Strava: http://www.strava.com/activities/143617108
Attendees: Vince, Shannon, Todd, Vin, Jaffe, Mitchell, Terry and me
Today was supposed to be a sprint training ride with the following sections defined as the sprint points: 405 bike trail to the bridge, Shady toward Bonita Canyon to the bike trail, the condo, and Bison to the corner of California. I chose a slightly hilly route so there would be a good mix of climbing and flats. Since I had dropped off on Turtle Rock (more on this later), I didn't get to contest any of them. Thus, let me outline who crossed the line first according to what Vince shared with me in the locker room:
405 bike trail - Vince (broke away on Shady)
Shady to bile trail - looking at top speed according to Strava, likely Shannon (unconfirmed)
Condo - Todd missed Summit so according to Vince (DQ'd). Top honors go to Shannon.
Bison - Probably Shannon too.
Looking at the above, no wonder there was a collective gasp when we saw Shannon come into the gym after everyone else to get ready. Ha ha.
Terry was out for his second time with the group, and his goal was to stay with us longer than his first. That's the spirit. The start was pretty fast as usual with Todd mostly at the helm and Vince helping to push the pace (Jaffe tried to trade pulls with Todd but Vin thought that was funny more than anything else). I helped get us to the light after Jaffe's less than successful pull attempt. I think Terry was able to regroup with us at the light, but things may have gotten a little too manic after that.
When we got on Culver, Vince set the pace early taking the front, and I relieved him followed by Todd and Shannon. There was some more rotating as we headed over and onto Turtle Rock, but I remember at one point I ended up behind Shannon just before he was getting ready to take a pull. While everyone was working to keep the pace up, I felt it pick up more as soon as Shannon took the front. I noticed his cadence is faster now, and this worried me a lot since it seemed like he's generating even more power than before. Thus, I was in no hurry to try and relieve him. Instead, I was just trying to hang on and wait until he got a little tired before taking a pull. Before it got to that point, however, Todd called out to me that my saddle bag was falling off. I could have left it as is and kept riding, but I didn't want to fall off and possibly have someone run into it and crash. I waved everyone on and decided I'll just deal with it and then hope I can get lucky and catch some others at a light.
After re-attaching it to my saddle, I started to go and Jaffe went by and passed me hardly skipping a beat. Thus, he served as my first target where it took up to Sunnyhill before I was able to reel him in and pick him up in my slipstream.
I was pushing on Shady hoping to catch a glimpse of front group, but I only ended up seeing Vin more than mid way up. I was able to pull away from Jaffe up the climb chasing Vin, but Jaffe was back in my slip stream on the 2nd sidewalk entrance that lead to the 405. We were still behind Vin, so we gave chase (we meaning me with Jaffe in tow...LOL).
The headwind on the 405 bike trail was ridonkulous. I got as low as I could and I think this helped to reel in Vin and pick up another passenger after passing him. I was wondering if they were going to try and sprint to the Bridge to spite me, but neither of them did.
We got to the stop light at the Strawberry farm intersection where I noticed once again that my saddle bag was unlatched again from under the seat rails. I detached it all together at that point and decided I would just carry it in my back pocket. When the light turned green, Vin and Jaffe took off leaving me behind. HA HA
Fortunately, they were caught at the light at Ridgeline, so I was able to regroup with them there. When we were finally able to cross, Vin led us up with Jaffe in tow, and I decided a little payback would be nice. After Vin led all the way to where it pitched up with Jaffe offering him no relief, I decided I'd kick it up at that point and passed where neither were able to latch on. What? It's good training for them.
I broke away and had to ride all the way to Bonita Canyon on my own against that wicked wind. I was stopped at the light after just missing the green, so Vin was able to catch up and join me there. Vin's a trooper since he opted to lead us over to Turtle Ridge, but after I took the front once we started climbing, he was off again. I was still pushing to try and see if I can get lucky and catch others. It wasn't too far away from the turn around point on Summit when I saw Shannon and I think Vince heading the opposite way. I tried to push harder when I saw them, but it wasn't enough where I didn't see them at the Bonita Canyon intersection. Here, Vin would catch me again.
Vin and I traded pulls on Bonita Canyon where the headwind again was just insane. When we crossed McArthur, he took the front first but I pulled ahead during the little rise and would almost lead us out to Jamboree. Since Vin was just behind me though, I waved him on to start Jamboree first hoping 1) he'll give me a target and 2) he won't make me nervous making the turn.
Climbing up Jamboree, Vin took off right away and I guess I didn't give him enough credit where I expected to be passed him shortly after. Instead, he was in full sprint mode on the climb where he held it for a while making me realize I better kick it up a notch or he'll get up over it before me. It literally took me just before it flattened out to get by him. I even had to keep looking back to make sure he wasn't going to sneak by now that he had my respect for the sprint. Fortunately, he didn't. I thought I had a pretty good effort climbing up Jamboree, but then I saw Shannon's time on Strava where he killed it matching his best time ever. Nice.
Vin was able to catch me at the intersection on McArthur as it just turned green as I was rolling up on it. He took the lead immediately and I thought okay, let's see how the kid does defending the sprint. I wasn't going to go until he went though to make things interesting...and so I can recover from the condo effort as well. When he took off just before the last light over the 73, I stood up and expected I would be able to pass him before the intersection. I came up beside him but unlike the past, he never slowed and kept going making me work the whole time. I think we hit the intersection together, so I did get some sprint training in today after all. Thanks, Vin.
It's nice to be back with the crew, and with Shannon coming out too, this would be the ultimate training environment for racing in my humble opinion. I'm bummed I missed out most of the ride with the crew, but there's always next week. Is it too early to be excited about it?
As always, thanks for the workout, gents!
