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.
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.
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