Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/112487539
As a parent, it concerns me to see younger parents believing that being overprotective of their child(ren) is a token of love. Additionally, I see them giving them whatever their little hearts desire in the absence of making them feel a sense of earning it. What's that about? In my opinion, children who grow up in this environment will likely have a distorted perception of reality and not be able to cope with the trials and tribulations that life has to offer. Strength comes from being able to endure them, pick ourselves back up when we fall, and be able to continue on prepared for life's next struggle. Wouldn't preparing them for that really be more of a true token of love? I think so.
So what the hell does that have to do with cycling you ask? Well, today I came out half expecting that there will be a smallish crew out riding where the more "aggressive" riders would probably come out tomorrow or Thursday. I thought that after racing yesterday, I'd be able to take it easier and not have to push so hard. Imagine my surprise when I saw Vince, Todd and Galen in the locker room while I was getting ready. Vince saw Mitchell too, but Mitchell rode away with his bag either because he forgot something or he didn't want any part of the madness that was to follow. Unfortunately for us, Galen found a mechanical and didn't get to participate in the ride. With Vince and Todd coming out though, I knew they wouldn't "coddle" me. Instead, I expected that they were going to try and beat me up at every opportunity and look to drop me if possible. Of course, the feeling was mutual. While this may read like more BAM behavior, the reality is by doing this, I think the guys are helping me prepare better for the racing I'm going to be doing. In return, I'm hoping to push them harder, so that 1) they'll want to come out and race with me and 2) they'll push me even more and we all get stronger together. While you may take that as aggro, I consider it more of a true token of cycling love since they're not doing me any favors taking it easy on me. Now do you get it?
When we saw no one else was joining us, we took off and I wasn't going to hold anything back knowing I can only benefit from helping to push the pace. It was great to see Todd and Vince all in on this as well. Todd even tried to break away as early as Anteater, so I could tell it was going to be good.
When we got to the top of Shady as it descended toward Sunnyhill, Vince and I had a slight gap on Todd and we were trying to keep him off as we made our way to Turtle Rock. Todd wasn't having any of it though and latched back on and jumped back in the rotation as we made our way around.
On the climb after Campus, Vince took off a little bit but Todd slowly reeled him in with me in tow. I thought to push up and rotate but Todd had a good pace going up as it was (yeah that's it), so I stayed behind him until after we passed Starcrest. Once we started nearing the stop sign, I accelerated by knowing he wasn't just going to sit there and we both blew it out as we worked toward the stop sign. I gave in just before with Todd sprinting all the way to the end, but you can tell he was feeling it after. When I passed (knowing Vince wouldn't be far behind and not be very tolerant of any lolligagging after a sprint), I kept going hoping to keep a gap, but the two behind me weren't too far behind and managed to latch back on by Sunnyhill again.
This madness continued as we climbed up the bike trail on Shady and I thought I had a pretty decent gap on them by the time we hit the 2nd bridge. They reeled me back in again, with Todd on the way up. He wasn't slowing down either, so Vince and I just latched on and made sure to keep him honest all the way up.
We didn't change orders as we made our way to the bike trail, but I was thinking about what I wanted to do there. After the blind turn, I waited a little as Vince made his way onto my rear wheel and then came around to take the front wondering if anyone was going to contest for a sprint. I was trying to see what I would have if they did, but I think I blew myself up trying to keep the pace up enough where I was glad no one did. Todd did pass just as we were going under the bridge, but just chuckled and said "nice sprint." What he didn't know was I almost couldn't latch on to them after they passed. My right calf was starting to hint of cramping, so I drank some water (thanks to Galen for loaning me his bottle since I forgot mine) and pushed on.
Todd led us up Ridgeline at a pretty good clip, but it's always hard to say if he's pulling back some or not. When we hit the first section that pitched up, I stood up and tried to take full advantage of his generous pull. I was able to gap him a little bit, but he was back on my rear wheel on the following false flat. When we hit the 2nd steep section, I stood up again and hoped to regap him but I had dropped to shorter gear to do so. When I looked over my right shoulder to see where he was, he started passing on my left where all I could do as he did was mutter some profanity. It was mostly directed at myself for not being able to react...mostly.
