Wrapping up 2013 for Team BRCM

Strava:  http://www.strava.com/activities/103062355

It's been a while since I've blogged about the team, but that's mostly because I've been doing mostly solo rides during the last 2 weeks of the year.  Who wants to read about my solo rides, right?  I did get out with Adrian on the 12-21 where we did an 80 miler together going down to Carlsbad and back, but other than that it's been mostly solo rides.

My ride down to Carlsbad and back with Adrian was rather interesting.  Adrian came along for the ride while I got some TT training in, so the plan was that he was going to stay behind me for most if not all of the ride.  I was perfectly fine with it given I was on my TT bike while he was on his road bike albeit with aero bars installed.  My plan was to manage my power so that I can translate that to when I work with the team for our race in January.  I figure if I don't drop Adrian at any point given I'm on my TT bike, I'm doing okay. This worked out great to the half way point where we stayed together and managed a 20.8 average on the way down.  This was despite some headwind we experienced on the way.   On the way back, I felt the tail wind behind us, so I knew it was going to be a fast return trip.  We did stop to get Adrian some Coke at a gas station some where in Oceanside, but after that it was just a straight shot home.  He managed to stay on for most of the way back, which was no easy feat since we were likely doing 23+ mph average on the way back.  He only dropped a couple times but not by much, and in the end we finished the 80 miler with a 22 mph avg (21.9 if you want to believe Strava).   I thought it was rather impressive of Adrian to stay as long as he did at that pace, but I assured him that given that he was, he's definitely set for the Stagecoach in January. 

I did get some solo rides out after that, but the notable one was my solo TT down to San Diego and back for a makeshift century trainer.  I had two guys latch on and stay in my draft for a bit ask me what I was training for, so I told them about the TTT in Ocotillo.  They were rather impressed at the pace I was holding and wished me luck, but what they didn't notice was how I was a little uneasy about saying I'm training for a TTT whereas I didn't know what to say if they had asked where the rest of the team was given I was solo.  Thankfully, that never came up and they just enjoyed sitting in the draft behind me.  One guy pulled ahead from a stop light that we were sitting in only to experience the ridiculous headwind that I was pushing through on the way back.  It didn't take long before I caught and passed him only to have him jump back on my draft.  It was definitely a wicked headwind, so I got pretty beat up where I had to do a lot more active recovery than I wanted just to get back.  I was hoping to do a solo sub-5 elapsed time century, but there were too many lights and too much wind to make that possible.  In the end, I only managed a 20.4 mph average with a move time a few minutes under 5.  Good enough I guess.

While I touched on the subject of solo TT training for a TTT race in January, I will say that I'm sure the other guys are doing what they need to do to get the job done.  It reminds me of a management class I took where they gave us a personality test and showed that despite different approaches to a common goal, people still get it done.  I think with the mentality of the guys on the team, I have no doubt that we'll put in a good showing at the race.  I just need to worry about myself and make sure I'm able to contribute as much as I can to the team.  So there you have it. 

Looking back at 2013, I will say I don't think we've done as many events as we've done in the past, but that's probably mostly my fault given I wasn't able to participate as much.  I hope that changes for 2014, but I do think I need to find a way to excite the others to want to do more on the bike to represent the team.  For me, it has and will always be about the team.  I wear my BRCM jerseys pretty much of the time (unless Lisa falls behind in laundry - ahem) because they mean something to me.  They show that you can take some guys who like to ride and turn them into ones people recognize as legit riders.  Isn't that what it's all about? 

Happy New Year, and here's to hoping for more to come in 2014!

TTTraining with Todd - Centurus Interruptus

Strava:  http://www.strava.com/activities/100203879

With a couple days on the spin bike followed by 3 good days of riding (Friday was supposed to be a spinner but there were some sprint sections we hit that I felt going into this ride), I admittedly was a little worried about training with Todd on our planned century-ish ride.  Knowing he had backed off on Friday opting to skip the lunch ride, even more so.  With only two of us, there wouldn't be as much time in the draft as opposed to riding with three or four, but I guess in the grand scheme of things, it's best to train under less than optimal conditions since we live in an unperfect world.  We'll only get stronger from it.

