Great Park Time Trial and Criterium - Are We Crazy?

Strava: 
http://www.strava.com/activities/124532543 (Time Trial)
 http://www.strava.com/activities/124532541 (crit)

First of all, let me just say that I LOVE racing for team Broadcom with Todd and Shannon.  Maybe that's the beer talking, but seriously, it's probably about the most fun one can have on a weekday that's for sure.   Okay, so maybe I can say fun after the races, but the experiences are definitely memorable.

For today's challenge, the plan was to do the time trial first followed right after with the criterium race.  I think the 3 of us had our reservations about doing both considering how challenging we expected it to be, but we all decided last night that we were all in.  The worst case scenario still meant we would get an awesome workout, so what do we have to lose, right? 

The crazy part about doing both races is that Shannon did El Dorado on Tuesday to boot, and on top of that got 5th place being a part of a breakaway on the very first lap.  Sick!   Despite this, he didn't even hesitate about doing both races today.  Todd was visibly worried about doing both when I saw him on Tuesday, but he, too, was all in soon enough as well.  When you race with two guys with this much intestinal fortitude, there's absolutely no reason for me to not do the same.  I live to race with this team, so these guys definitely motivate me to do what most would probably consider unthinkable.

When we arrived at Great Park, there was a lull with regard to the wind, but it would come and go throughout.  We all had wheel covers on for the TT race, so we wondered if we were going to be blown around the course.  Fortunately, the cross winds weren't too bad, so the wheel covers didn't end up being too scary.  

For the time trial, I started behind Todd and Shannon started some time after me.   Being the first time trial of the GP season, all I could do was try to pay attention to my power output to help manage my race so that's exactly what I did.  We all agreed after that it was pretty horrible racing in the windy conditions, but we still got it done.  In the end, we had a good run where Todd got first and I got 3rd for our class.  It really helped to have course familiarity on the TT, so that definitely played to our advantage.  I think for the first time, I was actually able to pedal through each corner at speed.  I don't think I did that on my TT runs last year.  Although I got 3rd, Shannon mentioned how I got beat out by #2 by only half a second.  Does that suck or what?  Todd got me by 5 seconds, so I'm definitely pleased with that given he was last year's champ.  We'll only get faster moving forward, so receiving top honors again this season is definitely within our grasp. 

Finish line pics:

After finishing the TT, we all had to get ready for the crit, which inclued having to transfer the timing chip from one bike to another.  Todd also took the opportunity to change from his skinsuit to a kit, so he represented BRCM black while Shannon and I continued to rep white carrying over from the TT.

For the crit, it didn't seem as full as it was last week, but there were still a good number of racers out there.  Before the race, I talked briefly with Shannon about strategy, but given we just finished racing TT, it seemed more important just to hang on and not get dropped. 

Chillin' before the crit

One of the cool things they did today was let the Cat 4/5 class go first unlike the last 2 races where we followed the Cat 123 and masters.  One good thing about this was how we didn't have to go into neutral one time.  At the end of the race,  we were all still able to average in the high 25s.

We didn't stick together as much as we had in previous races, but we were all doing what we could to represent out there.  Shannon was pushing the pace early, and all I could do was watch from within the peloton and hope that I can find an opening and make my way up to him.  When I finally found an opening, I was able to push up and ultimately start working closer to the front.  I think I managed to neutralize or help neutralize a couple breakaway attempts by closing the gap, and on one breakaway, I actually joined where 5 of us were able to hold the break from the peloton for a good distance.  I was wondering if the other guys would be able to push up and join, but I was thinking maybe they were blocking to let us get away. 

In the end, we couldn't hold the break and ended up getting pulled back into the peloton by the last lap.  Todd went for it on the 2nd to the last lap on the front stretch thinking it was the final lap, so I tried to jump on and join him thinking he was trying to breakaway.  He ended up checking up and we all got pulled back into the peloton hoping we could give the final sprint a go. 

As we tried to set up for the final sprint, I was closest to the front and hoping I can get some good momentum on the last 2 turns.  However, in the final stretch, I just didn't have the legs where I definitely didn't hit the same speed as I did last week.  I couldn't tell who was behind me, but I probably lead someone out since I just couldn't snap coming out of the last turn.  I'm not sure what our placement was, but I don't think we hit top 10.   They should give points for those who did the TT beforehand though, for if they had we definitely would have taken the race. 

Todd going for it...one lap early (oops!)

Shannon and I on the actual final sprint

There were still a couple crashes in our group, and one that happened just in front of me...again.  The guy was making a turn on the back half of the course and just tucked his front wheel without any contact from any other rider.  Seriously...what is that?  I was lucky to be able to take a tighter inside line and it actually helped to let me join the following breakaway after, but still.  Another crash happened with another guy who I was actually riding with on one of the breakaways, but he checked up when he felt the peloton was upon us while I kept going with someone else.  Unfortunately for him, someone crashed in front of him taking him out in the process.  At the end of the day, finishing both races with the 3 of us unscatched was definitely worth celebrating after.  And celebrate we did....

