The Mountain King returns!!! Jason showed up with his Spanish Orbea steed, ready to tackle the rolling hills of Dana Point. He had heard of the upcoming Palomar ride, and decided he needed to prepare himself for this assault.
The Video King returns!!! Anh Minh showed up with his helmet camera ready to capture all the VV action. He has not ride for the last 10 months, but decided to just go for it. Brave!
The tandems were gone!!! Mac and crew ready themselves for the Palomar climb by ditching those heavy tandems. Will they be able to keep up now without the combined energy of the double engines?
The Fixie Girl returns!!! Can't keep away from all the fun, Fixie Girl returns with her signature long stocking socks and Camel bag ready to whoop it up with the VV bike crew.
Nancy is back with a new Pinarello!!! A broken chainstay is not going to keep her from all the fun. Found out that the bike is borrowed from Kieth. Nice guy to loan her his Pino!
The group started as usual down the River trail. Immediately Tuan, Greg, Jason, and Sang went to the front and set the pace. There would be no unity today with all lot of energy expended by all. Group A and B regrouped at the 1st break.
On PCH, Group A, now with Vinh and Duc, set a blistering pace. Duc went to the front and took an extremely long pull at 24 mph. This was an insanely fast pace as we were also dealing with a cross winds. Up the last Laguna climb, I drop off and could not hold. The Mountain King was stomping hard on this climb, showing all he is the Man in the mountain. Greg and Tuan were helping out too and took turn on this hill assault.
As if there were not enough pain recived on the Laguna hill, we did a U at the top and took the Newport Coast route for even more hills. Tuan set the pace on this one and only Jason, Greg, and I could hold. Sang had drop off earlier, and we saw no signs of Duc or Vinh.
Coming back on PCH the winds had changed and it was brutal. The act of going at 21-22 mph feels like we were working at 25-26 mph. We passed everyone on PCH though. No one, and I mean no one, passed us today!
Returning on the River Trail, we hook up with 2 riders and they were extremely aggressive and fast. We were going 25-26 mph, and they were weaving in and out to try to up the tempo. Tuan was pulling, and after he worked quite a bit at the front, the 2 riders sprinted and drop Tuan. No way was I going to let them get away with this! I had some energy left and decided to show my VV muscle. I pull around the 2 riders, set a new pace, and beat them back at the trail exit averaging around 28 mph. I was spent!
Group A return to the parking lot. We were all in a state of euphoria, with extra adrenaline still pumping from the trail competition. This was a fast no holds bar ride and came at the perfect time.
Next week Trekman returns! Stay tune! Hope you all enjoyed the ride recap!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Thanks for the recap Phong. It's always nice to read your report. We missed alot of the regular Veloviet riders today. The group was a little bit disorganized and scattered along PCH. The strong winds didn't help keep the group together either. Was nice to still see the newbies and a few oldies coming out. The group is getting bigger and stronger. Saw 2 young asian that look like they were still in school on the way back on the river trail. We passed them at the entrance of PCH when they we taking a break on the side. I overheard them say "hey Veloviet". The next thing I know, they were behind us. One of them came up next to me and say hi how are you doing. I say to myself, hey these little kids are pretty strong. Knowing that we were almost to the wooden bridge, I decided to up the pace with the new guy Greg right behind. Wooo, was able to get to the bridge before lose kids. Sorry Phong for jumping on you since you were pulling us.
ReplyDeleteAs always, it's was fun and had a good workout.
i hung on as long as possible...i got dropped right around the climb up towards Ruby in Newport Coast Dr. Duc got caught behind a light and tried to catch you guys but you guys were way too fast so he was nice enough to drop back to pull me the rest of the way. When everyone regrouped again on the way back from Laguna, again I got dropped and Duc stayed back. We did go up Newport Coast Dr but I was no way going to catch you fast guys. Duc and I rode back together and met up with Tan, Nancy, Minh, Angie, and Nhung on PCH. It was a windy day and my bike with the new deep dish Reynolds was blowing everywhere! scary feeling screaming 35-40mph downhill with a crosswind! It was a fun day nonetheless and I hope to continue my quest to hang with the A Group =)
ReplyDeleteAs always, love reading Phong's recaps!
ReplyDeleteYou guys are too fast! Also Phong can not qualified as a rookie anymore! We need to move him up to leave room for new rookie! In MN rookie = ONLY 3 months or ONLY current year of joining the group! hehehe!
We got rain and chill over the weekend ... I did not see any biker on the road but when I came to pick up the BD cake for my daughter at the deli... Wow! the line was so long over 30+ people at the bakery. That is how MN get chubby over the winter! hehehe!
Keep riding and keep having fun!
Quang Vo
ps! I notice we have 5 runners from VVs group over the 10/4/09 run:
1. Captain Thomas,
2. Linda our lady VV,
3. Joe
4. Greg
5. Oscar
I don't know about Oscar but Joe did his 10 miles in 59min and Greg 1hr 20mn.
Congrats to all of you runners!
Dashaan also did a 1/2 marathon a few months ago. So there are 6 folks who run. VeloViet Running Club (aka VVRC)?
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention in the recap that there were a couple of new riders from Los Angeles that showed up last Sunday. So we have OC, IE (Inland Empire), SG (San Gabriel), and perhaps LA now. Quang, these are counties/city areas in Southern Cal that are approx 1 hour away from each other center.
Remind the MN folks that they are still in training for next year's century and double century!