Vince had called out wingman duties at the base of the climb, and sure enough helped pick me up near the top to lead us down Turtle Rock to reel Todd back in again. Todd had looked back at one point believing he had a pretty sizeable gap, but was surprised to see us back on his rear wheel before the turn to Campus. I took a little push to close the small gap Vince had left, but that pretty much had me feeling it now on both calves.
Climbing up Culver was all Todd, and both Vince and I just hung on for the length of the climb. I would have taken over if Todd had lost any momentum, but he was pretty consistent all the way up. I was glad.
When we got to Bonita Canyon, it was more rotations where Vince had taken a pretty strong one that led us all the way over to the 73 underpass. Todd took over after, and I took a turn up the climb, but I definitely overcommitted at that time resulting in me passing up my next rotation hoping that my calves won't fully lock up.
The little reprieve had me off the back, but I was able to stay close enough where I was hoping to just give it everything I had for a final sprint on Bison. Of course they knew it was coming since they kept looking to see where I was as they headed toward the 73. Once I saw the light was green on both and they were going, I dropped it like it's hot and almost closed in on Todd's rear wheel with Vince having taken off just beforehand. That's when BOTH calves fully locked up where I could barely rotate the crank and just had to stand up until they released. Despite the pain, I have to say I really appreciate being taken to this point as it will only help me later on.
Todd asked if I thought the crits weren't as hard given my legs didn't behave the same way for them. I'm sure my calves would have been fine had I NOT raced just yesterday...twice at that..., but I don't really think there's any way to really compare them. I suggest, as Shannon had before, to come out, Mr. Jacobs, and see for yourself. This extends to Vince, Galen and whoever else wants to get in on some of this. Then we can go out there and show the other teams just how much we love them.
As a parent, it concerns me to see younger parents believing that being overprotective of their child(ren) is a token of love. Additionally, I see them giving them whatever their little hearts desire in the absence of making them feel a sense of earning it. What's that about? In my opinion, children who grow up in this environment will likely have a distorted perception of reality and not be able to cope with the trials and tribulations that life has to offer. Strength comes from being able to endure them, pick ourselves back up when we fall, and be able to continue on prepared for life's next struggle. Wouldn't preparing them for that really be more of a true token of love? I think so.
So what the hell does that have to do with cycling you ask? Well, today I came out half expecting that there will be a smallish crew out riding where the more "aggressive" riders would probably come out tomorrow or Thursday. I thought that after racing yesterday, I'd be able to take it easier and not have to push so hard. Imagine my surprise when I saw Vince, Todd and Galen in the locker room while I was getting ready. Vince saw Mitchell too, but Mitchell rode away with his bag either because he forgot something or he didn't want any part of the madness that was to follow. Unfortunately for us, Galen found a mechanical and didn't get to participate in the ride. With Vince and Todd coming out though, I knew they wouldn't "coddle" me. Instead, I expected that they were going to try and beat me up at every opportunity and look to drop me if possible. Of course, the feeling was mutual. While this may read like more BAM behavior, the reality is by doing this, I think the guys are helping me prepare better for the racing I'm going to be doing. In return, I'm hoping to push them harder, so that 1) they'll want to come out and race with me and 2) they'll push me even more and we all get stronger together. While you may take that as aggro, I consider it more of a true token of cycling love since they're not doing me any favors taking it easy on me. Now do you get it?
When we saw no one else was joining us, we took off and I wasn't going to hold anything back knowing I can only benefit from helping to push the pace. It was great to see Todd and Vince all in on this as well. Todd even tried to break away as early as Anteater, so I could tell it was going to be good.
