Strava: http://www.strava.com/activities/96716610
Admittedly, I was excited to find out last week that we were all finally going to make it out together as a team. Despite having ridden with Todd previously as a 2 man team, Shannon and Galen two weeks prior and Todd and Shannon last week, I thought those rides wouldn't be as significant as when we train all together...at least in terms of how we'll perform for January's race. I've been saying all along how important seat time is, but for a TTT, time together is what it will take to find the right "chemistry" among us. If you believe that everyone just being trained up and strong will be enough to do so, you've got another thought coming.
We decided to do a route Todd did a couple weeks ago that started from his house, headed through Live Oak, went through the Canyon 1.5 times (2 out, 1 back), down to the BB via the bike trail, PCH to Laguna Beach, up the 133, and back via Alton. The route ended up being 108 miles or so, but as you'll see from my Strava, I had to cut it short because I wanted to get back to watch my daughter's final league soccer game. It was definitely a lot of miles as well as a lot of climbing (more than the actual Stagecoach), so I knew I had essentially signed up to ride on the Team BRCM pain train.
We weren't sure we were going to make it out given the wet weather at the end of the week, but early in the morning, we got an e-mail from Todd giving the all clear. It ended up actually being drier than our ride down to Torrey Pines the week before, but it was also a bit colder. Galen ran into a little traffic on the way down, which delayed our start time a little, but that allowed it to warm up a little from the 48 degrees that would have been the temp if we started at the planned 6:45 a.m. We still all donned full pants and arm warmers or a long sleeve base layer, which proved to be perfect for the length of the ride.
Now I could talk about the whole ride mile per mile, I think I'll spare you of the details and only go over the highlights.
We probably started out a little faster than we should have (think lunch ride-ish), especially since it was so hilly in the beginning, but it's just another learning point for us to correct on the next ride.
We had a couple riders try and mix it up with us, but it was nice to see that everyone pretty much stayed with the agenda of training as a team. In fact, if anyone was out of line, it may have actually been me when riders were ahead of us. Todd kept me in check though, which is what he or any of the other is supposed to do.
The crosswinds and headwinds were a little rough through the canyon even with four of us working together.
I don't think we covered how we were going to do rotations as a group from the beginning, so I think for about 3/4 of the ride I didn't really know what we were doing. HAHA. We pretty much did what we did, so this was something we'll be working on as well.
When we finished the 133, Shannon had gotten a flat so I opted at this point to separate and find the shortest way back to Todd's house. I think I failed in that regard and ended up climbing more than I expected.
The guys finished out the ride and had a couple beers after, which I definitely could have used given the spasms and cramping I was experiencing trying to watch my daughter's game.
Overall, I think this was good for us as it sets the baseline for what we can do as a team of four. I expect we will continue to improve upon every outing since all of us are driven to do so. We have the right tools to get the job done for sure, but we've got fine tuning to do along the way. I'm already looking forward to the next one. Go team BRCM!
Admittedly, I was excited to find out last week that we were all finally going to make it out together as a team. Despite having ridden with Todd previously as a 2 man team, Shannon and Galen two weeks prior and Todd and Shannon last week, I thought those rides wouldn't be as significant as when we train all together...at least in terms of how we'll perform for January's race. I've been saying all along how important seat time is, but for a TTT, time together is what it will take to find the right "chemistry" among us. If you believe that everyone just being trained up and strong will be enough to do so, you've got another thought coming.
We decided to do a route Todd did a couple weeks ago that started from his house, headed through Live Oak, went through the Canyon 1.5 times (2 out, 1 back), down to the BB via the bike trail, PCH to Laguna Beach, up the 133, and back via Alton. The route ended up being 108 miles or so, but as you'll see from my Strava, I had to cut it short because I wanted to get back to watch my daughter's final league soccer game. It was definitely a lot of miles as well as a lot of climbing (more than the actual Stagecoach), so I knew I had essentially signed up to ride on the Team BRCM pain train.
We weren't sure we were going to make it out given the wet weather at the end of the week, but early in the morning, we got an e-mail from Todd giving the all clear. It ended up actually being drier than our ride down to Torrey Pines the week before, but it was also a bit colder. Galen ran into a little traffic on the way down, which delayed our start time a little, but that allowed it to warm up a little from the 48 degrees that would have been the temp if we started at the planned 6:45 a.m. We still all donned full pants and arm warmers or a long sleeve base layer, which proved to be perfect for the length of the ride.
Now I could talk about the whole ride mile per mile, I think I'll spare you of the details and only go over the highlights.
We probably started out a little faster than we should have (think lunch ride-ish), especially since it was so hilly in the beginning, but it's just another learning point for us to correct on the next ride.
We had a couple riders try and mix it up with us, but it was nice to see that everyone pretty much stayed with the agenda of training as a team. In fact, if anyone was out of line, it may have actually been me when riders were ahead of us. Todd kept me in check though, which is what he or any of the other is supposed to do.
The crosswinds and headwinds were a little rough through the canyon even with four of us working together.
I don't think we covered how we were going to do rotations as a group from the beginning, so I think for about 3/4 of the ride I didn't really know what we were doing. HAHA. We pretty much did what we did, so this was something we'll be working on as well.
When we finished the 133, Shannon had gotten a flat so I opted at this point to separate and find the shortest way back to Todd's house. I think I failed in that regard and ended up climbing more than I expected.
The guys finished out the ride and had a couple beers after, which I definitely could have used given the spasms and cramping I was experiencing trying to watch my daughter's game.
Overall, I think this was good for us as it sets the baseline for what we can do as a team of four. I expect we will continue to improve upon every outing since all of us are driven to do so. We have the right tools to get the job done for sure, but we've got fine tuning to do along the way. I'm already looking forward to the next one. Go team BRCM!
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