Arriving at The Ranch in Ladera Ranch just after 6:30 a.m., the less desirable conditions continued.  Not only was it only 41 degrees upon my arrival, but the winds were blowing pretty good too.  You could see the branches on the trees going sideways, so I knew we would be in for a challenging day.  Arm warmers, compression long sleeves, shoe covers, and my hydration pack base layer all accompanied the kit, as I figured it would be better to start warm vs. cold...especially since Todd was riding over from his house where he would likely already be warmed up upon his arrival.  When he arrived, he was similarly prepared for the cold temps.  Little did we both know it would warm up pretty good only a quarter of the route out.

When we started off, I immediately noticed I wasn't getting any power readings, so I called out to Todd to stop since this has now become an invaluable tool during these rides.  I had set my Garmin to my BMC on Friday's ride, so I had to set it back to my Felt in order to get the power readings (the Power Tap is only associated with that bike).  Once I got this changed, I hit reset and we were off.

When riding with Todd only, we typically have the rotations be more intuitive than timed as this has worked so well for us in the past.  Of course, this wouldn't be the case during the race but it works great to stay together for the whole ride and also keep a great overall pace.  Plus, Todd is a master at setting up the pace up the steeper hills that it doesn't make sense to not take advantage of this while I offer my contributions elsewhere.  Believe me when I say though, that letting Todd lead up the hill doesn't really make it any easier for me.  His pace usually has me gasping at the top, so to think I could push up and help during the climb would likely only cause us to get separated.

We worked together going up Antonio, and I led us onto the initial climb up Live Oak.  However, once Todd took the front, I told him I would hold him out for the rest, and he was more than agreeable to it.  It was all I could do to stay with him, and when it pitched up near the top, he had gapped me a little only for me to latch back on by the bottom just before the climb to Cooks.

Todd led us up that hill too, but I was better able to stay on his wheel for that climb.  Once we got to the top of the second crest, I took the front to lead us through the canyon.  The problem, however, was that the winds really kicked up once we got in the canyons so the descent was pretty hairy making it dangerous to be wheel-to-wheel.  As Todd gave me space, I'd sit up to let him ride back up to me once the winds settled so I can offer him some wind protection and let him recover more from the climbs.  Todd still pushed up during some point during the descent, but I passed him and asked him to save it for the climbs, which he was agreeable to as well.

We had a pretty good pace going through the canyon, and I was able to find a good rhythm when I would hold the front.  The winds were blowing us all over the road though, so it was quite unnerving to be on the aeros and have the bike shift suddenly due to the heavy gusts.  This did cause us to check up at some places, but better safe than sorry.  Todd led us up Dump to finish up the canyons and I led us down to Jamboree where I believe we were at a ~21 average by then despite the Antonio, Live Oak, Cook's and Dump climbs .  We were definitely on track for a good overall pace for the day.

Since Vince was going to try and meet us at the end of Back Bay to tag along for a bit, our pace would have gotten us there within the two hours from our start time given it was about 40 miles away.  Our route was suppose to take us over Jamboree and then onto the bike trail from Portola.  However, as we got on the bike trail and began descending, we were met with a young lady who was waving her arms to stop us at a coned off section.  It turns out there was some sort of running event going on, which reserved the entire bike trail and required us to go back up and find a different way down to PCH.  I didn't mind telling the volunteer, however, that it would have been nice had they posted a sign at the top of the bike trail to let people know.

With the winds blowing pretty good still and debris all over the road, Todd and I talked about how we wanted to get to Back Bay.  We also decided that going back through the canyons would probably not be the safest thing given all the trouble we had keeping the bikes on the shoulder.  At this point, we opted to take Portola to Portola Springs, head down toward Irvine Boulevard, and ultimately take Alton and Barranca back to the bike trail heading over to BB.  We would consider revising the route further as needed based on mileage, but we would likely find a different way back to the finish bypassing the canyon.

When we were on Alton and Barranca, we seemed to hit just about every stop light, which was incredibly annoying.  We would get a good pace going and then have to stop and start over and over where I kept thinking we'll never make it down to Back Bay on time as a result.  While the plan was to go all the way to the Harvard bike trail opening from Barranca, we had enough stopping and starting and opted to jump on the bike trail at Laguna Canyon instead.  The only thing that would slow us up at that point would be the wet pavement here and there and the occasional pedestrian traffic, but it was definitely better than hitting all the stop lights.