Lisa had come out to take picture, but couldn't stay for the post race festivities.  Pam was there too, and she sat with us until it got too cold.  Shannon, Todd and I closed the place down again.  Todd got it right when he said that it's the hanging out after the race that's the most fun.  It sure is.

Great racing tonight, gents!  Go team BRCM!   The rest of the pictures can be seen here:  http://s13.photobucket.com/user/rlaureano/library/GP%203-27-14. 

Team Gorilla Ride

Strava:  http://www.strava.com/activities/123118699

Since Adrian is a regular fixture during our lunch rides and had come out and represented team BRCM both in century outings as well as in some local crits, it only seemed appropriate to have a team ride in his honor now that he's moved on to another company.  We had a good representation of the team coming out with Shannon, Todd, Mitchell, Noah, Vin, Hiroshi, Adrian (of course) and Gary (partial) donning BRCM black.   Vince and Jeremy came out for the post-ride festivities at Casa Ranchero, so it was a great turnout for sure.

The plan was to meet at the restaurant and start at around 8 a.m. and head down to the base McDonald's and back.  Shannon was already there when I arrived, and everyone else started to come in slowly one by one.  We were a little worried that Adrian wasn't going to make it, but he arrived just a little before 8 fashionably late taking this honor away from Vin.  Fortunately, it didn't take too long for him to get ready and about 10 after, we were all ready to go.

BRCM Men in Black

We started out together in a mellow pace, but Hiroshi seemed to be preparing for his half Ironman next week and immediately gapped everyone on his TT bike.  He was well broken away by the time we reached the descent on Antonio Parkway where Vin flatted half way down.  We were only 2.5 miles away and not even warmed up yet, but I suppose flatting early is better than flatting later on in the day.  After an usually long time to take a flat, we were off again.

We cut through my neighborhood hoping to find Hiroshi, but he was nowhere to be seen.  We even went by my house to check and make sure he wasn't there, so we just hoped to find him along the way.  Fortunately, he heard us mention how Doheny was supposed to be our first stop for a bio break (although some took liberties during the flat fix).  Just before we were going to cross the bridge to go across the wash and head down to the Doheny, he had called and confirmed he was there waiting for us. 

We managed a very controlled pace heading down to the beach, which continued on after two more stops (one at Doheny and the other at the adjacent campground since the restroom at Doheny was closed).  Even as we started off from the 2nd stop, we still kept a pretty comfortable pace as we got back on PCH heading toward San Clemente.  It did pick up a little as there were others on the bike trail who had latched on and riling up those up front, but it wasn't a manic pace by any means. 

I was hanging with Shannon who seemed to be taking it easy for the most part and hanging back, but he started picking it up and making the group work once we got on the road running parallel to the 5 freeway.  I stayed in the back to keep it from being too much like a lunch ride since it was supposed to be a team ride where no one drops and rides alone.  There was definitely enough people working in the group, so no need to ruin the dynamics that at the end of the day kept us together throughout.

Since we were moving at a pretty good clip heading down despite the winds, it didn't take long before we were all at the base checking in with the guard to let us through.  This, however, led to another break just inside the base where people were fueling up.  Shannon had come into the base but must have realized he couldn't continue further due to time constraints and ended up turning around at this point to head back after saying his goodbyes. 

Todd and Hiroshi had taken off ahead of the rest of us, so we had to pick up the pace right away to get back up to them.  When we caught up to them, Hiroshi, Mitchell, Adrian and Vin decided to keep the pace up and rode up ahead while Todd, Noah and I chatted and stayed together.  We arrived just behind the others at McDonald's where we took another break. 

Looking at the time, I realized we were pretty far behind as far as to be able to meet up with Gary, who was going to intercept us in San Clemente around 10:30 a.m.  It was already almost 10:30 and we were still 20 miles out.  To add to this, when we finally got going again, we actually had to stop before the Stuart Mesa climb since Adrian had forgotten his gloves and went back to get them.  As we sat there waiting for him though, we saw some other riders on the other side including a female on a TT bike wearing a low neckline jersey saying hello to us.  Now Mitchell is a fairly quiet person unless you ask him about bike parts, but we saw another side of him at that point.  His excitement in talking about what he just saw was definitely unexpected but rather humorous.  Who'd have thought?

After waiting for Adrian  to come back, he goes by without stopping to get a headstart up the hill.  I was hoping he would make it to the top since that would probably make the ride most memorable for him.  However, I think he got passed before the top.   Let's just pretend he didn't though as I'm sure that's how it was conveyed to his wife, Karye. 

We had expected to have a tailwind on the way back, but that just didn't happen.  In fact, there seemed to be more headwind in some spots.  While we didn't stay tight on the way back, we were all still fairly close together and managed to regroup again just after the fence at Las Pulgas.

