10/17 Ride Report - OC Ride with Douglas

The winter weather came suddenly to Southern California this weekend, bringing with it dark heavy clouds and a scattering of light rain. Pictures from MN sent by Quang showed beautiful sunny sky in contrast to Southern California’s gloomy weather. It was as if Douglas had brought with him the MN winter weather, and sent OC usual sunny weather to MN instead!

35 riders came out to welcome our MN VeloViet brother Douglas, who came in to ride with us. The last two days has been a whirlwind for Douglas, with dinner on Friday, a social ride on Saturday, and a coffee social after that ride. Surprisingly, Douglas was still energetic and enthusiastic for our usual Sunday's ride, and he fit in with the OC crowd perfectly. Here are some pictures at MSP.

Photo #1 - Posing for the Before the Ride Photo

Photo #2 - Billy P, Duc, and Loc T

Photo #3 - Steve and Anh Minh

Photo #4 - Loc P, An (or his twin Loi), Douglas, and Tan

Visiting us were some additional guests: Lobo and Sophie. Lobo, a friend of Big Minh, came out already decked in VeloViet kit. Sophie, a totally new newbie who does not even own a bike, was asking us for tips on what kind of bikes to get. We had great conversations all around as everyone was chatting with each other as some have not seen each other for 2 weeks due to the GranFondo Ride.

Photo #5 - Lobo, Tan, and Big Minh

Photo #6 -Dat and Guest Sophie

Also now formally joined the OC VeloViet group is a couple of riders who have ridden with us before, Arnel and Greg R. Arnel is a friend of Chi, and Greg R is a Cat 3 rider that we met on the Lee’s Sandwich ride. Both of these guys are strong cyclists and will complement the VeloViet team very well.

Photo #7 - Arnel, Billy P, Tuan, and Douglas

Photo #8 - Greg R (white helmet) in His New VeloViet Kit

Cap't introduced Douglas and the guests, and made his usual speech on bike safety. He also encouraged VeloViet folks to help, if they can of course, to victims from the severe weather in Viet Nam.

Photo #9 - Pre-Ride Instructions

Photo #10 - Everyone Listened Attentively

Photo #11 - Are We Ready to Roll Yet?

The ride down to PCH was a nice social ride for most. I was doing the sprint back and forth to get some pictures and had a good workout doing this. Even though we were cruising just around 20 mph, the group was so large and we broke up and combine a few times due to stop lights. Here are some pictures on Bushard.

Photo #12 - Nice Double Paceline Up a Climb on Bushard

Photo #13 - Stopping at a Red Light

At the first rest stop, the whole area was in a sea of red. Quang had sent us the new uniform order just in time and I asked folks to wear their new kits. I dug out my camera and was snapping away.

Photo #14 - VeloViet Women and Douglas

Photo #15 - Steve, Minh, Andy, and Greg R

Photo #16 - Big Minh, Billy P, Sang, Co, and Billy D

Photo #17 - Lobo, Big Minh, Viet, and Anh Minh

Photo #18 - Nancy, Ilene, Candy, Luke, Co, Christina, Greg G, and Phong

Photo #19 - The VeloViet Ladies Striking a Sexy Pose!

Photo #20 - How Many VeloViets Does It Take to Change a Flat?

Photo #21 - The Answer is Six: Four Working On the Flat and Two to Supervise!

Photo #22 - The New Look from Rock Racing Twins An and Loi

From here the A1 guys took off for their fast ride. I stayed with the A2 for what I thought would be a nice easy roll, but almost immediately Thang attacked. What the heck man? This attack drew out Greg R, and then everyone else. What was a casual friendly ride turned into an all out battle up the first hill on PCH towards Jamboree.

Then it was the hill of Newport Coast. By now, with the light but constant rain, all the VeloViets were soaked with water flinging every which way. If it wasn’t the rain coming down, with was the water flinging up from the rear wheel of the rider in front. A quick debate and we decided the Vista Ridge climb and descent was too dangerous, and that we would skip this.

Photo #23 - Christina Made It Up Newport Coast!

Photo #24 - Loc P, Anh Minh, and Thang

Photo #25 - Tan and the Rock Racing Twins

Photo #26 - Candy, Cap't, and Andy Cresting Newport Coast

Photo #27 - Nancy and Tan

Photo #28 - Co and Billy Working It Hard on Newport Coast

Photo #29 - Douglas Cresting the Newport Coast Climb

“I want to do more” Douglas said, and Tan and Anh Minh looked at him in disbelieve. How anyone could want to descend on rain-slicked roads like this is beyond believe? But they have forgotten that this man was from MN, where the roads were much worse in the winter, and that he could probably ride his bike even if there was ice on the ground let alone a little water. So they took him to do even more climbs!

By the time the rest of us reached the top of Newport Coast, this group had left with Douglas. After waiting for a bit, we sent back Cap’t and Greg R to pick them up. The rest of us rolled down the hill to wait for the climbers. Here are some pictures at the gas station stop.

Photo #30 - Big Minh, Billy D, Viet, Lobo, Candy, Toan, Douglas, and Dat

Photo #31 - VeloViets "Watching Their Steps" on the Slippery Road

Photo #32 - Douglas and Co

Photo #33 - Nancy and Douglas

Photo #34 - Christina and Douglas.

Photo #35 - Candy and Ilene

The PCH ride back was one of the most exciting stretch for me in a long time, as the A1 group had return from Laguna and caught up to us. Mix into the pack was now our fast guys Tuan, Greg G, Steve, Luke, and Jason. We were rotating and I remembered taking a huge pull at 27 mph before Jamoree. Around this time too Billy P was expending a lot of energy as he was also working the front for a while. We stop here at the stop light and had a good laugh, as Cap’t had so much energy and restless that he was doing loops on the side while waiting for the light. The light changed and he took off, dragging the rest of us.

Photo #36 - VeloViets Enjoying a Short Rest While Cap't Pace On the Side

On SART, I remembered Arnel was in the front for a long time working solo. This guy had so much energy that he was not releasing his hold of the #1 spot in the pack. I remember a lot of movement as guys was flying from the back to the front giving all they had right before at the end of SART. The Rock Racing twins even had a go and they almost captured the final sprint.

Photo #37 - Regroup at the Start of SART

Photo #38 - The A1 Wolves Breathing Hard After the SART Spint

Photo #39 - Douglas Excited After a Hard Sprint on SART

In the end, all had a great time with the friendly, but competitive, ride with Douglas. The VeloViet team took Douglas yet to another coffee shop outing. Here are some pictures from Cuong for Douglas to remember us by.

Photo #40 - MN VeloViets... Wanna Come and Visit Us in the OC?

Photo #41 - Douglas and the OC Coffee Crew

Until the next ride,
Phong