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!
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!
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!
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