Lunch Ride - El Morro NPC Vista Bonita Canyon Loop

Strava:  https://www.strava.com/activities/313776118

Attendees:  Vince, Shannon, Mitchell, Jaffe, Hiroshi and Vin

Highlights:

• True story:  I created the route and had planned to only include Pelican as part of today's climbing.  After I hit send and saw I typed Vista, I was like "WTF?!?"
• Good sized crew today and everyone representing BRCM black.  Oh yeah, baby.  
• I had my TT bike today given I had my BMC had a flat rear and my Cervelo front derailleur is not working properly.   There was talk of how I can create a big enough gap from the group to even the disadvantage on the hill.  Yeah, that didn't happen.
• We had a good pace going out and once on Back Bay, everyone started to take turns up front.
• Near the last gate, Mitchell (of all people) made a move and started sprinting (albeit sitting down...maybe it was  leadout?) causing a little sprint fest by others to the end.  
• When we were going up Jamboree to PCH, there was some of us cutting through cars as we made our way to the stop light.  I couldn't get out of my clips (keep forgetting to oil them from when it rained the other week) and had to put my hand down on a lady's Tesla to keep from falling on it after Mitchell cut in front of me.  She didn't appreciate it very much, but I said sorry.  My bad.
• On PCH, we opted to go through CDM vs. Ocean since the route was going to be long.  It was a little hairy, but we all managed to get through unscathed.
• One thing I want to point out that I observed as early as Back Bay but even more so on PCH was Jaffe's willingness to push up to the front to work.  He's really stepping up more and more, and I wanted to make sure he got some recognition for it.  Maybe it'll encourage those who are more timid to do so to do the same.  Good job, Steve!
• En route to NPC, there were some attempts at breaking away beforehand, but in the end, we all pretty much arrived together.  I had waved the guys behind me on beforehand because I didn't want to slow them down and/or break them off from the guys up front.  
• During the climb, I was certain I was going to drop but curiously I made my way past a few of the guys.  I got up to Shannon at one point, and he was talking to me encouraging to see if we should go after Vince.  I was happy to just keep my pace at that point, so I did.
• Hiroshi caught up to me and started to pass giving me kudos on my climb up with the TT bike.  It's always difficult to really appreciate kudos when the person giving it to you is passing (kinda like a backhanded compliment if you ask me), but I know Hiroshi meant well.
• I took the opportunity to jump on Hiroshi's wheel and return the favor though.  I'm sure he was just taking it easy on me.  He did end up catching me at the top again and took the lead as we made to Vista with two guys ahead of us and the rest behind.
• For the Vista climb, I knew trying to keep Hiroshi's pace was going to be challenging, so for me it was just a matter of keeping him close enough.  We saw the two guys ahead of us, but there was absolutely no chance of closing the distance.  
• When Hiroshi and I got on the false flat, I took advantage of building up speed on the TT bike before the last hill and used the momentum to pass the cycling samurai warrior half way up.  
• With exception of Vin, who just took off down the hill after he caught up, the rest of us attempted to regroup.  We waited for the others to complete the extra credit for having gotten to the top ahead of the rest of us.
• Two guys came over the horizon, and we thought it was Vince and Shannon.  It turned out it was Vince and another guy on a mountain bike.   We didn't realize this until we were already heading down the hill.  
• On my descent, I hit a bump that knocked my aero water bottle out of its carrier and had it sitting between my legs.  I was going too fast to reach down safely to get it, so I was trying desperately to slow down enough or stop so I can grab it and put it back.  It then fell between my left crank and frame where I feared it may fall down and cause me to topple or worse  yet, cause someone behind me to run it over and topple.  Fortunately, it dropped on the street with no one harmed.  I had to wait to turn around to be safe before going back up to pick it up, but I was glad Hiroshi and Shannon waited for me on NPC.  The other guys were off, and although we saw them at the bottom of NPC, waiting was just not in their vocabulary.
• The three of us rode together the rest of the way back, and I got to observe some excellent sprint action on Bison by both of the guys.  

Great workout today, friends!  Thanks for coming out!

Lunch Ride - NPC Double BB - Teamwork? Yes, teamwork!