On the bike trail after Jeffrey heading toward BB,  I started having some trouble shifting when I was behind Todd.  I started to drop off as I tried desperately to be able to shift to a taller gear in the back and I called out to Todd, but he couldn't hear me.  Sometimes, the trick was to shift to a shorter gear first on my Vision shifters, and then it would shift down.  This, however, didn't work and finally had me where I was completely crossed up and stuck.  Todd had kept going, but eventually ended up turning around when he realized I wasn't behind him where we met at crossing on Creek Road just where the Del Taco is.  At this point, I knew my ride was done as my shifter just didn't work anymore. It turned out that a spring seemed to have come off, and there would not have been any way to remedy this on the road.  I think it's fortunately that it broke down in Irvine where Lisa was nearby.  I can't imagine what it would have been like if this happened during the race or a training ride out there.  Needless to say, I think it's time for a shifter upgrade.  The Shimano DA shifters are on order.

I think we were at a 21.5/21.6 mph average pace at that point, but it dropped down a tick or two based on the spinning I had to do when crossed up.  In the end, I had to abandon the ride at ~44 miles in.  I felt bad that I couldn't finish with Todd, but Todd's a trooper and got it done without me as expected.   I guess I'll have to settle for the shorter mileage this weekend and let the honey-dos supplement my training regimen instead.  Nice job out there, Todd.  We'll get a good one in next week for sure. 

TTTeam Escort to Las Pulgas En Route to San Diego

Strava:  http://www.strava.com/activities/99338418

I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get a ride in this morning, but opted to ride down to San Diego for my in-laws birthday.  As soon as I got up, I could tell it would be one helluva cold ride this morning feeling the coldness even within the confines of my home.  Stepping out into the garage to gather some things, it really hit me how cold it was and all I kept thinking of was that scene in Dumb & Dumber where they climbed up the mountains on a scooter with snots frozen snots where I wondered if I would look like that upon my arrival.

I had planned to ride down alone, but thankfully Todd and Shannon accommodated and created a route where they could get in some partial miles with me during their century TT trainer today.  They would start in Ladera and swing by my pad and then escort me down to Las Pulgas while we worked on rotations.  Sweet!  It's always more fun to suffer...I mean ride with team mates.

Promptly, Todd and Shannon arrived just in time for a 7 a.m. departure and I did my best to mask how I was freezing my ass off.  I had donned 3 layers on top (long sleeve compression base, hydration pack base, and my jersey) and opted to wear leg warmers rather than my compression pants underneath my bib (way more comfortable for the taint...yay).   Full gloves, shoe covers, and a head cover finished out the ensemble and I was good to go.  Todd and Shannon were also pretty geared up for the weather as well with Shannon even wearing a face cover.  With how my face felt on the first part of the ride, I was definitely wishing I had one too.  While it didn't take long to warm up, my hands stayed pretty frozen for half of the ride.

Working with Todd and Shannon, it was another outing where we once again got to work on our rotations.  I know I was doing my best to be mindful of power output (I'm REALLY becoming a fan of having a Power Tap) where I would try to hold a certain wattage during my pulls, but doing so is a little more difficult given the conditions.  Lack of wind or tail wind, hills, etc., made it hard to keep the group together, so I think I need to get better at figuring this out for sure if we're going to succeed in January.  The irony though is I sometimes think I'm not working hard enough despite the power readings, so this is something I'll have to overcome in the next few weeks.

It was great working with the guys all the way to Las Pulgas, so admittedly I was bummed to think that I was on my own after that.  I was bummed both because I wouldn't get the miles they were getting in plus I wouldn't get to hang with them after.  It's what I live for cycling-wise.

The good thing about being on my own after separating from the others was that I was now forced to work more and not have any more "breaks" within a rotation, which hopefully would keep me warm.  I had brought more fluids than I would normally take to San Diego on my solo rides down because I wanted the weight for the training, but it also came in handy as I had fluids/calories throughout the whole ride and never once even felt like popping.

I kept a pretty good clip as I made my way through North San Diego and had a few riders latch on for a little bit.  I was being very good about monitoring my power output on the way down, which was again...awesome, but as soon as someone latched on, I didn't mind kicking it up a bit just to test out their grit.  Unfortunately, the 3 who did latch on weren't too gritty.  I popped them off both on straights and up hills, so I didn't discriminate.  HA HA.  One guy passed me at one point right after the light going up into downtown Encinitas like he was trying to prove something, so I returned the favor just as soon as we got on the straight by Swamis.  BAM!

