Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/404353281
Attendees: Vince, Shannon, Galen (wha?), Mitchell, Vin, Jaffe and Steve M.
Route: Orchard Hills OAB
I really don't have a lot of time to blog nowadays, but given Galen's return, the manner in which he did so, and the multiple requests for it today, here you go. I told Galen before the ride that I wasn't going to, but I say a lot of things I don't mean. He was thankful if I didn't, so I guess I'll have to cash in on that thank you another time.
I chose today's route anticipating Galen was going to ride after his wife, yes...his wife, was inciting some BAM rivalry on his behalf yesterday by issuing a challenge. I'll not delve into that challenge, but from the way the ride went today, I may have to take her up on it. You have to wonder what her motivation was though. It's easy to wonder if his stamina is suspect outside of cycling, but I'll just leave that where it is.
Aside from Galen, we had a pretty full crew today. GTJ made it to the gym, but opted to not join us. Wise. Still could be a bigger crew, but I'll leave the call outs for another blog. I'll be dishing out enough trash in this one.
For today's ride, I opted to use more of a "Como" or "race" approach rather than a "team" approach given how this ride could have gone. I honestly didn't know where Galen was with his conditioning and given that he's pretty good at sandbagging (a common trait of Bammers), riding strategically was probably a better idea than riding cohesively. For perspective, Shannon brought up Velominati rule#10 recently that stays "Training is like fighting with a gorilla. You don't stop when you're tired. You stop when the gorilla is tired." In today's ride, we had 3 potential gorillas (figuratively speaking, of course - wink wink).
It started out fast enough going down California but it picked up even more once we got on the bike trail. Unlike Tuesday's ride, however, I opted not to push up to the front for a bit to let the faster guys get the anxiety out of their system. I really would have liked to do it for the whole ride, but the look I get (or at least I feel i get) when I pass up a rotation gets to me after a while. After all, I'm a lover...not a fighter.
We all know who's willing to push up and do the work (although I think Vince was even a little more strategic in today's approach), but would I surprise you by saying that Jaffe has now elevated himself to one of them? This guy deserves some kudos since he is now consistently pushing to the front despite not being able to stay in the front group the whole time. He's becoming more and more of a team player, and we have to recognize and appreciate this behavior. I guess 7 years later is better than nothing, but still!
I had to warn Vin before the ride not to pull any of his shenanigans, and as usual he pretends to not know what I'm talking about. There were some observed today, but it was less than usual so I think he actually listened. He did take some turns up front, but he seemed to have learned some traits from Adrian where he'll soft pedal after 5 seconds as a sign he wants to be relieved. Then as he's passed, he'll pedal off the seat requiring a lot of energy where it's obvious he had more to give. I'm onto you, Monty.
Mitchell is Mitchell and we've all come to accept this. Enough said.
Steve M, the newest and youngest rider of the crew, is definitely a good rider. That said, at some point we're going to have to convince him to take some pulls...especially early on in the ride. I don't think he's ridden with Mitchell enough to get some of his traits, but holding out the guy up front while riding #2 is no bueno. Young man, you have youth on your side. We can only give you so many KOMs from the draft, but eventually you'll have to earn your own. HA HA. Call this tough love. We've ALL received it.
Coming back to Galen, I still like riding with the guy despite the lapse. He is still willing to close the gaps when needed, and I took advantage of one of those when a gap was formed at one point. Unfortunately, his box of matches isn't as full as it used to be. When we were on the bike trail heading toward Portola, he was waving me on to relieve Vince while he sat in the #2 position and me #3. I'm like...nuh uh, sucker. First of all, Vince could use a few hold outs given his antics, and second it's been a really fast ride so far and I'm also just barely hanging on. I didn't realize, however, that this was probably his way of saying take #2 spot vs. the front since I think it was shortly after that Galen dropped off and not to be seen again until the gym. Knowing him though, he had plenty of time to think about what happened and hopefully will come back out again and again until he's back in full form. I think that's what his wife wants anyway, so why not, right?