Strava:  https://www.strava.com/activities/312425140

Attendees:  Shannon, Hiroshi, Vin and Mitchell

Highlights:

• The clouds looked rather ominous outside but fortunately did not yield any precipitation during our ride. 
• Small group today but when it comes to a great workout (and other things I tell my wife), size doesn't matter.  
• I always tell myself before the ride how I don't want to start off up front.  50% of the time, I end up doing so anyway...like today.
• I was relieved on Anteater, and as always, being relieved doesn't mean things get easier.  Hiroshi took the front at some point and spun up as though someone was serving Belgian beers on Bonita Canyon.  
• There wasn't any real separation until we got onto NPC.  I've had some issues with climbing since last week, so I decided that it would be best to have others who I can realistically work with.  I stayed with Mitchell and Vin while the "racers" broke away ahead of us.  
• Our chase group got lucky and managed to catch up to the breakaway group at a light on San Joaquin, and we all worked together to make our way toward Back Bay.
• For the first Back Bay pass, we had some good rotations where everyone was taking turns keeping the pace up.  Even when I think some didn't want to be up front as long as they were, they were kept honest.
• We saw Tim and Ron out there going the opposite direction with Tim representing BRCM white.  Woo hoo!
• For the charge up the hill at the end, others duked it out but I was happy just to be in the group.  Okay, so I also didn't want to get dropped on Jamboree.  
• During the climb, the group stayed tight and no one dropped.  I thought about it though....
• After the climb, Shannon's chain dropped and he asked the rest of us to go on.  We all regrouped at the following light though. 
• Once the light turned green, Vin, Mitchell and I formed a breakaway group (aka the rabbits), possibly because of another mechanical, but we took off based on previous instructions.  
• Going through Back Bay, the 3 of us worked together as I knew if we didn't, we would likely get caught.  It's like a horror movie when you think at any moment, the monster is going to grab the helpless victim.  Obviously, we were the helpless victims.  Fortunately, our combined efforts kept us from being caught.  Nice work, guys!
• On the climb up to Eastbluff, I took the opportunity to give Vin and Mitchell someone to chase.  Me.  I kept looking back expecting to catch me as well, but I was fortunate to keep them off all the way to California.  They met me at the bottom soon after I arrived.
• The climb up California went without incident, but I never want to believe that it will go that way.  It's a better bet to expect chaos with this crew.
• The chase crew came up behind us not long after and also reportedly had a great workout as well chasing us down.

Another good team trainer in the books, gents!  Thanks for coming out!

Lunch Ride - Hilldiculous

Strava:  https://www.strava.com/activities/307807994

Attendees:  Shannon, Vince, Mitchell and Vin

Highlights:

• I could tell it was going to be a tough ride from the get go.  I tried to see if/what I could help keep the pace up initially, but found myself not doing too well early on.  I was fortunate to stay with the group until NPC.
• Going up the climb, Vin had taken off but I got behind a couple other guys who reeled him in and kept me in tow...until I popped.  Hard.  
• I was soon passed by the others who had been behind me (sorry for the gap), but I knew at that point I was pretty much on my own.  
• Normally, being on my own sucks but given today was a hilly ride, I actually looked forward to it.  Getting caught at the light at San Juaquin at the top ensured I would see no one else.
• Going through my first loop of Pelican, I did wonder if I had gone slow enough where I may be passed given the double loop route.  Fortunately, I didn't. 
• Going through my second loop, I took the opportunities to work on stuff...like pedaling my fat ass up a hill without falling. 
• With still no one in sight, I actually looked forward to Vista.  Although I did some stand up pedaling on Pelican, I wanted to do more up Vista given I haven't climbed that beast for a long while.  That was cool.  
• On the last hill, I took my time and wanted to stay in one gear throughout and managed to just make it to the top without losing a lung.
• To my surprise, 3 of the guys were still waiting for me at the top.  This could be perceived as a good thing (they cared enough to wait) or a bad thing (they didn't get to punish me enough).
• The downhill was a little crazy but I was trying to keep us pretty close with Vince trying to get away.  We were all surprised he didn't have to bunny hop a Bentley through one of the intersections that he plowed through.
• It was more madness on Bonita Canyon as I was trying to do my "guilt pulls," which Noah made famous from the first Stagecoach race.  Others were more interested in causing more pain rather than working together.  
• There was a sprint at the end on Bison, but I think it's dumb to split between two stopped riders (me included) while rolling and taking off for a sprint.  