We headed up toward San Onofre state beach together, and the group rotated to keep the pace up despite the winds.   I did see Todd getting held out a lot and Hiroshi also doing some work on his TT bike, but they didn't seem to mind.  I like the section just after the state beach opening, so I took the front to do some work.  We picked up a couple guys who jumped in behind us where one seemed to try and take off up the final climb just before Trestles.  I didn't know if he was going to pass Vin who had taken off, so I took off to make sure he didn't think he got the better of team BRCM.  Not on my watch, son.  

It was pretty hairy as we made our way through San Clemente, and of course Gary was long gone by this time.  We were all over the road and I warned people how the folks who drive around there aren't the friendliest.  Sure enough, there were a couple incidents as we made our way through there with the last one being where a truck wanted to make a right turn in front of us at Pico.  Fortunately, we made it through unscathed.

We kept going and made our way to the bike path heading up to San Juan Capistrano, and there were a lot of people on the path given the Swallows day parade.  However, we kept it safe and didn't race through it and continued to do so as we rode through my neighborhood back onto Ortega Highway. 

On the base of Antonio, Todd had stopped to call Pam to let her know we were close so she can meet us.  The rest of us continued on and started the climb up.  I was hungry at that point, so I picked it up on the climb and made my way past Adrian (who was complaining about cramping at that point despite starting Shotbloks at the start of the ride) and up to the others who I rode up to the finish with.  We saw Gary in the parking lot, and Todd, Noah and Adrian followed shortly.   We chuckled how Todd was still able to reel Adrian in on the hill despite the phone call. 

It was a fun ride, but more importantly, the post ride festivities was even more fun.  Leslie, Pam, Karye (with Troy and Kai), and Lisa (with my oldest daughter and her boyfriend) came also to hang out, and Jeremy came with Nicole while Vince had daddy duties bringing Gage along with him for everyone to share.    Thanks to everyone who made it out and made it a special team event, and good luck to Adrian at his new job.  Hopefully, we gave him enough reason to come out and join us again for some future rides/races/lunch rides.  Cheers!

GP Race 2 with Shannon and GTJ - More People, Shorter Course...Yikes!

Strava:  http://www.strava.com/activities/122525944

Today while at work, I walked out to my car to get something and on the way out, I tripped.  On the way back, I tripped again.  I chuckled after and thought to myself, premonition?  Hmmm....

Today, Todd came out to join Shannon and I, so it was good to have a team of 3.  It still didn't compare to the numbers of some other teams out there, but it was definitely better than than 2 or solo.  Todd did have his older Madone, which he hadn't ridden for a while and was not setup as aggressively as his new bike, but it was Todd so nuff said.  Shannon wasn't sure he was going to make it out after last week's races feeling he may have overdid it, but he was at El Dorado again on Tuesday and back out with us tonight.  These guys definitely epitomize BAM I thought to myself.  Boy, I hope I can measure up. 

When we arrived, the winds were howling and it was a little intimidating to think of racing through that wind, but it would die down as the night progressed, but come back again here and there.  It seemed to be more significant on the tail end of the course, so we figured we'd have to overcome it for the final sprint.

Speaking of course, it was not the same as last week as they had it set up for their "short course."  We wondered how that change would play out given we share it with the other groups, but surprisingly didn't have groups bunching up as much as we anticipated.  There were some passes between groups, but the time in neutral was far less significant.   The nice part about the course was that the last two turns were the same direction meaning it would be easier and likely faster to setup for the desired position (inside or outside) going into the last turn.

The bigger concern was how many came out for the race today.  It definitely seemed to be more than last week, so we decided to play it a little more conservatively just before the race.  There was no point in being used as mules only to get popped off subsequently, so we were pretty much all on board with this.

The race started off a little late, so we didn't get to take off until just before 6 PM.  We were all together at the start toward the middle of the pack, but the pack was definitely dense where we kept mostly off to the side where it was easier to stay together.  Being on the inside would make it hard to stay together, so we endured less coverage in exchange for staying together and better maneuverability.   We did get split up on occasion, one where I saw Todd either trying to breakaway or close a gap, but we would still be able to find one another again after.  It was cool. 

Going through the course with this group size, it was quite intimidating going through the turns as there were moments where you were literally elbow to elbow with others.  You could only hope that every holds their line.  Ironically, it was just outside the last turn of one of the earlier laps that two people got tied up and ended up going down just in front of us.  Shannon was just ahead of me to my right, so he was successfully able to negotiate and avoid the crash.  Unfortunately, I wasn't as lucky.  I ended up locking my rear brakes trying to stop and avoid it but it was pretty much right in front of me.  I almost managed to stop in time, but the next thing you know, I was right on top of the guy who was spread out sideways on the course.   I, too, ended up going down as a result, but it wasn't as bad as before.  I did get some cuts on my arm and leg (the opposite leg this time), but I looked at my bike and thought I should get up and keep racing.   After pulling it off of the guy's bike I rolled over and helping that guy up (I think I know him from Strava), I got back on and raced to the organizer to see if he'd let me cross the course and re-join the pack.  He got my number and gave me the okay, so I cut in to the next path to get across the track and started sprinting hoping I could reach them on the other side.  I saw a group crossing ahead of me and wasn't sure if it was my group or another, but once I recognized one of the riders, I picked it up even more and barely managed to latch back on.  Todd was back there too since he had to slow a lot to avoid the crash, so I stayed with him for a while. 

