I ended up the last one up Starcrest. No surprise there though. I pretty much was certain they would continue on and not wait, but lo and behold, everyone except Vince was sitting in the cul-de-sac waiting for me. Yay!
As I approached, I told the group let's go on and Todd immediately took the lead down Ridgeline. Once we got on Turtle Rock though, I thought to take the front as pay back for them waiting for me and did my best to help try to see if we can reel Vince in. Todd had also been helping, but as we tried, we just missed the light at Bonita Canyon where we saw Vince go through on the green ahead of us.
Todd took the lead after the light turned green, and I thought I'd take the front again and realized that we were heading up NPC shortly. I took a bite of humble pie and sat back to try and recover so that I don't get dropped too badly on the climb. Todd had gotten into chase mode knowing Vince was ahead of us and almost forgot to make the right on NPC. After we called out to him to let him know, he quickly changed routes and made the turn. Now the light wasn't exactly green yet, ahem, but I'm just as guilty and decided to follow while the traffic was clear. I believe the rest followed behind me as well as they were just off the back of my bike when I looked back. Todd had gotten a lead on the NPC climb, and that pretty much meant there would be no chance to try to have him tow me/us up the hill behind him...at least for as long as I could hang on. He must have seen Vince ahead of us and at one point began to increase the gap further and further. I stayed ahead of the others behind me for a little bit, but Jeremy passed me before we got to the 73 underpass. I managed to latch on when he did, and I guess Mitchell had jumped behind me after being towed by Jeremy.
Jeremy was holding a good pace, so I did what I could to stay on his wheel. As it flattened out a little, I still stayed behind but to recover a little hoping that at one point I can again take the front. I may have held Jeremy out a little longer than I wanted, so when I passed to take the front it may have been too much to try and latch on. I heard him tell Mitchell to go ahead, so maybe because he didn't, neither were able to latch on after I took the front. I was on my aeros at the time and tried to just keep the power constant for the rest of the climb. I expected to see both of them behind me as I approached San Joaquin, but I was surprised to see I was alone by then.
I pushed on not seeing Todd or Vince but hoping that I'd be able to make ground on them now that it's cheater bike territory. However, I was only able to match Todd's speed through the horseshoe where he was able to reel Vince in by the end (so I was told).
When I came out of the horseshoe, I made my way to Spyglass and charged up the hill after spotting he and Todd as they were nearing the top. On the descent, I managed to get lucky where I was able to make the right turn on a green not long after the 3 ahead of me. I guess Mitchell missed the horseshoe. Now I could have probably pushed really hard to make my way up to them as we climbed San Miguel, but I tried to moderate the rate of closing the gap just so I don't blow myself up. Plus, I figured I'd have a good chance to really catch them on McArthur. This proved to be my downfall as the gap between us was big enough to catch me at a light just prior to getting back on San Joaquin. Bummer.
I didn't stay at the intersection too long, but the three ahead had good momentum and increased the gap enough where I was just able to see them make the right turn onto McArthur just as I was getting onto San Joaquin. I turned it on as soon as I made the right turn, but the three ahead of me were also moving pretty fast. I may have been closing some on them but then I saw that the light on Bonita Canyon/Ford was going to stay green for them after it was green for a while. Just as they made their way through the intersection, the light turned yellow and I knew my chase was over. It was fun while it lasted though, but the guys ahead were just moving too fast.
I never saw anyone else, but Jeremy was back in the gym as well when I returned so I guess he opted for a shorter way back. He was inspecting his bike in the gym, so I hope it didn't get damaged by the pipe he ran over.
It was a tough ride for sure, but definitely another good trainer. I'll probably be riding one more time this week on the TT, so maybe I'll get on another bike for Thursday's ride and spin before this weekend. I definitely should not have underestimated this crew on the descents and flats since their pace on road bikes is no joke. That's what makes training with them so awesome. Good job, folks!
Attendees: Vince, Todd, Hiroshi, Jeremy, Mitchell and Vin
In the locker room, I overheard Vince and Todd talking about how I brought the cheater bike in today again. I'm really finding it difficult to understand how exactly it would be considered cheating when 1) a TT bike is NOT made for climbing and today was full of hills, 2) I'm pushing up to the front to pull as much as I can no questions asked and 3) it's a lunch ride...not a race, people. When surrounded by type A guys, I guess any advantage, whether it's actual or simply a delusion, can render such a conclusion. The reality is this is the bike I'm racing with, so this is the bike I'm trying to get adequate seat time on. Hello? I've mentioned this probably on my last couple blogs already.
The weather was a little warmer than yesterday and the winds were also more noticeable, so this was indeed going to be a challenge. I thought at first that maybe I'll try and save some energy for the hills just so I don't drop that bad, but dropping really isn't such a bad thing. In fact, sometimes it's nice to fall off and set up my own pace but try not to let the group get away too far. Hopefully, as the grade flattens out, opportunities can be had to close the gap then. It ended up being a lot more challenging than I thought.
