Everyone Craves a Little Madness Once In a While

Strava:  https://www.strava.com/activities/571933279

Attendees:  Shannon, Vince, Hiroshi, Mitchell, Adrian, Jaffe, Steve M., me and Saurabh

As with fight club, there are rules one should know when riding with this crew:

1. If you're new to the ride, expect that everyone is going to try and drop you.
2. If you haven't ridden with this group for a while, expect that everyone is going to try and drop you.
3. If you ride with this crew often, expect that everyone is going to try and drop you.

While all of the above are true, 1 and 2 are ESPECIALLY true.   And when you COMBINE 1 and 2 on the same ride,  add "...as soon as possible."  The bottom line here is that these boys have a serious passion for pain and anyone else who dares to join them will be collateral damage.  Period.

Now I didn't think I would want to ride with these guys anytime soon given my other personal pursuits, but you can't help but miss them.  Call is masochism, but looking at their Strava posts gave me an itch that only other alphas can scratch.   I just didn't expect them to use a steel rake while doing so.

Saurabh came out to join today after hearing about rides on Tuesday and Thursdays.  As we met him while congregating outside the gym waiting to depart, I felt obligated to welcome him to the ride as well as set his expectations as stated above.  What's funny is that I'm now considered a "visitor," but I guess old habits are hard to break.  Saurabh said he would try to draft as much as possible, but I guess that didn't work out too well given he dropped even before the first underpass on the bike trail.  At least he was warned.  I hope he continues to come out, but he'll have to eventually drop the rearview mirror (Yes, Vince...I used to wear one too) and get some real pedals vs. cages.  Just some words of advise from an old timer....

With Hiroshi giving me fair warning that everyone was getting faster and faster before I came out, I knew exactly what I had to do:  Make like a caboose and constantly ask my Maker not to let me get unhinged.  Sure as shit, Hiroshi was right.  These guys were ridiculous today!  They were definitely applying rule #2 above, which required me to apply rule #5 but from a different set of rules.  If you have to ask....

What was great about today's ride was that everyone was taking turns up front except me.  I was the cycling 'coxswain' directing those rotating out from the front to latch on to the guy in front of me.  I'm not used to this group allowing me to do this, so being a visitor does have its perks.  Some definitely did more work than others, but from my view, everyone pushed up at some point.  Awesome!  As a result, they were killin' it...and me in the process.  To see all the Strava bling people received, including myself, just shows they were out for blood.  

Here are the results from what I could see in the challenges I created for this route:

KOMs

Top of Bike Trail at Portola - Vince with Steve M. nipping at his heels...or was it the other way around?

Top of Orchard Hills - Vince with Shannon in hot pursuit and making a pass down the hill.

Top of California  - Shannon with a powerful breakaway leaving Vince to chase and me to feel old

Sprint

To California - Repeat of Bike Trail at Portola where once again I couldn't tell for sure.

Now that I've had a taste of the crew's "alpha-ness," I think I'm good for another month (or more) before riding with this crew again.    I'll have to do some covert training in preparation for it as I'll bet they'll even get faster.  I'm sure of this.

Thanks for letting me tag along today, gents!  I really appreciate the workout albeit being more than 500 more calories I prefer to burn for my cardio.  Looking forward to the next time.

Team BRCM (not AVGO) Lunch Ride - The End of my BAM Era

Strava:  https://www.strava.com/activities/524073233

Attendees:  Shannon, Vince, Todd, Adrian, Hiroshi, Mitchell, Steve M., Jaffe,  PV and Seon

When I was getting my bike ready for today's lunch ride after announcing yesterday it would be my last,  I have to admit I felt a little emotional.   Aside from the normal anxiety of riding with  this nutty group, reflecting on all my experiences with them over the years definitely tugged at some of the heartstrings.   On top of that, I wondered if anyone was even going to show up!

Before I go into the ride (which thankfully a lot of guys showed up for), let me take you down memory lane with me to highlight some of crazy memorable events with this crew.  I'll call it "Remember When...."

Remember when...