Anyway, I think it's been forever that I've exceeded 2K vert on a lunch ride.  Today, I remembered why.  Thanks for the training and for waiting for me at the top of Vista!

The Rule #9 Lunch Ride

Strava:  https://www.strava.com/activities/304629599

Badass Attendees:  Vin, Shannon, Mitchell, Jaffe and me

• It didn't really look like it was going to rain when we started.  Boy were we wrong.
• The person who called out Rule #9 when we thought it was going to rain last week said he was going to make it out this week regardless of the weather.  He didn't.  
• We went out as a team of 5 to represent BRCM in black with Jaffe the exception.  No arm warmers, no wet weather gear, nothing.  Just big balls.
• It was cool to see that one of the guys from the crit saw us and mentioned us in his Strava
• It was fast going out with some painful sections here and there, but we stayed together for the most part.  There was some separation going up toward Shady, but managed a rolling regroup by the time we hit Quail Hill.   The only other regroup was at the top of NPC, but it was very short.
• Riding up and over 133 was a battle with the headwinds basically driving us backward or so it seemed.  It was good to have a team to rotate with for sure on this section.
• The pace through Laguna Beach was pretty tough, but I think everyone was hoping to get back before it started to rain given the clouds were getting darker.
• While on PCH before NPC, we felt it...rain!  It started out light at first, but that didn't last long as it became torrential after we started climbing up NPC.
• Descending NPC was hella scary given that it seemed as though there was an inch of water on the surface.  Brake checking was a must and everyone gave each other plenty of room.
• It really started to pour on Bonita Canyon and it actually started to hurt from the size of the drops.   I actually thought it was hailing at some points, but only big drops of water were landing on the road.  Forrest Gump would classify it as "fat rain."
• By that time, I didn't really care who I was with as much as how soon I can get back.  I was beyond drenched and even had water swishing around in my shoes. 
• We created puddles of water upon entering the gym in Bldg 11. 
• 26 miles and 21 mph average in that weather with the wind and all the rain...yup...'badasses' sounds right.

Thanks for the training and the support, gents!  Make sure your bikes don't rust this evening.

Lunch Ride - A Pig by Any Other Name is Still Just a Pig

Strava:  https://www.strava.com/activities/303289376

Attendees:  Vince, Mitchell, Jaffe, Vin and Me

Highlights:

- Shannon sighting...guess he was interested in doing his own thing today
- Nice to see Vince back out with the crew again.
- I was on TT bike today due to problems with road bikes.
- Vince and Mitchell took off and created a sizeable gap climbing up E. Peltason
- Jaffe and Vin stayed with me until they realized that I wasn't doing well in keeping up and opted to drop me on Anteater.  I knew it was going to be a long day after that.
- Fortunately we regrouped at Bonita Canyon and I started helping out with rotations given I was on a cheater.
- When we made our way onto Turtle Rock, others were still rotating but I pushed up front and lead for a good portion of the way down toward Campus.  Vince took over before the bottom, and everyone started pulling away as we started climbing the other side.
- I lost sight of everyone after the Ridgeline intersection and was pretty much on my own from that point.
- I hoped to catch a glimpse of the others up Shady, on the 405 bike trail and even on Ridgeline but nope, nope and nope.
- My bike was a pig climbing up Ridgeline today.  An absolutely pig.  The wind just didn't make it fun and the bike felt like it weighed a ton.
- Going down Turtle Rock toward campus, I had some pretty decent speed but I still didn't see anyone.  With how i climbed Ridgeline, I figured I was on my own.
- When I made the turn onto Campus, I saw 3 guys sitting at the light.  I took off to make sure they didn't leave me behind and almost ran into a lady who decided to pull out in front of me. Thankfully, I still made the light with the 3.
- Vin took off up the hill but Jaffe and Mitchell decided to latch on as I made my way past them and toward and past Vin.
- I was rather angry with myself at how difficult today's ride was (carried over from how crappy my run was from yesterday...lack of sleep), so I was really mashing the pedals at that point.
- I continued on with the others in tow as we made our way onto Bonita Canyon and was just trying to punish myself at that point.  Jaffe pushed up (probably after remembering our conversation last Thursday) for a little bit, but I relieved him shortly after given no one pushed up with him.
- With a head wind still, I just kept mashing it trying to blow myself up not realizing after a while that soon there was no one behind me.  According to Vin, Mitchell created the gap and that's when they all fell off.
- I made my way toward and up the Condo thinking that the guys may work together and/or that Vince may still be around the corner, but I never saw anyone else at this point.