When we started out, I threw caution to the wind and decided I'll just try and get the best workout I can. I took the front right away to take the lead and started to push not really minding the speed and/or who's behind me, but just trying to get into a rhythm but at a respectable pace. I held the front all the way up to Anteater until Vince came around and passed me. He actually gapped me initially, but I was able to make my way back up to him after the last stop sign before Bonita Canyon. I thought there were others behind us, but it turned out we had gotten separated from the others. Todd was leading the rest of the pack, but he pointed out later on how everyone else just stayed behind him the whole time. Jeremy may have been more willing to help, but he had run over a pipe or something cylindrical upon making the turn on Bison and was probably worried more about his bike than the ride (speculation). Vince and I would have kept the breakaway had the light stayed green for us, but we ended up getting caught at the light where the others caught us.
When the light turned green, Todd took the front early on, but I wanted to push the pace again and jumped to the front as soon as I could. I led for a good portion of the climb up Shady, but after Todd and the others came around, I actually found myself a little winded and unable to latch on as the whole crew passed me and began to break away. I was certain I'd catch them on the descent and/or on Sunnyhill or Turtle Rock, but whoever was working the front definitely kept me at bay. All I could do was keep an eye on them and hope that sometime after Starcrest, I can somehow manage to close the gap again at least on some of them.
As I climb up Turtle Rock and Starcrest, I could see that there was already some separation among the front group. Despite this, I was still not able to close the gap enough to where I ended up the last one up Starcrest. No surprise there though. I pretty much was certain they would continue on and not wait, but lo and behold, everyone except Vince was sitting in the cul-de-sac waiting for me. Yay!
As I approached, I told the group let's go on and Todd immediately took the lead down Ridgeline. Once we got on Turtle Rock though, I thought to take the front as pay back for them waiting for me and did my best to help try to see if we can reel Vince in. Todd had also been helping, but as we tried, we just missed the light at Bonita Canyon where we saw Vince go through on the green ahead of us.
Todd took the lead after the light turned green, and I thought I'd take the front again and realized that we were heading up NPC shortly. I took a bite of humble pie and sat back to try and recover so that I don't get dropped too badly on the climb. Todd had gotten into chase mode knowing Vince was ahead of us and almost forgot to make the right on NPC. After we called out to him to let him know, he quickly changed routes and made the turn. Now the light wasn't exactly green yet, ahem, but I'm just as guilty and decided to follow while the traffic was clear. I believe the rest followed behind me as well as they were just off the back of my bike when I looked back. Todd had gotten a lead on the NPC climb, and that pretty much meant there would be no chance to try to have him tow me/us up the hill behind him...at least for as long as I could hang on. He must have seen Vince ahead of us and at one point began to increase the gap further and further. I stayed ahead of the others behind me for a little bit, but Jeremy passed me before we got to the 73 underpass. I managed to latch on when he did, and I guess Mitchell had jumped behind me after being towed by Jeremy.
Jeremy was holding a good pace, so I did what I could to stay on his wheel. As it flattened out a little, I still stayed behind but to recover a little hoping that at one point I can again take the front. I may have held Jeremy out a little longer than I wanted, so when I passed to take the front it may have been too much to try and latch on. I heard him tell Mitchell to go ahead, so maybe because he didn't, neither were able to latch on after I took the front. I was on my aeros at the time and tried to just keep the power constant for the rest of the climb. I expected to see both of them behind me as I approached San Joaquin, but I was surprised to see I was alone by then.
I pushed on not seeing Todd or Vince but hoping that I'd be able to make ground on them now that it's cheater bike territory. However, I was only able to match Todd's speed through the horseshoe where he was able to reel Vince in by the end (so I was told).
When I came out of the horseshoe, I made my way to Spyglass and charged up the hill after spotting he and Todd as they were nearing the top. On the descent, I managed to get lucky where I was able to make the right turn on a green not long after the 3 ahead of me. I guess Mitchell missed the horseshoe. Now I could have probably pushed really hard to make my way up to them as we climbed San Miguel, but I tried to moderate the rate of closing the gap just so I don't blow myself up. Plus, I figured I'd have a good chance to really catch them on McArthur. This proved to be my downfall as the gap between us was big enough to catch me at a light just prior to getting back on San Joaquin. Bummer.
I didn't stay at the intersection too long, but the three ahead had good momentum and increased the gap enough where I was just able to see them make the right turn onto McArthur just as I was getting onto San Joaquin. I turned it on as soon as I made the right turn, but the three ahead of me were also moving pretty fast. I may have been closing some on them but then I saw that the light on Bonita Canyon/Ford was going to stay green for them after it was green for a while. Just as they made their way through the intersection, the light turned yellow and I knew my chase was over. It was fun while it lasted though, but the guys ahead were just moving too fast.
I never saw anyone else, but Jeremy was back in the gym as well when I returned so I guess he opted for a shorter way back. He was inspecting his bike in the gym, so I hope it didn't get damaged by the pipe he ran over.
It was a tough ride for sure, but definitely another good trainer. I'll probably be riding one more time this week on the TT, so maybe I'll get on another bike for Thursday's ride and spin before this weekend. I definitely should not have underestimated this crew on the descents and flats since their pace on road bikes is no joke. That's what makes training with them so awesome. Good job, folks!
Love the word "overheard". It was hard to not hear when we were talking at 110 dcb and you were in your usual pre-ride spot. Ha.
ReplyDeleteI didn't mean it like it was a bad thing.
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