We started moving up the pack again and saw Shannon up there too.  After I recovered a little more, I noticed there was a break group ahead of us and that there were some people looking like they were blocking for them.  When one of them took off to chase the breakaway, I chased after him to close the gap.  He kept looking back and checking to see if I would push up, but 1) I was tired from chasing him down, 2) I figured I would get taken advantage of and dropped later, and 3) I crashed earlier already where I just didn't want to.   He called me out on it by asking why I didn't want to work, but I just didn't have time to go through my checklist above. 

The course was rather short, so as we neared the end, I couldn't really tell who we were reeling in vs. who were lapping.  I did end up pushing up to the front of the chase group on the 2nd to the last lap, but I got overtaken on the back side as people started amping in preparation for the final one.  I saw Shannon getting in position, so I tried to work my way over to him.  I think Todd was just behind me somewhere, but looking back was too difficult where I couldn't know for sure.

As we going down the back stretch of the final lap, we were pushing up more and more in the chase group, but I got disconnected from Shannon just before the 2nd to the last turn.   I was hoping we could be together to slingshot one another for the final sprint.  He made the final turn a little ahead of me and on the outside, but I was more in the middle making the slingshot idea moot.  I just dropped down going into that last turn and took off.  I was able to pass several people, and had to call out to two guys who were closing the gap between them just in front of me.  I checked up for just a second to make sure they didn't take me out again, but managed to make it safely through them and finish strong.  

In the end, I'm not sure where we all ended up, so we'll just have to wait until they post the results.  We may have made it to the top 10, but it's hard to say not knowing who stayed in the breakaway and where we were exactly during the finish.  I'm just glad I got to race with Shannon and Todd and survive, so getting back to the car to start the liquid first aid (i.e. beer) was all I had on my mind. My neck was actually bugging me a little just after the race ended, so the beer was definitely called for. 

Shannon had to take off early, but as we used to do last year, Todd, Pam and Shannon closed the place down.  HA HA.  I had my FUGG boots, so I was able to keep warmer than last week and endure the cold.  

Although scratched up some and a little sore, I'm already looking forward to next week.  Crazy I know, but so is this group.  Thanks for coming out, Shannon, Todd and Pam!

Here are some pictures Pam took:

Getting ready to go

The CAT 4/5 Masses

Staying close together

Todd on a breakaway

Cut up and not in a good way

If You Ain't Trying (to Breakaway that is), You Ain't Training

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/activities/121859122

Attendees:  Todd, Mitchell, Jaffe and me

Route:  NPC Double BB

Weather:  Some overcast, cooler than yesterday, pockets of wind

Highlights:

- Everyone represented BRCM Black today.  Sexy

- Todd and I traded pulls to NPC, but NPC was the GTJ show.  Mitchell and I just hung on.

- Regrouped at the top of NPC and mostly stayed together from that point on.

- Mitchell and Steve were reluctant to take the front except on Back Bay where they helped provide some necessary reprieve from the wind to help setup some "attacks."

- Todd had started us on BB both times, and had some strong pulls, which likely was why he was held out for a while (not by me).

- After a few rotations, I decided to try a breakaway from the back.  The timing involved watching Mitchell hold Todd out for a while and waiting for him to get tired.  HA HA

- I gapped the others in my breakaway but couldn't hold it with Todd slowly reeling me in with Mitchell helping to finish closing it in the end.

- I was up front as we approached the kicker hill to Eastbluff on the first pass, so Todd darted up and got to the top first.  I was pooped, but I knew letting him go at this point would mean never seeing him again after Jamboree.

- Todd had managed to gap us on Eastbluff and kept it on the climb up Jamboree.  I closed it for a little after we turned onto it, but he stretched it back out.  I was looking to see if Mitchell or Jaffe could help close the gap, but they weren't interested.  Sigh.

- We managed to not be too far behind Todd on the climb, but he gapped us a little more on the descent toward Eastbluff/Ford intersection.  Fortunately, he had to check up a little as the light turned green for him, and we were able to get through the intersection at pace.  This led us to being able to grab his wheel again just before we got to the San Joaquin intersection.

- He was offering to let me lead after we got on his wheel, but I was still trying to catch my breath.  The other two weren't interested either.

- I did take the lead after, and led us onto Back Bay drive where Todd once again resumed the front as we entered onto Back Bay.

- I contemplated a similar attack as the first pass, but opted to just try to bring the pace up enough during my pull to hopefully help deter any breakaway attempts.

- Todd was behind me and called out to let me know he was spent where I didn't mind taking a longer turn.  Then he took off.  Nice...HAHA.

- Of course, Mitchell and Jaffe took off too leaving me for dead, but I managed to just barely stay behind them.