Sorry I sucked today, gents, even on the cheater bike but it's weird how from a power perspective, I was at 100% for the ride.  Maybe something's wrong with my TT bike too.  Either that or it's the fat Filipino guy riding it.

Thanks for coming out, gents!

Lunch Ride - Portola + Orchard Hills

Strava:  https://www.strava.com/activities/300083522

Attendees:  Shannon, Mitchell, Vin and Jaffe

Highlights:

• We were to decide the route just prior to the ride, and 3 options came up:  triple Back Bay, Laguna Canyon 133 Loop, or Portola + Orchard Hills.  With Todd not being able to make it out, we opted for the latter since it's his least favorite.
• Even before the ride, Jaffe and Mitchell were already plotting to see how they were going to stay on given Shannon came out.   If it were up to Mitchell, it would be with everyone lined up behind Shannon for the entire ride.  SMH
•  When we got going, Shannon led us down California, and I began to worry how Mitchell's dreams would come true.  Thus, I had to push up once we got on the bike trail just to change the tone and make sure everyone worked.
• Surprisingly, it worked.  Everyone pushed up and we had good rotations all the way up to Harvard.
• When we got on Harvard, it seemed people were less likely to rotate.  Then again, one of Shannon's pulls on there was pretty intense, so it's somewhat understandable.  We were moving!
• When we got back on the bike trail, the rotations continued again, but you can still tell the guys were somewhat tentative.   Shannon took the last pull before Portola, and brought up the intensity enough that caused the others the drop.  I hung on for my life!
• The rest managed to regroup with us as at the light before going onto the OH loop.  
• Given Shannon had done all the work from the last part of the bike trail and leading to OH, I took the front from the light hoping to set a good pace for the guys behind me.   It was one of those things where I put a lot of pressure on myself by thinking I'm not doing enough and just expecting someone to pass me to take over too soon.  I didn't realize until after descending on the other side again that at that point, no one was behind me.  
• We regrouped on Portola, and Shannon took off for a bit for a stretch gapping the rest of us pretty good.  I didn't want to miss the Shannon train, so I sped up just hoping to ride with him.   Fortunately, he let up.  
• As we made our way back onto the bike trail, Mitchell had mentioned how we can it easier against the head winds by just drafting Shannon the whole time.  On my way down, I wondered if that strategy was actually as effective as he thought given he couldn't stay on when Shannon was pulling us up to Portola.
• Despite the winds, we did pretty good going down the bike trail people once again pushing up to the front.  Toward the end of the bike trail, however, Mitchell and Jaffe decided to hold Shannon out for a pretty good distance.  I was at the very back and I saw Vin try to push up, but it was hard to do so on the trails and against the wind...especially when Shannon was pulling.  I couldn't either just because I got winded on one of the pulls and just didn't have enough to make it to the front at the time.
• When we got off the bike trail and back onto Harvard, the head winds really picked up.  It was pretty brutal.  When I got up front, I found myself barely able to do 18-19 mph.  Vin had helped out and got the pace going again after one of the lights.  
• When we got back onto the bike trail, Shannon had missed going through the intersection (which had flashing red lights).  When we waited to regroup, he said to go ahead.   At that point, I pulled out of the rotation as well and Jaffe, Vin and Mitchell took off ahead of us.  I was between Shannon and the group, so I figured I'd go ahead and get some wind training in as well.  
• I could see the guys rotating ahead of me, and they had created a nice little gap where I thought...wouldn't it be cool to catch them.   So that's what I set out to do.
• The winds were pretty brutal, so not having anyone to rotate with was a bummer in those conditions.  Nevertheless, it was great training.  
• I could catch glimpses of Shannon not too far behind me, so I wondered if/when he would eventually pass so we can reel the guys ahead of us in together.  He never did, so I guess I was on my own.  
• I made some ground on the three, but not a lot where I wondered if I'd catch them before California.  After the bridge, however, I started to reel them in a lot more...either that or they were just no longer working together effectively.
• When we got up through the Campus underpass, I managed to get close enough to the three.  I saw Mitchell notice me and try to push the group right before the final stretch.  I took the liberty at that point to pass all 3 and get to California before them.  
• Talking to Jaffe after the ride, I let him know that if I were working with a team of 3 and a lone rider reeled us in and passed like I did them, I wouldn't be too happy about it.   We also talked about how he and Mitchell held Shannon out and that rotating up past him just to let the others behind them push up as well would be a better team thing to do.  He agreed and promised to do better next time.  Wow...he bought it.

