Strava: http://www.strava.com/activities/106827703
Attendees: Todd, Vince, Noah, Mitchell, Vin, Hiroshi, Peter, David and Jaffe
With the Stagecoach this weekend, I decided it would be a good time to have a "taper" ride and called out a jersey day asking people to come out to show their support for the team. We actually had a pretty good sized outing with Peter, David and even Noah (yes, Noah) coming out to join us and give a proper send off to what will likely be 4.5 hours of nut busting suffering this Saturday. Everyone was also wearing Team BRCM gear, so riding with everyone representing was definitely a beautiful thing.
As I mentioned above, I had asked for a taper pace, which was supposed to be moderate and with everyone being able to keep up. However, something about drawing larger numbers tend to get some people a little "excited," for lack of a better word, so it was probably still a little quicker than I would have preferred. Nonetheless, the pace was actually based on just about everyone rotating to the front and taking a turn, so all I would do when rolling up was hold it. Now it wasn't the prettiest paceline when heading out through Back Bay, and by pretty I mean efficient, but it was effective to keep us all together to the end and up to PCH.
On PCH, I noticed David was off, but Peter confirmed that he was doing his own thing after Back Bay since he had to get back early. The pace was actually pretty hot on PCH leading toward Avocado, where I dropped back to ensure I provided Peter with some wind coverage to keep him/us close to the group. What happened to the moderate pace, people? HA
Making our way to Ocean, we had to take a detour due to a road closure, which took us over a bridge that bypassed the little kicker hill that would tend to rile the BAMmers. Cool. Even as we're making our way toward Poppy and PCH, it was still a pretty good clip we were moving, so I guess so much for enjoying the "scenery."
When about to get back on PCH, we got caught at the light and I was actually surprised people waited. There was still a little accordion effect after we did get going, so I had to tempo up a little more gradually to keep Peter in the draft. There was definitely some separation between us and the rest of the guys, but it wasn't too much where we still got to make it to NPC together.
Starting up NPC was a little hairy due to some cross traffic with a cyclist running a red as he proceeded straight while we had the light to cross. The funny thing is he yelled at us for getting in front of him. Todd, Noah, Mitchell and Vince got going first while I decided to get some off-the-seat action on my road bike that I haven't ridden in probably almost 1.5 months. Boy, I missed my Cervelo. At the top, Todd had gotten there first (so much for taper) to regroup. We couldn't see Peter anywhere down the hill after the majority arrived, so we took off. Noah got his usually headstart down the hill, and Vince followed also not wanting the rest time announcing that he's not in taper mode. The rest of us followed shortly. Vince was not to be seen anymore after that.
I had chosen that time to get a little more intimate with my Cervelo, so I just managed my pace and enjoyed the bike on the descent and subsequently on Bonita Canyon as well. I was behind everyone on Bonita Canyon, but I was fortunate enough to catch everyone at the light on McArthur. When we got going, I decided to take the front to keep it interesting, but NOW no one was interested in latching on. However, when we got to the bottom of the Condo, I was certain the plan was to go straight. I was corrected by Hiroshi, who was the one who planned the tail end of the ride from the corner, that we were suppose to go up the Condo over to University. From the confusion, we all stalled out at the corner and basically had to stop to discuss the finale. When we finally decided to go up the Condo, Todd tried to shift gears from a stand still which didn't play out to his advantage. He ended up rolling over to his side onto the group but keeping his bike from obtaining any damage whatsoever. While it must have looked funny to anyone observing from their cars, what they probably wouldn't realize was the Velominati rules dictate that it's all about the bike and keeping it from getting damaged is the priority. Of course, after he brushed himself off and we got going again, I couldn't help but warn him of the next time we were coming to a stop by calling it out...loud.
Hiroshi had taken off up the hill ahead of us despite Todd being on the road near death and got to the top first Cantador-style. Oh the things we do for a KOM....
We all rolled over to California together where during the ascent, Noah was exhibiting more of his climbing prowess as he did up NPC and led the group all the way to the top. Kudos.
It was a warm one out there for sure, but the company and the support definitely made up for it. Now I just have to look forward to Saturday and representing for this good group of guys. Thanks everyone for coming out!