- Todd slowed before way before we got to the kicker hill again, and Jaffe looked like he was interested in gapping the rest of us.  Mitchell, on the other hand, slowed to wait to get back to his preferred place...behind us.

- On the kicker hill, I ended up passing Jaffe, and Todd and I sprinted up to the top.  I was able to get onto the sidewalk ahead of him, but more so due to where I was on the road rather than who got to the top first.

- I led for a little on the sidewalk, but Todd amped it up after he passed and led us all the way to the underpass and over the bridge.

- I practiced my sprint breakaway on the stretch, and took off to California after his gracious pull.

- We regrouped at the light, but Jaffe had a mechanical (chain again) somewhere on CA.  Todd led us up California, with Mitchell holding him out with me behind both of them.  I took off near the top with Todd joining the sprint, and we had to seriously test our brakes before hitting the intersection given how much we were going for it.

- At the end of it all and despite small crew, we still knocked out a 22.2 mph avg.  That was some seriously intense (turned my stomach inside out a few times) training.  Loved it!

As I mentioned on my e-mail for this ride, I was going to blog flog any TLB's (Traffic Light Breakaways...includes signs too, btw), but everyone adhered to all of them.

I was also going to acknowledge a rider of the day, which would be based on sustained breakaways, so given Todd was the closest to outright breaking away, he is awarded this honor.  He deserved it anyways considered how he hauled our asses up NPC also.  Congratulations, Todd!

Great Park GP Season Opener BRCM Team of 2

Strava:  http://www.strava.com/activities/120436012

For the first race of the season at Great Park, there were a few things that were different:  1) they now have you either renting  (daily) or buying (season) a timing chip, 2)  you buy your numbers for the season, 3) it's now accredited with USAC, so you get points and 4) they changed the course a little and actually extended the distance based on the addition of a chicane on the far side of the course. After paying $50 and having the timing chip mounted on the bike, I was good to go.  Shannon had already bought his timing chip at the El Dorado Crits, so he was also good to go.

It was a windy day so as we did our warm up laps, we didn't push too hard and just got the blood flowing in the legs.  This gave us time to talk about strategies, his race on Tuesday (he got 8th!), and even more strategies.   We also knew that strategies are dependent on what the teams are out there doing as well as the tempo of the race, but we would do what we could to help one another as THAT was key.

It took a while to get us started due to how long the registration took for all the riders on the first day, but it wasn't long before we lined up.  I got to chatting with Scott, someone who I met through mutual friend and rides with LinkedIn kit, while we were waiting to go, but once the race started, it was time to focus. One funny note was how when he saw us that he asked "you're in cat 4/5?" followed with how that was not good for him.  LOL.  What he didn't realize was I didn't know how it would be given my last outings there weren't exactly good ones.

Lined up and ready to go

During the first couple laps, I did what I was suppose to do and stuck with Shannon the whole time.  We were bouncing around from the back to the middle of the group, but no matter where he went, I followed.  Better together I kept thinking to myself.  I didn't want to get split up in case he wanted to make any moves.   When he finally made a move, I believe after the first prime and on the back side of the track, I let him go a little ahead so as to not get anyone to latch on to us right away.  Once he gapped the group some after no one gave chase, I took off and tried to break away so I can give him some help.  However, when I passed and tried to have him come with, he noticed that we didn't have enough of a gap, so he called out to let me know and we both checked up and got sucked back into the peloton.

Wingman

We rode with the peloton for a while trying to keep fairly close to the front, and once Shannon was ready to go again, he took off for another break away attempt.  When he did, I wasn't right behind him but I was close to the front where I thought, maybe following him may not work as it didn't the first time.  At that point, I opted to take the front of the peloton and kept a pace that would otherwise allow us to reel Shannon back in.  It was weird how the peloton let me take the front at that pace, but as they held me out, I was thinking...fine by me!  This just lets Shannon break away even more.   When people would bring up the pace or try to break away, I would do some blocking by reeling them in and holding them out.

Lonely out front

Blocking....

What helped as well was the timing of Shannon's breakaway.  He did so just before we were reeling in the Masters group and with the Cat 1/2/3 group nipping at our heels.  When we passed the masters group, we went neutral to let the Cat 1/2/3 pass but then got passed by the masters group first instead.  We remained in neutral as well to let the 1/2/3 group pass us as well, and I kept thinking "Cool!  Shannon can continue to extend his breakaway!"  Ultimately, we seemed to have been in neutral for way too long, but one guy insisted we slow down...even stop pedaling at one point.  We literally rolled under 20 mph for probably a quarter of the lap!

Shannon kept his lead for a whole other lap, and some of the guys in our group was thinking he got an unfair advantage due to the other groups.  What was he supposed to do though...slow down?  Shannon mentioned how someone from the other group was yelling at him to go neutral, so he did as well and ultimately led to him slowly getting reeled in on the last lap.  I stayed in the peloton hoping he could keep the breakaway, but once I saw them closing on him on the backside, I started to try and push up toward the front again and prepare for the final sprint.  I called out to Shannon when I passed, but I'm not sure he heard me and/or was able to respond given all the work he was doing in the wind.  