As I rode away with the breakaway group going up Portola, I was literally feeling like death. However, I didn't want to give up on the idea that I could hang on if I played my cards right, so I just sucked it up and kept pedaling. My eyes were literally about to pop out of their sockets at the top, so I seriously had to suck wind as we made our way to Orchard Hills. I was hoping to get some rest at a light, but as luck would have it, it was green upon our approach. Sigh.
Vince led up initially, but Shannon relieved him shorty after and started to pull away. Vince could have easily jumped on Shannon's wheel but 1) he wanted me to push up so 2) he can pass and drop me shortly after. I stuck with my Como approach though despite the glaring looks he gave me. Of course, he ended up sprinting to break away from me but I was ready this time and hung on for dear life as we continued the climb making our way up to Shannon near the top. Once we descended, Vince took off for a sprint and I felt obligated to contest it just to give him more of a real-life race scenario than anything else - wink wink. Once he opted out, which I would have done too after that mad pull up OH, I was certain it was over when Shannon flashes by at top speed. Nice.
We regrouped at the top of the bike trail, and there was definitely more teamwork on the way back. Vince broke that up a little after Barranca when back on the bike trail, but there was a collective effort to reel him in. That and the headwind was just no fun.
The rotations continued, and I hated pushing up to the front in the wind, but I don't think there were any more holdouts. As we got up to University, Vince was leading the way. Now I could have held him out or waited for someone to try to sprint by so I can latch on, but I thought I'd light up all my matches and see what sprinting the distance of 2.5 football fields would be like in that headwind. This is analogous to Noah mentioning how anyone could let themselves get kicked in the nuts, but in the end it would not be fun. Well, I definitely got my nuts kicked in. Shannon, Vince and Steve M. flew by me toward the end, and all I could do is wheeze at the intersection trying not to fall over and die.
The climb up California was supposed to be a cool down, but this crew likes to suffer and took me deep in the black by the top. Gotta love them for it though. If it doesn't kill ya...okay, enough with the sayings already, right?
Thanks for coming out, and a special thanks to Nicole for letting Galen play with us again. Interesting last note though: someone mentioned how he thought Galen should be lighter and faster on the bike given he no longer has nuts. I'm paraphrasing, so don't kill the messenger.
Attendees: Vince, Shannon, Galen (wha?), Mitchell, Vin, Jaffe and Steve M.
Route: Orchard Hills OAB
I really don't have a lot of time to blog nowadays, but given Galen's return, the manner in which he did so, and the multiple requests for it today, here you go. I told Galen before the ride that I wasn't going to, but I say a lot of things I don't mean. He was thankful if I didn't, so I guess I'll have to cash in on that thank you another time.
I chose today's route anticipating Galen was going to ride after his wife, yes...his wife, was inciting some BAM rivalry on his behalf yesterday by issuing a challenge. I'll not delve into that challenge, but from the way the ride went today, I may have to take her up on it. You have to wonder what her motivation was though. It's easy to wonder if his stamina is suspect outside of cycling, but I'll just leave that where it is.
Aside from Galen, we had a pretty full crew today. GTJ made it to the gym, but opted to not join us. Wise. Still could be a bigger crew, but I'll leave the call outs for another blog. I'll be dishing out enough trash in this one.
For today's ride, I opted to use more of a "Como" or "race" approach rather than a "team" approach given how this ride could have gone. I honestly didn't know where Galen was with his conditioning and given that he's pretty good at sandbagging (a common trait of Bammers), riding strategically was probably a better idea than riding cohesively. For perspective, Shannon brought up Velominati rule#10 recently that stays "Training is like fighting with a gorilla. You don't stop when you're tired. You stop when the gorilla is tired." In today's ride, we had 3 potential gorillas (figuratively speaking, of course - wink wink).
It started out fast enough going down California but it picked up even more once we got on the bike trail. Unlike Tuesday's ride, however, I opted not to push up to the front for a bit to let the faster guys get the anxiety out of their system. I really would have liked to do it for the whole ride, but the look I get (or at least I feel i get) when I pass up a rotation gets to me after a while. After all, I'm a lover...not a fighter.
