Strava: https://app.strava.com/activities/239342100
I checked to see who was riding this weekend to see if anyone was interested in riding with me. I wanted to keep riding in the same mode as I've been for 2015 with a focus on seat time vs. intensity. When Todd indicated he was riding on Saturday and invited me to join, however, I wasn't sure he'd be able to ride in that mode. He's THE Todd Jacobs after all. With the only other option being to ride on my own, I accepted Todd's offer based on the following: he agreed to let me sit in his draft the WHOLE time, and he offered beer after...Belgian at that. How could I resist.
Todd and I definitely wanted to get out and avoid the rain, and from all the cyclists we saw on the road it looks like we were not alone. Collectively, I'm sure I can speak for Todd, myself and all of the other cyclists out there and say "WTF, weather people?!?" I was a little nervous when I was driving to Todd's seeing little droplets of rain hitting my windshield, but it wasn't a lot and didn't persist at the time. It still seemed dry as we got ready to go from his house, so off we went hoping for the best. So much for that....
Todd was true to his word as always and led us out staying up front the whole ride. He even chose a flatter start, which I REALLY appreciated considering that starting from his place is usually hilly off the bat. I rode abreast on some of the flatter sections for some conversation, but he definitely provided wind cover everywhere else. I did offer to help on the flats, but he checked me on it and thankfully so as had I helped, I would not have been able to keep up on some of the climbs.
Now riding in the draft for the whole ride seems easy enough, but doing so behind Todd is another story. When we did do some climbing up Marguerite after our early start, I was huffing and puffing already and seeing my HR bouncing off my max. Since he was kind enough to let me draft, however, I was going to push and do what I could to keep up. He seemed to back off just enough for me to do so, which I appreciated, so we managed to stay together throughout.
At one point, we saw some guys cross in front of us at an intersection heading up El Toro toward Santiago. Todd and I considered joining them, but we were glad we didn't since it was much more enjoyable not having to worry about how dicey some groups can be. As stated earlier, we saw a lot of different groups out and about, but most of them were going the opposite way. We were never given any further opportunities, nor did we seek them, to ride with others.
When we got to Alton heading down to Irvine Blvd, the precipitation started to pick up a little but it still wasn't too wet. It wasn't until making our way closer to Jamboree and back into the canyon that the rain picked up more. It really started to pick up as we rode through the canyon and although we entertained the idea of riding up Live Oak, the roads were pretty wet at that point where we thought it would be safer to avoid all together.
Instead of Live Oak, we opted to finish to include Glenn Oak and making the right turn from El Toro had Todd's back wheel kick out a little as an indication of how slick the roads were. He recovered fairly easily, but we were definitely more cautious after. At that point, it was full on raining and somewhat reminiscent of our first SD Gran Fondo ride. Fortunately, we weren't too far from Todd's place. If we had to ride another hour in these conditions, we probably would have been really cold given neither of us were wearing any wet weather gear.
Todd opted to take a mellow way back to his house to allow for a cool down vs. charging up one final hill. Yippee! When we slowly made a right turn to head toward a bike trail to his house, however, Todd's back wheel kicked out again and this time much more abruptly where both he and I thought he was going down. It even caused one of his feet to pop off the pedal it was that violent. Thankfully, Todd managed to remain upright again. We definitely chilled going down the bike path to his place after.
It wasn't raining by the time we got to his house, so after getting changed we opted to hang out and enjoy some brews post ride. It's what we do. Todd had a Gulden Draak for me, and unbeknownst to him was one of my favorites. It was delicious! It was great to hang with Todd and Pam after a ride like that. My back was tired, my legs were dead, but I was in great spirits given the company.
Thanks for the ride, beer and company, Todd and Pam! Despite the weather conditions, I can't wait until we do it again.
I checked to see who was riding this weekend to see if anyone was interested in riding with me. I wanted to keep riding in the same mode as I've been for 2015 with a focus on seat time vs. intensity. When Todd indicated he was riding on Saturday and invited me to join, however, I wasn't sure he'd be able to ride in that mode. He's THE Todd Jacobs after all. With the only other option being to ride on my own, I accepted Todd's offer based on the following: he agreed to let me sit in his draft the WHOLE time, and he offered beer after...Belgian at that. How could I resist.
Todd and I definitely wanted to get out and avoid the rain, and from all the cyclists we saw on the road it looks like we were not alone. Collectively, I'm sure I can speak for Todd, myself and all of the other cyclists out there and say "WTF, weather people?!?" I was a little nervous when I was driving to Todd's seeing little droplets of rain hitting my windshield, but it wasn't a lot and didn't persist at the time. It still seemed dry as we got ready to go from his house, so off we went hoping for the best. So much for that....
Todd was true to his word as always and led us out staying up front the whole ride. He even chose a flatter start, which I REALLY appreciated considering that starting from his place is usually hilly off the bat. I rode abreast on some of the flatter sections for some conversation, but he definitely provided wind cover everywhere else. I did offer to help on the flats, but he checked me on it and thankfully so as had I helped, I would not have been able to keep up on some of the climbs.
Now riding in the draft for the whole ride seems easy enough, but doing so behind Todd is another story. When we did do some climbing up Marguerite after our early start, I was huffing and puffing already and seeing my HR bouncing off my max. Since he was kind enough to let me draft, however, I was going to push and do what I could to keep up. He seemed to back off just enough for me to do so, which I appreciated, so we managed to stay together throughout.
At one point, we saw some guys cross in front of us at an intersection heading up El Toro toward Santiago. Todd and I considered joining them, but we were glad we didn't since it was much more enjoyable not having to worry about how dicey some groups can be. As stated earlier, we saw a lot of different groups out and about, but most of them were going the opposite way. We were never given any further opportunities, nor did we seek them, to ride with others.
When we got to Alton heading down to Irvine Blvd, the precipitation started to pick up a little but it still wasn't too wet. It wasn't until making our way closer to Jamboree and back into the canyon that the rain picked up more. It really started to pick up as we rode through the canyon and although we entertained the idea of riding up Live Oak, the roads were pretty wet at that point where we thought it would be safer to avoid all together.
Instead of Live Oak, we opted to finish to include Glenn Oak and making the right turn from El Toro had Todd's back wheel kick out a little as an indication of how slick the roads were. He recovered fairly easily, but we were definitely more cautious after. At that point, it was full on raining and somewhat reminiscent of our first SD Gran Fondo ride. Fortunately, we weren't too far from Todd's place. If we had to ride another hour in these conditions, we probably would have been really cold given neither of us were wearing any wet weather gear.
Todd opted to take a mellow way back to his house to allow for a cool down vs. charging up one final hill. Yippee! When we slowly made a right turn to head toward a bike trail to his house, however, Todd's back wheel kicked out again and this time much more abruptly where both he and I thought he was going down. It even caused one of his feet to pop off the pedal it was that violent. Thankfully, Todd managed to remain upright again. We definitely chilled going down the bike path to his place after.
It wasn't raining by the time we got to his house, so after getting changed we opted to hang out and enjoy some brews post ride. It's what we do. Todd had a Gulden Draak for me, and unbeknownst to him was one of my favorites. It was delicious! It was great to hang with Todd and Pam after a ride like that. My back was tired, my legs were dead, but I was in great spirits given the company.
Thanks for the ride, beer and company, Todd and Pam! Despite the weather conditions, I can't wait until we do it again.
No comments:
Post a Comment