After the 2nd to the last turn, I was getting close to the front when someone cut in front of some others almost causing a crash, which made me check up a little.  Hitting the last turn, some guys who seemed to have been lurking in the pack the whole time came out of it just ahead of me and I was not able to latch on resulting in a sprint with no leadout.   I gave it my best nonetheless, and I think I finished top 10 but not exactly sure.  It was funny how some people seemed to just give up before the finish, so I took advantage and just kept going crossing the timing mat ahead of them.

Sprint Finale

While there were some close calls in the race, it was still fun.   I really hoped Shannon could have gotten the W with his breakaway, but we'll have to try that again some other time...preferably when it's less windy.    Of course, with more people to work with, we can definitely try different strategies that may finally give us a win on this course.  I can't wait for next week!

The rest of the pictures Lisa took:  http://s13.photobucket.com/user/rlaureano/slideshow/Great%20Park%203-13-14

The Adrian Tribute Lunch Ride Sans Adrian

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/activities/119783796

Attendees:  Vince, Todd, Jaffe, Mitchell and Vin

You know, I think I'll keep the ride highlights short here and say there was definitely a lot of good training done out there and people continue to step it up every outing.  Vince is on his A game again (he denies it) and is a threat in just about all aspects of the ride, and Vin is definitely becoming a force out there as well.  Todd continues to be the GTJ, and Mitch and Jaffe also make for good training buddies.

What I would like to talk about is my good ol' friend, Adrian.  He's leaving and won't be a regular participant in our lunch rides any longer, so he will definitely be missed.  

Cycling things to now about Adrian:

• Has fallen on his road bike from a dead stop 3-4 times...twice at a corner during morning rush hour.
• Bought his first road bike where it was a bit too big for him.  Not sure what he was trying to compensate for.
• He's done the following rides with team BRCM:  Stagecoach x 3, Palm Springs Century x 1, and OC Grand Fondo x 1-2
• Strength is definitely sprinting.  Hills...not so much. 
• After he leaves, we'll need to find another person to call Detonator.
• He introduced me to Margarita Shot Bloks.  Indirectly, he's saved my life as a result.  
• The kind of guy who you share cycling tips with and then turns around and uses them against you.  HA HA
• He is someone you do NOT want to drive home after a century ride.  Let's just say I could have probably sold my wife's old Expedition for more had he not permanently damaged its interior with his flatulence.
• Expect to stop often if he accompanies you to a century.  His bladder is the size of a 9 year old's.  
• He once forgot to call his wife after a century ride.  Here's his next day picture:

I'll need to save more material for 3/22, so I'll cut this short for now.  Adrian, keep riding, buddy, and come out if/when you can (get permission from Karye that is).  You're definitely a BAMMER for life, so continue to represent.  Love you, mang!

Lunch Ride - How Can They Pack So Much Abuse In 1 Hour?

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/activities/118293197

Route:  Anteater > NPC > Pelican Loop (UP!) > down to PCH > CDM (via Ocean) > PCH > BB (via Jamboree) > Jamboree Up

Attendees:  Vince, Todd, Jeremy, Vin, Adrian and Jaffe

Highlights:  

• Todd gets to the gym late to change and says he'll try to get out as fast as he can.  I told him we'd wait for him. 
• Todd was the last one out and while everyone waited for him at the corner, he takes off without stopping (Vince-like...must be an Operations thing).  
• Vince, Jeremy and I took off after our departed train and managed to latch on early at climb on E. Peltason while the others found their way up to us some where by Anteater.
• Jeremy and Vince took turns up front heading out and up on NPC to help, while I just hung on for dear life...rough week on the legs.
• Adrian had rolled up behind me and asked what's got into Todd as we started climbing NPC.  I didn't respond, but thought...this is unsual?   Unfortunately, he, Vin and Jaffe dropped shortly after.
• I did manage to take the front at the top of NPC, but only for a little bit.   You can see Vince and Todd scheming though on the descent trying to make an early break upon Pelican. 
• Vince broke away a little on the 2nd part of the climb up Pelican, but Todd reeled him in with me in tow.  Jeremy's back got the best of him, so he did stay with us on the climb.
• Vince sprinted near the top taking Todd with him, and I was not able to respond (did I mention it was a rough week on the legs?).  I dropped at that point. 
• Vince and Todd were working together on the descent down NPC and on PCH, so I was not able to close in on them.  I saw them make the turn on Poppy though, but I got caught at the light.  
• Lots of seniors driving through Ocean Blvd today, so let's just say you can only do what you can do.  Not seeing the two in front of me any longer, I figured I was on my own.  That's not an excuse to slow down though....
• As I got on Avocado, I could see Todd and Vince at the light.  Yes!  Coincidentally, Jeremy was also at the light but on PCH heading straight having skipped the CDM neighborhood.  Jeremy got to go first, so he played the impromptu rabbit.
• When the light turned green, Vince and Todd took off and nearly snapped me off right away as I still tried to recover.
• I did push up to the front to help the chase once I could breathe again, but when Vince passed, I was || close to dropping again.  Thank goodness we arrived at Jamboree when we did.
• Jeremy ended up going straight, so the three of us hit BB together with no longer a rabbit to chase.  
• Todd was up front by the time we got to the gate and had a good pull almost all the way to San Joaquin.  Vince had a good pull after as well, and I was doing what I could when I rotated up as well. 
• I took the last pull on BB, and I thought oh man, these guys are going to drop me bad if they sprinted up the rise to Eastbluff.  Thankfully, I didn't drop too much there.  However, I was spent by that time, so the two took off up Jamboree where all I could do was watch...and granny pedal (10 mph avg, baby).
• I'm not sure if they caught Vin, who I believe skipped Pelican, but I was fortunate enough to catch them all on the left turn to Bison. 
• Some lady in a black SUV almost took Vince and Todd out on the way down Bison as she tried to turn right just in front of them.  Todd and Vince let the lady know how they felt about that.  I was there too, but I was just happy I could breathe at the time and thus remained silent.  
• After we got across McArthur, Vince was calling out for a sprint between Vin and me or risk being called a female organ in the locker room.  Not sure why I get pulled into these, especially since I was just glad to be back, but I figured I'd give it a go.
• With Todd leading us out, I contemplated on waiting a little bit after we passed the last light but decided to take off earlier knowing Vin was on my rear wheel.  I gave it what I had, but Vin got me today.  Kudos!  Just know we'll meet again, son.

