Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/94571737
As usual, Monday is TT training day but I got called up to visit a customer at 11 a.m. Usually, this would bother me, but I was actually looking forward to some solo miles given the Saturday hammerfest. When I finished up at 11:45 and started heading to the gym, I was certain anyone who came out to ride would have left already. To my surprise, I saw Jaffe just arriving at the corner and he told me Todd was still getting ready. Upon my arrival, Vince was also just finishing up getting ready, and in the end we decided we were all going to ride together. So much for a solo recovery spin.
Todd chose today's route and he was interested in climbing up NPC as part of the route, so I knew he was out to cause pain. This was further evident when we took off from the corner, and he was off like a bat out of hell and with Vince in tow. If it wasn't for a car slowing them up for the right turn to E. Peltason, they may have gotten away. I was trying to rally Jaffe to keep up when we got on Bison, but after Todd and Vince made the right turn, they were hauling ass up the hill requiring me to sprint just to latch on 3/4 of the way up. At that point, I knew the heat was just too much for Steve. Sorry, bud.
Todd was still hauling ass as we made our way to Anteater, and never stopped to slow down where his efforts resulted in a KOM on the S-Gary segment. I ended up actually getting it probably because I got on E. Peltason behind them, but it was definitely all Todd after that. He didn't even slow down much on Bonita Canyon and led all the way to NPC.
While we stopped to make the left, we took off before another guy ahead of us and very shortly after passed him as we started the climb. Vince had let me get behind Todd for the climb, but Todd turned the heat on more and ultimately had me popping off waving Vince on to latch on to Todd. Sorry, Vince. All I could do at that point was just slow down to a pace I can manage and watch the two guys pull away from me.
They had a pretty sizeable gap up the hill, but I was able to close in after they slowed or stop at a light at the top. I never was able to get close enough though, so they continued to maintain their gap ahead of me and was near the top of the Pelican climb just as I was making my right turn onto it. I started to jam at that point, but at the bottom a black SUV opted to pull out just in front of me and the man driving it seemed to slow intentionally as though he wanted me to run into him. I shared some choice words with him as a result.
As I started the climb, I didn't see Todd and Vince anymore and actually didn't see them until I made the right turn on PCH. I hunkered down and worked to close the gap on them as we were heading toward CDM. I was lucky I was able to come up just behind them as they hit the light before entering into downtown.
When we got going again, it was a little hairy going through downtown CDM opting to skip the Poppy/Ocean detour. As we were coming up on McArthur, I took the front (finally!) and started to offer Vince and Todd some wind protection. Todd eventually took the front again after the light before Jamboree and turned it up again where all we could do was sit behind him as he led us down and all the way through the mobile home bike trail. I was thinking to try and help out once we got on Back Bay, but he kept the heat up making it pointless to even try to get ahead let alone difficult just to keep up. It took almost 3/4 of the way through Back Bay before I could push up to the front to give the final lead out to the top of Back Bay where the two abused me on the climb with a sprint pass to the sidewalk.
I tried to catch them on the bike trail and it was only because they caught the light on California that I was able to come up on them again. When we got going up California, Todd led originally, but I thought I'd offer the final lead out up California and got around Todd to take the pace up. As with the top of Back Bay, they both passed me near the top as a result of my leadout. By the time we finished, our average was just over 23 mph. Yup...that hurt. Damn these guys!
Thanks for the punishment, gents! We've come a long way on this route for sure. Here's the results of a comparable ride in 2009: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/14212319. 20.8 average was blazing back in the day. I think guys are doing that solo nowadays. Go team BRCM!
As usual, Monday is TT training day but I got called up to visit a customer at 11 a.m. Usually, this would bother me, but I was actually looking forward to some solo miles given the Saturday hammerfest. When I finished up at 11:45 and started heading to the gym, I was certain anyone who came out to ride would have left already. To my surprise, I saw Jaffe just arriving at the corner and he told me Todd was still getting ready. Upon my arrival, Vince was also just finishing up getting ready, and in the end we decided we were all going to ride together. So much for a solo recovery spin.
Todd chose today's route and he was interested in climbing up NPC as part of the route, so I knew he was out to cause pain. This was further evident when we took off from the corner, and he was off like a bat out of hell and with Vince in tow. If it wasn't for a car slowing them up for the right turn to E. Peltason, they may have gotten away. I was trying to rally Jaffe to keep up when we got on Bison, but after Todd and Vince made the right turn, they were hauling ass up the hill requiring me to sprint just to latch on 3/4 of the way up. At that point, I knew the heat was just too much for Steve. Sorry, bud.
Todd was still hauling ass as we made our way to Anteater, and never stopped to slow down where his efforts resulted in a KOM on the S-Gary segment. I ended up actually getting it probably because I got on E. Peltason behind them, but it was definitely all Todd after that. He didn't even slow down much on Bonita Canyon and led all the way to NPC.
While we stopped to make the left, we took off before another guy ahead of us and very shortly after passed him as we started the climb. Vince had let me get behind Todd for the climb, but Todd turned the heat on more and ultimately had me popping off waving Vince on to latch on to Todd. Sorry, Vince. All I could do at that point was just slow down to a pace I can manage and watch the two guys pull away from me.
They had a pretty sizeable gap up the hill, but I was able to close in after they slowed or stop at a light at the top. I never was able to get close enough though, so they continued to maintain their gap ahead of me and was near the top of the Pelican climb just as I was making my right turn onto it. I started to jam at that point, but at the bottom a black SUV opted to pull out just in front of me and the man driving it seemed to slow intentionally as though he wanted me to run into him. I shared some choice words with him as a result.
As I started the climb, I didn't see Todd and Vince anymore and actually didn't see them until I made the right turn on PCH. I hunkered down and worked to close the gap on them as we were heading toward CDM. I was lucky I was able to come up just behind them as they hit the light before entering into downtown.
When we got going again, it was a little hairy going through downtown CDM opting to skip the Poppy/Ocean detour. As we were coming up on McArthur, I took the front (finally!) and started to offer Vince and Todd some wind protection. Todd eventually took the front again after the light before Jamboree and turned it up again where all we could do was sit behind him as he led us down and all the way through the mobile home bike trail. I was thinking to try and help out once we got on Back Bay, but he kept the heat up making it pointless to even try to get ahead let alone difficult just to keep up. It took almost 3/4 of the way through Back Bay before I could push up to the front to give the final lead out to the top of Back Bay where the two abused me on the climb with a sprint pass to the sidewalk.
I tried to catch them on the bike trail and it was only because they caught the light on California that I was able to come up on them again. When we got going up California, Todd led originally, but I thought I'd offer the final lead out up California and got around Todd to take the pace up. As with the top of Back Bay, they both passed me near the top as a result of my leadout. By the time we finished, our average was just over 23 mph. Yup...that hurt. Damn these guys!
Thanks for the punishment, gents! We've come a long way on this route for sure. Here's the results of a comparable ride in 2009: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/14212319. 20.8 average was blazing back in the day. I think guys are doing that solo nowadays. Go team BRCM!
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