Phto #1 - Billy D, Mad Dog, and ChristinaA bunch of our A1 riders were out this week. Cap't is busy moving into his new house (which happens to be accross the street from the MSP parking) and the Animal is out riding mountain bike (he is leading the points competition). The A2 guys were extremely excited as the A2 to A1 rider ratio is like 10 to 1. The A1 guys are in for a pounding today!
Photo #2 - A couple of our new rookies posing before the actionThe run into PCH was a nice social ride, with everyone chatting away and catching up on the week. No bloodshed yet! This was good as I was doing the "sprint-n-pic" with my camera.
Photo #3 - Rock Racer Can on his brand new Dogma, in VIP black color!
Photo #4 - Viet, Dashaan, and Randy cresting the hillThe first stretch on PCH was interesting as we practice the paceline. Turns out even some of our A1 veterans were not up to standard on this rotating paceline technique, as guys who were feeling strong did not want to rotate away from the front position. After a lot of yelling from Anh Minh and I in the first five miles, we finally had a nice even rotating line with speed of around 22-24 mph. Excellent!
At the first pit stop, there was much discussion as we were debating how to rotate guys from the back all the way to the front. We started out again.
The narrow side road and rolling hills made it difficult to rotate as the different level of fitness was apparent whenever the road went up. The pack broke into two groups on Seal Beach Blvd. I remember seeing Duc, Jimmy, Sang, Mathew, Rock Racers, Toan, Dashaan, and Loc in the first group. Close behind I think were Dave, Kyanh, and Randy. Mad Dog, Christina, and a few rookies were there as well. Generally we were mostly together on the first half.
At the half way stop, we met up with Candy, Daniel, and Tan. Tan had arrived late and was chasing us the entire way. He was a bit out of breath when he caught up at the stop.
The return on PCH was an exciting race. It seemed that everyone was saving up for the return and I think Sang made the first move after the initial group roll out. Duc and Jimmy took to the front and then it was my turn. I remember taking over a couple of blocks before a hill. On this hill, I maintained a constant speed and this broke up the group. On the long and windy stretch before Huntington Beach, I remember seeing only Duc, Jimmy, RRs Can, An, Loi, Sang, Dashaan, and Mathew. The nine of us were the only riders that came out of the hills intact from a group of about thirty.
Photo #5 - 11 facial stitches later, Mathew is back in action! Big Minh giving the thumbs up.In HB, we hook up with a Velo Allegro rider and the speed kicked up. I remember seeing Dashaan near the front and then he pulled aside. Next to go I think were the Rock Racer twins. I remember Duc took too long of a pull up front and could not latch on. Somewhere here too we lost Can and Mathew, but at the start of SART we regrouped.
Sang, Jimmy, and Mathew took off first on SART once Mathew arrived. I waited for the next group which included Duc, Toan, Loc, and the Rock Racers. Our group set a blazing speed, approaching 30 mph at one point, down SART. We were in the zone!
All together we had a very nice hard 55-mile ride to prepare for the Epic. A1 and A2 riders rode as one with no group overpowering the other group. We do need to practice the paceline a bit more, but probably will keep to a smaller rotating group of about 10 riders as a large rotating group is extremely difficult and not too safe on PCH. If you want to try this out, move up. If not, stay behind the last rider who is rotating.
Until next time,
Phong
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