Good ride today, folks.   Thanks for the abuse again!

Lunch Ride - Starcrest Summit Condo Loop

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/activities/117805903

Attendees:  Vince, Todd, Vin, Adrian, Mitchell and Jaffe

Highlights:

• Mitchell gave me a lecture on how running does not benefit cycling before the ride.   I disagreed then but not too sure after.
• Adrian took off and broke away initially.
• Vince caught Adrian on East Bluff but the rest of us (behind Todd) took a little longer to do so.
• I tried helping to keep pace up on Culver, but Vince took off looking to breakaway early.  
• Vince and Adrian took off up Turtle Rock early, but the rest of us patiently let Todd lead us up to them.  
• On Starcrest, Todd started to gap the rest of us, and I was making my way up ahead of the others when Vin launched a surprise attack that came out of nowhere.  He actually caught Todd, who wasn't going to let him pass at the top.  
• Vince passed me and ended up joining Todd at some point.  
• The rest of us ended up pulling Vin back into the paceline on University.  
• The guys started taking turns on the bike trail, but I took the final pull leading up and over Shady.  We saw Vince and Todd, but they were too far ahead on the climb.  
• Vin took over on the Shady bike trail, and my calves started to blow up where he, Mitchell and Jaffe left me like a used rag doll.  
• Vin commented at the light on Bonita Canyon asking if I had fallen behind because Mitchell held me out too long.   Nope...legs just couldn't hang today.
• We let Vin lead us up Summit, and I thought it would be cool to pass near the top like he did on Starcrest...mostly to just see if I could...so I did.
• We caught Vince at the light on Bonita Canyon, but Todd was long gone.  Guess Todd's competitive juices were flowing strong after the Starcrest attack.
• Adrian was with us when we started back on Bonita Canyon, so he took off right after the light and gapped the rest of us early.  Small detail:  he skipped Summit.  
• I could barely hang on, but I did take a turn pulling before dropping off in case anyone cares.
• I was able to catch up at the light before McArthur, and everyone charged the intersection believing the green would hold.  Upon our approach, however, it turned yellow so not everyone made it across.  I went with Vince, Jaffe and Mitchell.
• I was still trying to do what I could up the Condo, but Vince passed me near the top.  Small detail:  he held onto a trash truck that had turned just before us as I was riding beside it.  
• Vince was gone on Bison, so Jaffe, Mitchell and I didn't sprint.  Jaffe dropped a chain (or almost), but it couldn't possibly be because of poor maintenance.

I think I'll do my own thing tomorrow.  My legs are THRASHED!  Thanks, gents!

SDBC Fiesta Island TT - Racing In the Rain

Strava:  http://www.strava.com/activities/117287974

Velominati rule #9 says "if you are out riding in bad weather, you are a bad ass. Period."  While I've definitely had my share of bad ass riding with the Broadcom team (e.g. San Diego Gran Fondo, tour de Foothills, etc.), today was the first time I've ever raced in it. It was nice to share the misery with Shannon, who by the way also did an uphill time trial yesterday in Palos Verdes.  BAD ASS!

My day yesterday was nowhere near as athletic.  Considering how the weather has been and what the earlier forecasts were for today, I really wasn't too optimistic we were going to race.  In fact, Shannon asked me on Friday if I was going to race regardless of the weather, and I honestly was thinking I wouldn't if the conditions were bad fearing of reinjuring myself so soon.  As a result, I did a little tour of some breweries in San Diego including the likes of Ballast Point, Alesmith, Intergalatic and Hess...not exactly pre-race fixins' but damn delicious to say the least.  We'll need to consider riding down to these some time. 