It was a rough ride, especially on the way back, but thank for making it out and offering up another good training sesh on the BRCM proving grounds.

Lunch Ride - Party of 5

Strava:  https://www.strava.com/activities/298832464

Attendees:  Todd, Shannon, Vin, Jaffe and me

Highlights:

• It looked like it was going to be cold for today's ride, but it was actually a little warm midway through.
• Smallish crew today, but I knew it was going to be a good workout nonetheless.
• Todd and Shannon the initial outbound tow to get us to the Bonita Canyon intersection.  Vin was up front early on, but it isn't a tow when he tears off with no one behind him in the draft.  SMH
• I wasn't feeling it for a good portion of the ride, but I'm lucky no one complained about me sitting in the draft for as long as I did.  
• Todd tore off after crossing Bonita Canyon to go up Shady, but Shannon didn't seem to want to chase him.  I would have but see the bullet above.  
• I finally rotated in at some point after the side walk, but Todd didn't seem to mind holding up the front.  He never does really.  He actually led all the way to the top of Shady as well.
• After we got to the bottom, I had gotten across the street ahead of everyone due to traffic and found myself up front and starting us off going up Knollcrest.  Todd held the front and Shannon eventually pushed up past me, Vin and Jaffe and trailed Todd on the final climb.  
• I tried a last minute burst on the final hill and started to reel Todd in, but he saw me coming and took off upon my approach.  Nice.
• Curiously, Shannon didn't seem to be into the ride today for the most part.  It's always hard to tell if he's saving it for something else, pities us, or is actually not feeling it, which the latter rarely happens.  Despite this, he was generally still with us during the ride.  I just kept wondering when he was going to blow past us.  
• Going up Spyglass, we got separated at a light where Todd and Jaffe made it through the rest of us didn't.  
• Vin, Shannon and I were staying together during the climb and we saw we were slowly reeling Jaffe in after he'd dropped off from Todd's wheel.  Shannon challenged Vin to catch Jaffe before the crest...and he did.  I tried to keep up, but gave up enough to latch back onto Shannon when he passed.  We all regrouped at the top with Todd.
• We made our way to San Joaquin and down toward McArthur.  As we approached the intersection, Todd had gotten ahead of us and lined up for the turn with a car behind him.  The rest of us lined up behind the car since we couldn't get by safely.  
• Once we cleared the turn, Todd had taken off and had gotten a pretty good gap on us.  I took the first turn to work toward reeling him in, but Shannon ended up closing the gap altogether.  
• Vin was behind Shannon and tried to pass at one point, but had difficulty (ha ha).  He tried again as we got closer to the intersection, and I ended up launching from behind him to finish that segment #2 for 2015.  :)
• We regrouped at the light and took off together toward Bison with Todd leading.  There were cars doing sketchy things, but we still managed to move at a pretty good clip despite this.  
• The first light was red, so we slowed for that.  Once green, it didn't take long for Shannon to launch an extended sprint that started from before the first light.  I took off hoping to latch on, but I could never really close the gap enough to maximize the draft.  I looked back at one point hoping someone else could help me, but there wasn't anyone close behind us.  Ultimately, I popped like many of the countless pimples I had as a child.  It was gross.  

Thanks for coming out and another workout, gents!