Attendees: Vince, Shannon, Todd, Vin, Jaffe, Mitchell, Terry and me
Today was supposed to be a sprint training ride with the following sections defined as the sprint points: 405 bike trail to the bridge, Shady toward Bonita Canyon to the bike trail, the condo, and Bison to the corner of California. I chose a slightly hilly route so there would be a good mix of climbing and flats. Since I had dropped off on Turtle Rock (more on this later), I didn't get to contest any of them. Thus, let me outline who crossed the line first according to what Vince shared with me in the locker room:
405 bike trail - Vince (broke away on Shady)
Shady to bile trail - looking at top speed according to Strava, likely Shannon (unconfirmed)
Condo - Todd missed Summit so according to Vince (DQ'd). Top honors go to Shannon.
Bison - Probably Shannon too.
Looking at the above, no wonder there was a collective gasp when we saw Shannon come into the gym after everyone else to get ready. Ha ha.
Terry was out for his second time with the group, and his goal was to stay with us longer than his first. That's the spirit. The start was pretty fast as usual with Todd mostly at the helm and Vince helping to push the pace (Jaffe tried to trade pulls with Todd but Vin thought that was funny more than anything else). I helped get us to the light after Jaffe's less than successful pull attempt. I think Terry was able to regroup with us at the light, but things may have gotten a little too manic after that.
When we got on Culver, Vince set the pace early taking the front, and I relieved him followed by Todd and Shannon. There was some more rotating as we headed over and onto Turtle Rock, but I remember at one point I ended up behind Shannon just before he was getting ready to take a pull. While everyone was working to keep the pace up, I felt it pick up more as soon as Shannon took the front. I noticed his cadence is faster now, and this worried me a lot since it seemed like he's generating even more power than before. Thus, I was in no hurry to try and relieve him. Instead, I was just trying to hang on and wait until he got a little tired before taking a pull. Before it got to that point, however, Todd called out to me that my saddle bag was falling off. I could have left it as is and kept riding, but I didn't want to fall off and possibly have someone run into it and crash. I waved everyone on and decided I'll just deal with it and then hope I can get lucky and catch some others at a light.
After re-attaching it to my saddle, I started to go and Jaffe went by and passed me hardly skipping a beat. Thus, he served as my first target where it took up to Sunnyhill before I was able to reel him in and pick him up in my slipstream.
I was pushing on Shady hoping to catch a glimpse of front group, but I only ended up seeing Vin more than mid way up. I was able to pull away from Jaffe up the climb chasing Vin, but Jaffe was back in my slip stream on the 2nd sidewalk entrance that lead to the 405. We were still behind Vin, so we gave chase (we meaning me with Jaffe in tow...LOL).
The headwind on the 405 bike trail was ridonkulous. I got as low as I could and I think this helped to reel in Vin and pick up another passenger after passing him. I was wondering if they were going to try and sprint to the Bridge to spite me, but neither of them did.
We got to the stop light at the Strawberry farm intersection where I noticed once again that my saddle bag was unlatched again from under the seat rails. I detached it all together at that point and decided I would just carry it in my back pocket. When the light turned green, Vin and Jaffe took off leaving me behind. HA HA
Fortunately, they were caught at the light at Ridgeline, so I was able to regroup with them there. When we were finally able to cross, Vin led us up with Jaffe in tow, and I decided a little payback would be nice. After Vin led all the way to where it pitched up with Jaffe offering him no relief, I decided I'd kick it up at that point and passed where neither were able to latch on. What? It's good training for them.
I broke away and had to ride all the way to Bonita Canyon on my own against that wicked wind. I was stopped at the light after just missing the green, so Vin was able to catch up and join me there. Vin's a trooper since he opted to lead us over to Turtle Ridge, but after I took the front once we started climbing, he was off again. I was still pushing to try and see if I can get lucky and catch others. It wasn't too far away from the turn around point on Summit when I saw Shannon and I think Vince heading the opposite way. I tried to push harder when I saw them, but it wasn't enough where I didn't see them at the Bonita Canyon intersection. Here, Vin would catch me again.
Vin and I traded pulls on Bonita Canyon where the headwind again was just insane. When we crossed McArthur, he took the front first but I pulled ahead during the little rise and would almost lead us out to Jamboree. Since Vin was just behind me though, I waved him on to start Jamboree first hoping 1) he'll give me a target and 2) he won't make me nervous making the turn.
Climbing up Jamboree, Vin took off right away and I guess I didn't give him enough credit where I expected to be passed him shortly after. Instead, he was in full sprint mode on the climb where he held it for a while making me realize I better kick it up a notch or he'll get up over it before me. It literally took me just before it flattened out to get by him. I even had to keep looking back to make sure he wasn't going to sneak by now that he had my respect for the sprint. Fortunately, he didn't. I thought I had a pretty good effort climbing up Jamboree, but then I saw Shannon's time on Strava where he killed it matching his best time ever. Nice.
Vin was able to catch me at the intersection on McArthur as it just turned green as I was rolling up on it. He took the lead immediately and I thought okay, let's see how the kid does defending the sprint. I wasn't going to go until he went though to make things interesting...and so I can recover from the condo effort as well. When he took off just before the last light over the 73, I stood up and expected I would be able to pass him before the intersection. I came up beside him but unlike the past, he never slowed and kept going making me work the whole time. I think we hit the intersection together, so I did get some sprint training in today after all. Thanks, Vin.
It's nice to be back with the crew, and with Shannon coming out too, this would be the ultimate training environment for racing in my humble opinion. I'm bummed I missed out most of the ride with the crew, but there's always next week. Is it too early to be excited about it?
As always, thanks for the workout, gents!
No comments:
Post a Comment