Fortunately, I didn't feel hungover at all and still managed to get up in time (4:30 am) to get ready to go.  I spent the night at my in-laws' house, so I was under a half an hour away.  I thought that by spending the night in San Diego, I should have a better indication of what the conditions would be like for the race.

When I got going, the roads were damp but the skies look like they had a pretty good break in the clouds where I thought we may get lucky and have it dry out enough for the race.  It stayed pretty much this way throughout my entire drive to Fiesta Island, so it was definitely looking good.  As I got closer, the roads were actually even starting to look more dry, so of course I was thinking it may be a good race after all.

Upon my arrival, I usually park in the dirt parking lot, but it was more of a mud pit from what I could see where I opted to park on the street instead.  There wasn't a lot of people there, but the organizers already had their tent up with the guards manning the entrance.  As I walked over to the registration, I could see that they also had what looked like a street sweeper on the course, and the lady who gave me my number confirmed it.  She did say, however, that it can only do so much but we should expect to have some puddles out there.  I could deal with puddles I thought to myself.

When I got back to my car to put my number on my speedsuit after setting up my bike on the trainer, I saw Shannon arrive and he walked by to get his number as well.  Off to the distance, I could also see that there was what looked like a dark gloomy cloud heading our way.  As Shannon walked back, I could see little sprinkles starting to land on my windshield.  I remained optimistic nonetheless since it was just a light sprinkle after all.

After having difficulty keeping my race number from popping off every time I put my speedsuit on (I actually had to take it off 3 different times),  I finally got it on 15 minutes later but that definitely ate into my warm-up time.  By that time though, it wasn't just sprinkling anymore.  It was full on raining.  I saw some of the other guys around me warming up in the rain under some rain gear, so I eventually made it out on my bike donning my raincoat and doing the same.  I guess there was no turning back at that point, but in all honesty, I think after all the trouble of getting there and everything, I was likely going to do it regardless.  If it was pouring at my in-laws, maybe not.   I saw Shannon had been warming up in the rain as well, so he was set to go as well.

As it grew closer to the time to line up, I got all my warm-up stuff in the car and was hoping to keep warm by doing some riding back and forth between the park entrance to the race start.  This, however, proved to not be the best thing to do since it only kicked up a lot of water and sand up into the bike.  Even before starting the race, the bike was already sounding "gritty."  The funny thing is the guy after me was also checking his bike out like me as he met the same fate for doing the same thing.   The good thing though was the brakes weren't rubbing. 

When I got going, it was still raining where it wasn't exactly easy to see in front of me.  There were times where I had to negotiate the turns off the aero bars just because I was worried about how slippery the road was.  There were also some coned off sections because of some runoff onto the road that probably wouldn't have been good to ride through.  The runoff was actually going all the way across the road in a full stream at some sections given that the rain had began to loosen up even more sand.  Needless to say, it was a little unnerving trying to negotiate the course in a full tuck.   The bottom of the course also has a pretty good descending turn that I just couldn't do without being back on the hood since I didn't think it was safe on the aeros.  There was a good brown stream just coming out of that turn where I was always afraid to be at any angle going through it risking the possibility of losing the front.

Of course, when I wasn't trying focusing on trying to see, negotiating a turn, or just not thinking about how soaked I was, I was definitely giving it what I could.  Forget about monitoring power though, as I just couldn't see anything on it with all the rain.   The front half of the course was the faster half for sure, so it would be "fun" to go faster through that section.  The 2nd lap did prove to be challenging there , however, as I had to slow for one guy on a TT bike who was passing two guys on road bikes with cones on the side lessening the width of the road to boot.  I was having fun chasing people down (the ones I could see anyway) otherwise except when we would come into a turn together. I wasn't going to chance a high speed pass through the turns today.

 After having passed probably about 3-4 guys on TT bikes and a couple few on road bikes, I was wondering at what point I would be passed.  Shannon started back a full minute behind me, so I kept thinking he would likely catch me given his beast mode-ness with all the racing he does.  However, by the end of my race, I managed not to get passed at all.   Woo hoo!

I didn't even wait around at the end of my laps and headed straight back to my car as I wanted to get out of my cold, wet and muddy clothes.  Shannon arrived very shortly after me and he was equally wet and dirty but looked like he had a good run.  At the end of it all, Shannon ended up taking first in our class with a time of 28:41.3 with me coming in behind him 39.1 seconds slower.   The rest of the guys in our class didn't break 30 minutes, so it wasn't even close.  Shannon ended up getting 3rd best time of the day, and I finished 5th.   Congrats, Shannon!   Keep taking them down, bud!

After all was said and done, we did manage to share a beer (an IPA at that) after the race...even when it was only just after 9 a.m.  HA HA.   That's right..we're bad asses for sure.  Uh huh.  Yup. 

Thanks for the brew, Shannon!  Go team BRCM!