We all know who's willing to push up and do the work (although I think Vince was even a little more strategic in today's approach), but would I surprise you by saying that Jaffe has now elevated himself to one of them? This guy deserves some kudos since he is now consistently pushing to the front despite not being able to stay in the front group the whole time. He's becoming more and more of a team player, and we have to recognize and appreciate this behavior. I guess 7 years later is better than nothing, but still!
I had to warn Vin before the ride not to pull any of his shenanigans, and as usual he pretends to not know what I'm talking about. There were some observed today, but it was less than usual so I think he actually listened. He did take some turns up front, but he seemed to have learned some traits from Adrian where he'll soft pedal after 5 seconds as a sign he wants to be relieved. Then as he's passed, he'll pedal off the seat requiring a lot of energy where it's obvious he had more to give. I'm onto you, Monty.
Mitchell is Mitchell and we've all come to accept this. Enough said.
Steve M, the newest and youngest rider of the crew, is definitely a good rider. That said, at some point we're going to have to convince him to take some pulls...especially early on in the ride. I don't think he's ridden with Mitchell enough to get some of his traits, but holding out the guy up front while riding #2 is no bueno. Young man, you have youth on your side. We can only give you so many KOMs from the draft, but eventually you'll have to earn your own. HA HA. Call this tough love. We've ALL received it.
Coming back to Galen, I still like riding with the guy despite the lapse. He is still willing to close the gaps when needed, and I took advantage of one of those when a gap was formed at one point. Unfortunately, his box of matches isn't as full as it used to be. When we were on the bike trail heading toward Portola, he was waving me on to relieve Vince while he sat in the #2 position and me #3. I'm like...nuh uh, sucker. First of all, Vince could use a few hold outs given his antics, and second it's been a really fast ride so far and I'm also just barely hanging on. I didn't realize, however, that this was probably his way of saying take #2 spot vs. the front since I think it was shortly after that Galen dropped off and not to be seen again until the gym. Knowing him though, he had plenty of time to think about what happened and hopefully will come back out again and again until he's back in full form. I think that's what his wife wants anyway, so why not, right?
As I rode away with the breakaway group going up Portola, I was literally feeling like death. However, I didn't want to give up on the idea that I could hang on if I played my cards right, so I just sucked it up and kept pedaling. My eyes were literally about to pop out of their sockets at the top, so I seriously had to suck wind as we made our way to Orchard Hills. I was hoping to get some rest at a light, but as luck would have it, it was green upon our approach. Sigh.
Vince led up initially, but Shannon relieved him shorty after and started to pull away. Vince could have easily jumped on Shannon's wheel but 1) he wanted me to push up so 2) he can pass and drop me shortly after. I stuck with my Como approach though despite the glaring looks he gave me. Of course, he ended up sprinting to break away from me but I was ready this time and hung on for dear life as we continued the climb making our way up to Shannon near the top. Once we descended, Vince took off for a sprint and I felt obligated to contest it just to give him more of a real-life race scenario than anything else - wink wink. Once he opted out, which I would have done too after that mad pull up OH, I was certain it was over when Shannon flashes by at top speed. Nice.
We regrouped at the top of the bike trail, and there was definitely more teamwork on the way back. Vince broke that up a little after Barranca when back on the bike trail, but there was a collective effort to reel him in. That and the headwind was just no fun.
The rotations continued, and I hated pushing up to the front in the wind, but I don't think there were any more holdouts. As we got up to University, Vince was leading the way. Now I could have held him out or waited for someone to try to sprint by so I can latch on, but I thought I'd light up all my matches and see what sprinting the distance of 2.5 football fields would be like in that headwind. This is analogous to Noah mentioning how anyone could let themselves get kicked in the nuts, but in the end it would not be fun. Well, I definitely got my nuts kicked in. Shannon, Vince and Steve M. flew by me toward the end, and all I could do is wheeze at the intersection trying not to fall over and die.
The climb up California was supposed to be a cool down, but this crew likes to suffer and took me deep in the black by the top. Gotta love them for it though. If it doesn't kill ya...okay, enough with the sayings already, right?
Thanks for coming out, and a special thanks to Nicole for letting Galen play with us again. Interesting last note though: someone mentioned how he thought Galen should be lighter and faster on the bike given he no longer has nuts. I'm paraphrasing, so don't kill the messenger.