I still had a lot of fluids left in my hydration pack, so I took a big swig just before making my way up Mira Mesa Boulevard heading toward my in-laws house.  It sucked that I kept hitting light after light, but despite this was able to achieve PRs over times when I was on a road bike.  After getting through the lights where it flattened out some, I opened it up to let it all go before I arrived at my in-laws, which rendered me two top 10 hardware.  That was fun, but also a little scary as the roads up there definitely had some debris from the rain.

Looking at the other guys Strava, it looks like they had a good route and I hope a good ride too.  Thanks to Todd and Shannon for the "escort" down to Las Pulgas, and I'm already looking forward to the next trainer with them for sure.

Cheers!

FiTT 20K and Sunday TT Trainer with Shannon

Strava:  http://www.strava.com/activities/97690829 (FiTT)

Strava:  http://www.strava.com/activities/98195599 (TT Trainer with Shannon)

It was a surprise to wake up on Friday and see rain drops on our cars since the last forecast beforehand was 0% chance.  Lisa came with me to the race and was also surprised to see the rain start falling just before we were getting ready to go.  We chanced it anyway, and fortunately it ended up just holding off raining until just after the racing stopped.  The grounds were a little wet here and there, which made the race somewhat interesting, but I never really felt it was dangerous.

It was a tough race this time around where it was difficult to achieve the same speeds as the last time out.   There was some winds out there that was just really tough to cut through.  The last half of the course was fast the last time out, but this time it was hard to keep up the pace on it.  I was expecting it and thought I could push through on the first part of the course expecting the second half to be faster, so I was thrown off my pace after the first lap and struggled through the next two.  I had to keep reminding myself I was racing and just pushed on every bit I could, but by the end, my time was higher and thus had a lower average speed.  Ironically, my power output was higher, so it was that kind of day.

I ended up having the 7th best time overall, but I joined the 45+ class this time around where 3 of them got top 5 knocking me off for a podium spot.  Had I stuck to Cat4/5, I would have gotten 2nd.  That's what I get for jumping around in classes.  I'm happy with the outcome though since everyone else who raced was indicating that they had difficulty out there too.   Here are a couple pics:

Today's trainer was just Shannon and me and the plan was to do a hundred miles.  Shannon came up with the route and after I mapped it out, we altered it slightly since it came up short.  We thought we'd get a full 100, but in the end it came up to just 95 miles...95 miles of torturous misery.

I'm thankful Shannon was patient with me in the beginning because I just couldn't get any real rhythm down.  I was pretty much all over the place in terms of power, and I even ended up blowing myself up a little after one of the early climbs out of Mission Viejo.  It was ugly.  Shannon definitely managed his output better than me, but I finally found my tempo some time after Laguna Beach.  Up to that point though, I had recurring thoughts of just wanting to turn around and go home. 

We had a really good pace heading out to Long Beach and back toward SART.  No one would even latch on due to our pace, and we were even passing guys on TT bikes. 

When we got on SART, that's when things got ugly.  There was a solid headwind the WHOLE way up and it literally beat us down where we just couldn't wait to get off of it.  Carrying speeds over 20 was work, but we did what we could working together running 2 minute intervals as we had been doing all day. 

Getting on Taft, we expected the winds to let up, but they never really did.  In fact, even going through the canyon was a bear and if Shannon didn't thankfully wait for me after Dump where I couldn't hold his pace and dropped off, it would have been painful working the canyons alone.   We stayed together the rest of the way, and was just hauling ass after Cook's wanting to get back and be done.  We were both on the verge of cramping by the end, but we both just made it back to our cars without doing so. 

95 miles at a 21.8 mph pace for two guys in that wind...legit.  Definitely worthy of the Oggi's nourishment we sought after.  It was a tough day on the saddle but definitely one we hope to benefit from as we lead up to the race.  Shannon and I don't know of any other group who's training like this for the race, so it'll be interesting to see how we measure up in January.  Personally, I think we're gonna rock it. 

Thanks for inviting me out and for all the work, Shannon!