1/10 Ride Report - Return of the Fixie Master

The Fixie Master slithers into the parking lot, decked out in his fixie kit and single speed bike. He has been monitoring the Geared Masters’ 2009 progress, and knew that this group has been growing in strength and in size. Fixie Master knew that he had to make the challenge at the beginning of the year, as there will be a point in 2010 where the rides will be completely dominated by the Gear Riders and their 22-speed geared steeds.

His Fixie Legion was nowhere to be found. The last we saw one of his fixie groupie was on the dance floor at the 2009 Christmas Party. Fixie Girl must have partied so hard that night that she must still be recovering from it. The Fixie Master must have got nervous when he saw that he was the only fixed gear rider, as he was feverously adjusting his bike at the MSP parking lot.

The Geared Masters came out in force, represented by Cap’t Thomas. Cap’t was so sure of his team that he even brought an older and heavier Trek 5500 bike, plus he did an extra 20 miles even before we started the Sunday’s Ride. Supporting Cap’t was a strong geared team, including The Gear (aka Tuan), Mad Dog & Mrs Mad Dog (aka Jason & wife), The Sprinter (aka Dashaan), The Italian (aka Billy), and candidate for 2010 Rookie of the Year, Cuong.

The terrain was going to be the same as the last fixie ride, the famous 12% grade Yorba Linda hill. Thus start the first 2010 Fixie Ride...
About 20 riders started from MSP. This group hooked up with about 10 more riders at the start of the river trail. We rode a few miles together at 18-19 mph pace. Then it happen, Rookie Cuong attacked.
Thinking that he can start softening up the Fixie Master, Cuong elevated the speed to 22 mph. Joining him at the front were Tuan and the Fixie Master, who both helped drove the relentless pace. The 30-strong group quickly splintered.

The Geared Ones knew they were in for a challenge. TZ, Toan, Thang, and Ducati connected with the front group. Cap’t is nowhere to be seen in the front, and must have stayed back to shepherd the riders behind. Half way to the first stop, Dashaan joined up, kicked in an extra gear, and drove the pace up. Like always, everyone reacted to Dashaan’s move. We know that if we don’t hook on to the VV train now, chances are we will not be able to later. The group reached the first stop.

For this ride, we had a couple of guests. Joining us were Mathew, an 11 year-old rider, and Phillip, a 12 year-old rider. Both of these young riders have been riding for a little over a year, and can already hold their own in the paceline. Wow!

The ride approaches the Yorba Linda hills, and everyone had fallen off due to the hard pace, except for about 11 riders. There was Cap’t, Tuan, Cuong, Long, Toan, Fixie Master, Sang, the 3 Rock Racers, and young Mathew. These riders started up the Yorba hills.

Quickly Cap’t Thomas attacked the climb, with Tuan, Cuong, and TZ following closely behind. I was in fifth position following TZ. Cap’t and Tuan swapped position a quarter of the way, and Tuan started to drive the pace at the front. Half way up, Rookie Cuong suddenly accelerated and passed Tuan. The rest of the group spoke briefly to each other, thought that Cuong could not hold the pace, and let him go.

We were right, as the hills became too much for Cuong, and he stopped a little pass the half way mark. We passed Cuong, who was gasping for air on the side of the road.
Up on top, it was Thomas, Tuan, and TZ who were the first to ascent the hills. I huffed and puffed my way to forth position. We wait on the side of the road. Up next was Sang, and in the distance, we saw Cuong slowly made it up the Yorba hills. These six geared riders were the only one that conquered the Yorba Beast.

We rolled down the hills and met up with the remain of the group. Most of the riders had turned around and had already started back. The chase was on!

The fixie and geared riders rode as one to try to chase down the group that had already left. Fixie Master and Thomas started this wild ride with hard pulls at the front. Tuan and Cuong were also in front helping. After the Car Wash, the Fixie Master took an extra long pull and then drop off. The damage was done; a large gap was created between Cap’t, Tuan, and Cuong from the rest of the pack. These three hook up with another racer and starting moving away from the pack. The gap grew to well over 500 feet.

All of a sudden, the Rock Racers came alive. Rock Racer #1 came around me and brought the speed immediately up to 25 mph. He took a long pull and then I came up to take the front. After I pulled aside, Rock Racer #2 came up. He also took a long pull and then Rock Racer #3 took over. He was their diesel engine.

Rock Racer #3 brought the speed up to 28 mph and held it for a long time! I was in the second position and had a hard time just holding my position. Rock Racer #3 brought us to Cap’t Thomas group. These RRs must have been doing some serious secret training somewhere as they were exceptionally strong. Way to go!!!

We met up with Long, who was with the group that left early, on the Warner exit. Long indicated to us that the front group was there a couple of minutes before we arrived. By then, we were all out of juice so we just slowly rolled back to the parking lot.

In the end, the Geared Riders showed up, and was ready for the challenge. Although exceptionally strong, the Fixie Master knew he was beaten today, as he was unable to do any major damage to the Geared Ones without his Fixie Legion.

The Geared Riders know the Fixie Legion will be back, but they also know that they will be ready for any challenge. The geared group has been growing in size and its riders were growing stronger every day. The weekly ride will never be the same with this new found strength, and the SART will be ruled by the VeloViet’s Geared Masters for every Sunday in 2010.

Out,
Phong