When we got to the top of Shady as it descended toward Sunnyhill, Vince and I had a slight gap on Todd and we were trying to keep him off as we made our way to Turtle Rock. Todd wasn't having any of it though and latched back on and jumped back in the rotation as we made our way around.
On the climb after Campus, Vince took off a little bit but Todd slowly reeled him in with me in tow. I thought to push up and rotate but Todd had a good pace going up as it was (yeah that's it), so I stayed behind him until after we passed Starcrest. Once we started nearing the stop sign, I accelerated by knowing he wasn't just going to sit there and we both blew it out as we worked toward the stop sign. I gave in just before with Todd sprinting all the way to the end, but you can tell he was feeling it after. When I passed (knowing Vince wouldn't be far behind and not be very tolerant of any lolligagging after a sprint), I kept going hoping to keep a gap, but the two behind me weren't too far behind and managed to latch back on by Sunnyhill again.
This madness continued as we climbed up the bike trail on Shady and I thought I had a pretty decent gap on them by the time we hit the 2nd bridge. They reeled me back in again, with Todd on the way up. He wasn't slowing down either, so Vince and I just latched on and made sure to keep him honest all the way up.
We didn't change orders as we made our way to the bike trail, but I was thinking about what I wanted to do there. After the blind turn, I waited a little as Vince made his way onto my rear wheel and then came around to take the front wondering if anyone was going to contest for a sprint. I was trying to see what I would have if they did, but I think I blew myself up trying to keep the pace up enough where I was glad no one did. Todd did pass just as we were going under the bridge, but just chuckled and said "nice sprint." What he didn't know was I almost couldn't latch on to them after they passed. My right calf was starting to hint of cramping, so I drank some water (thanks to Galen for loaning me his bottle since I forgot mine) and pushed on.
Todd led us up Ridgeline at a pretty good clip, but it's always hard to say if he's pulling back some or not. When we hit the first section that pitched up, I stood up and tried to take full advantage of his generous pull. I was able to gap him a little bit, but he was back on my rear wheel on the following false flat. When we hit the 2nd steep section, I stood up again and hoped to regap him but I had dropped to shorter gear to do so. When I looked over my right shoulder to see where he was, he started passing on my left where all I could do as he did was mutter some profanity. It was mostly directed at myself for not being able to react...mostly.
Vince had called out wingman duties at the base of the climb, and sure enough helped pick me up near the top to lead us down Turtle Rock to reel Todd back in again. Todd had looked back at one point believing he had a pretty sizeable gap, but was surprised to see us back on his rear wheel before the turn to Campus. I took a little push to close the small gap Vince had left, but that pretty much had me feeling it now on both calves.
Climbing up Culver was all Todd, and both Vince and I just hung on for the length of the climb. I would have taken over if Todd had lost any momentum, but he was pretty consistent all the way up. I was glad.
When we got to Bonita Canyon, it was more rotations where Vince had taken a pretty strong one that led us all the way over to the 73 underpass. Todd took over after, and I took a turn up the climb, but I definitely overcommitted at that time resulting in me passing up my next rotation hoping that my calves won't fully lock up.
The little reprieve had me off the back, but I was able to stay close enough where I was hoping to just give it everything I had for a final sprint on Bison. Of course they knew it was coming since they kept looking to see where I was as they headed toward the 73. Once I saw the light was green on both and they were going, I dropped it like it's hot and almost closed in on Todd's rear wheel with Vince having taken off just beforehand. That's when BOTH calves fully locked up where I could barely rotate the crank and just had to stand up until they released. Despite the pain, I have to say I really appreciate being taken to this point as it will only help me later on.
Todd asked if I thought the crits weren't as hard given my legs didn't behave the same way for them. I'm sure my calves would have been fine had I NOT raced just yesterday...twice at that..., but I don't really think there's any way to really compare them. I suggest, as Shannon had before, to come out, Mr. Jacobs, and see for yourself. This extends to Vince, Galen and whoever else wants to get in on some of this. Then we can go out there and show the other teams just how much we love them.
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