...Tim organized the first BBR I attended where Vince dominated all the years before? This was how I got into road bikes.

...we started riding at lunch as a bunch of individuals then got our first BRCM jerseys and became a more uniform-looking bunch of individuals?

...there was a Wednesday/Friday crew (consisting of Vin and Hiroshi at the time) who we would love to join for recovery days?  

...I crashed due to a pine cone but was able to take out a Honda Civic on a different ride?

...Gary and Todd got new bikes and transformed into different riders overnight having everyone else follow their lead soon after...except Vince who waited and waited and waited but now is super dangerous on his Cervelo?

...Adrian wore mountain bike shorts to his first ride but conformed after realizing it was a disadvantage?

...we did our first century (Stagecoach) only to subsequently dominate their team time trials for several years with Vince, Todd, Shannon and Noah setting the tone?

...we did our first race ever in Camp Pendleton (the bulldog) in the rain yielding some wins and good placements?

...Vince didn't try to break away?  Me neither.

...we jumped at every opportunity to do a hill climb challenge (Alpine, San Diego, OCGF, LeTaupe) and doing very well in them?

...Galen broke his collar bone at the 2nd OCGF but never broke his spirit?

...Jaffe was a menace to cycling society and rode like he was British (wrong side of road)?  

...our post events became why we rode rather than the ride itself?  I think our first Big Bear outing set the baseline for the rest to follow.

...we all experienced mild to severe hypothermia at the San Diego Gran Fondo?  

...Mitch called Shannon an amateur and how we all gasped in fear of the ensuing punishment to follow?

...riding was somewhat normal until Strava ruined our lives?

...Jeremy bought a bike, then another, then one after that, etc., etc?

...we celebrated weddings by trying to kill ourselves on a ride days before?

...we piled into Shannon's truck for the Death Ride and nearly experienced death after getting in it post his flatulence?  Oh and that handlebar dance....

...people used to look at us and say "who's Broadcom?" only to later on say "Oh no, Broadcom's here?"  

...we thought it was a good idea to carry a water bottle with ~10 lbs of sand in it for training purposes?  This, of course, had to be outdone by Verm who would wear a 40 lbs. vest during his training.

...Noah was the only one with a Power Meter where now those who don't are the minority?

Oh man, there are so many memories that I could go on and on, but in the interest of Internet storage space, I'll leave you with the ones above.  Hell, you can always read my prior blogs if you want to know more.  That's why they're there!

As for today's ride, I was pleasantly surprised by the turnout especially since I hardly get out anymore.   Along with the current "regular" riders, we had the likes of Seon, PV (on a TT bike) and Adrian join us (I should include Todd since he doesn't ride much nowadays too).  Plus we had Shawn, Tim and Jeremy come out to say goodbye and join us in the picture taking.  Needless to say, I was touched and rather thankful for the honor.

The ride was everything I could have wanted in my last lunch ride with this group:  we maintained a manageable pace for most of it with multiple people working together, regrouped here and there and sprinkled in some BAM in to keep it interesting for everyone.  My OCD didn't mind that we were not all uniform kit-wise too.  It was still a sight to see with 11 of us riding together and Shawn leading us out of the parking lot with his beach cruiser.  Sweet!

Here are some pictures from today:

Staging area 1

Just in time

Staging area 2

Surrounded by black kits

PC - Jeremy

Today's riding crew

Today's full goodbye crew

Always badass in bunches

In closing, I want to say that it has been an incredible 8+ years of riding with this group.   Everyone has grown so much, especially me, and I know people will continue to grow even in my absence.   I'm really sorry I haven't been here throughout (life happens), but I know that I'm only a small piece of the equation (okay, maybe an important piece but still).  You guys have made me the cyclist and competitor I am today...humble but hungry.   I'm so thankful for getting to know each and every one of you, whether we've ridden once or literally fought cycling battles in the trenches multiple times.   I asked myself if I should continue donning our kit after I leave, but I just can't imagine not representing the best group of guys (not the company) out there.  While I may not have the badge, I'll always be a BAMMER for life.

Yours truly,
Rich