Attendees: Todd, Vince, Noah, Mitchell, Vin, Hiroshi, Peter, David and Jaffe
With the Stagecoach this weekend, I decided it would be a good time to have a "taper" ride and called out a jersey day asking people to come out to show their support for the team. We actually had a pretty good sized outing with Peter, David and even Noah (yes, Noah) coming out to join us and give a proper send off to what will likely be 4.5 hours of nut busting suffering this Saturday. Everyone was also wearing Team BRCM gear, so riding with everyone representing was definitely a beautiful thing.
As I mentioned above, I had asked for a taper pace, which was supposed to be moderate and with everyone being able to keep up. However, something about drawing larger numbers tend to get some people a little "excited," for lack of a better word, so it was probably still a little quicker than I would have preferred. Nonetheless, the pace was actually based on just about everyone rotating to the front and taking a turn, so all I would do when rolling up was hold it. Now it wasn't the prettiest paceline when heading out through Back Bay, and by pretty I mean efficient, but it was effective to keep us all together to the end and up to PCH.
On PCH, I noticed David was off, but Peter confirmed that he was doing his own thing after Back Bay since he had to get back early. The pace was actually pretty hot on PCH leading toward Avocado, where I dropped back to ensure I provided Peter with some wind coverage to keep him/us close to the group. What happened to the moderate pace, people? HA
Making our way to Ocean, we had to take a detour due to a road closure, which took us over a bridge that bypassed the little kicker hill that would tend to rile the BAMmers. Cool. Even as we're making our way toward Poppy and PCH, it was still a pretty good clip we were moving, so I guess so much for enjoying the "scenery."
When about to get back on PCH, we got caught at the light and I was actually surprised people waited. There was still a little accordion effect after we did get going, so I had to tempo up a little more gradually to keep Peter in the draft. There was definitely some separation between us and the rest of the guys, but it wasn't too much where we still got to make it to NPC together.
Starting up NPC was a little hairy due to some cross traffic with a cyclist running a red as he proceeded straight while we had the light to cross. The funny thing is he yelled at us for getting in front of him. Todd, Noah, Mitchell and Vince got going first while I decided to get some off-the-seat action on my road bike that I haven't ridden in probably almost 1.5 months. Boy, I missed my Cervelo. At the top, Todd had gotten there first (so much for taper) to regroup. We couldn't see Peter anywhere down the hill after the majority arrived, so we took off. Noah got his usually headstart down the hill, and Vince followed also not wanting the rest time announcing that he's not in taper mode. The rest of us followed shortly. Vince was not to be seen anymore after that.
I had chosen that time to get a little more intimate with my Cervelo, so I just managed my pace and enjoyed the bike on the descent and subsequently on Bonita Canyon as well. I was behind everyone on Bonita Canyon, but I was fortunate enough to catch everyone at the light on McArthur. When we got going, I decided to take the front to keep it interesting, but NOW no one was interested in latching on. However, when we got to the bottom of the Condo, I was certain the plan was to go straight. I was corrected by Hiroshi, who was the one who planned the tail end of the ride from the corner, that we were suppose to go up the Condo over to University. From the confusion, we all stalled out at the corner and basically had to stop to discuss the finale. When we finally decided to go up the Condo, Todd tried to shift gears from a stand still which didn't play out to his advantage. He ended up rolling over to his side onto the group but keeping his bike from obtaining any damage whatsoever. While it must have looked funny to anyone observing from their cars, what they probably wouldn't realize was the Velominati rules dictate that it's all about the bike and keeping it from getting damaged is the priority. Of course, after he brushed himself off and we got going again, I couldn't help but warn him of the next time we were coming to a stop by calling it out...loud.
Hiroshi had taken off up the hill ahead of us despite Todd being on the road near death and got to the top first Cantador-style. Oh the things we do for a KOM....
We all rolled over to California together where during the ascent, Noah was exhibiting more of his climbing prowess as he did up NPC and led the group all the way to the top. Kudos.
It was a warm one out there for sure, but the company and the support definitely made up for it. Now I just have to look forward to Saturday and representing for this good group of guys. Thanks everyone for coming out!
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