10/18 Ride Report - Pimp My Ride

It was about bling and style for this ride. It started out like this…

Big Minh shows up wearing his new VeloViet kit proudly. Minh has been working hard on the rides and was inducted on last Saturday’s party. Those who missed the party, man, the food was great and you gotta hit the Christmas party. All the fast guys were sharing their secret training plan! We saw Cap’t secret training equipment!

Minh must have color coordinated his ride as his new VV kit matches perfectly with his new bike. The color matches nicely with his red Specialized Tarmac and red Fulcrum wheelset. And then “Mac Daddy” rolled up wearing his VV kit….

Mac’s bike was black and compliments the red/black color of our kit. Mac was playing it cool and quiet as he shades behind dark glasses. He must be contemplating how to do his “Mac Attack” on the ride in VV color. Mac is again without his significant other so can unleash the solo energy without the weight of the tandem.

Then Mr. Bling himself shows up…

Dashan cruised up in a BRAND SPANKING NEW Look 596 Time Trial Bike. This baby was sweet and sports an integrated fork/frame system, fully decked out with Zipp time trial cow bars. Populating this frame is a fully adjustable Look crankset, selectable from 170 to 175 mm, and decked out with Campy components. And of course, it sports the VeloViet red color.

And it doesn’t stop just at the bike. Dashaan has a red/white Lazer helmet with red/white strap! Red rim glasses, and… check this out… virgin pure white leather Sidi shoes with not a mark on them. Swwweeet!!!

So it’s not just about the bike… It’s ALL about the bike!!!

So the sharp looking VV group rolled down to the start of the River trail. It’s another big group and we can feel the energy of the peloton. The group even got larger as 4 Rock Racing riders joined us. These guys are also blinged out to the max as they sport full RR gear, Trek Madones with Zipp 1080 in the rear, and 808 in the front. One guys had Bora Ultras on his bike even! Do you know how much these wheels cost???

Cap’t had indicated we would roll as one group today, so the ride to the first stop was paceline smooth. This changes after the first stop as PCH split up folks, but we were only going 16-18 mph though! We looked around and saw that it was partly because of the Rock Racing crew. These RRs are small guys built like climbers, and they seemed to have a hard time revving those extra, extra large aero wheels each time we stop and start at a light. Gaps form and these broke up the paceline as we can’t get folks together in a single group. Look for these wheels on eBay soon!!!

On Jamboree, Chris, one of the new riders, quickly move to the front. This guy must be like 110 lbs, build like Contador, and he accelerated on every slight incline. Good thing a lot of my VV team mates were around, as I had to latch onto Duc and Tuan to grind out this uphill. At the University wait point, we looked around and even saw Nancy and Tan. This lady is tough, and if there is a Best Consistent VV Female Rider, she would win it for sure! Nancy is missing her compact crankset on her old bike, being repaired, and was toughing it out on a 53/39. We didn’t see the Rock Racers though. This routine continued until the gas station where everyone regroup. Everyone seemed to be there… but where are the RR guys? A quick phone call finds that they were still climbing the hills!

The ride back was a rush as we were contested by another group on PCH. This is how it goes from Tuan’s recap (as I was too far off the back)… we were averaging about 25-26 mph and came up to another bike group. This group had a slower average speed, so Scott took us around them very nicely. The other group tagged us for a little bit, and then suddenly sent 3 or 4 of their fastest guys to the front. The pace picked up right away to 29-30 mph and Dashaan and Cap’s covered the gap as we still had a little gas left in our tanks. After a little pull, they stop and would not work with us anymore.

Seeing Cap’t and Dashaan worked so hard, the VeloViet camaraderie took over and Tuan took a turn at the front and really picked up the pace. As Tuan pulled aside, Duc then took over and gave an extremely hard pull. I was behind Duc, and with the uphill, I did a rookie attack as guys from the other group were trying to use us to make a move on the left. I got to the hill first but had to use all of my energy just to make it there!

On the trail back, Dashaan did his patented move from the back, around about 7 VV guys, to the front 2-3 mph faster than what we were going. Luckily Tuan was there to cover the move and he did it from the front! From there the speed picked up and folks were peeling off one-by-one. I happen to be behind Duc again, who did an incredible hard pull again. I continue forward as Duc move to the right and picked it up about 1-2 mph. Then I saw the Segestrom Bridge and a huge shadow on my left, and decided to sprint for it. The shadow was Tuan, who moved up on my side, but then a larger shadow enveloped us as Cap’t sprint pass both of us to take the bridge exit first.

At the bridge, I looked around and then checked out Dashaan’s white shoes. Man I can’t even see a mark on the leather. How does he do this? It’s as if Mr. Bling hasn’t ridden at all. Minh and Mac at least broke a little sweat in their new VV uniforms.

EVERYONE was pumped from this ride! The duel on PCH definitely brought out extra adrenaline in all of us. It’s was nice to see the camaraderie and teamwork we had as a club when dealing with a challenge. Chris said he had never ride that fast before. I can see from his excited speech and in his gleaming eyes that he and Michael definitely will be coming out more with us. I would rate this ride is rated as one of our top rides. We were pimping in style, speed, and adrenaline rush!

Next week is a big ride… The Challenge of Tom’s Farm!