"Legit" on the bike

The Famous Mandeville Canyon

One of the most popular local bike routes in Santa Monica

6 miles of climbing with few stop signs

I took a ride with the LaGrange bike club this morning. LaGrange is one of LA's premiere racing clubs, and they host daily 6:30AM hammerfest rides every day of the week. I don't get to ride with them often due to being at work by 7AM, but as I'm on vacation this week, I got to get out and mix it up with them this morning.

Today is their Mandeville Canyon ride. Stays in the posh Santa Monica suburbs, and takes a route up a steady 6 mile climb up Mandeville Canyon road, which starts off really mellow, but cranks up to a painful 14% incline right in the final 400 meters when you're hurting for air.

The last time I did this ride was probably over 4 months ago. Back then, even though I was in pretty good bike form, I was dropped very quickly by the main pack, and ended up riding solo most of the way until I dragged myself back to the stragglers who had fell off the back. I also recall one older guy, "Bruce" who is a 50ish year old big guy and is thus hard to miss, and usually finishes right behind me as I tend to just catch him in the final stretches. I think I've seen him at virtually every LaGrange ride I've done.

Today, I was feeling good when we set out to Mandeville Canyon in a pack of 30 strong riders. This is a pure racing group, and there are no "slow" riders in the bunch. Everyone can hold 22+ mph in a pack no problem, and the leaders are hellaciously fast. The 5 mile ride to Mandeville is mellow, and as per the normal routine, I start out in the middle of the big pack but end up in the very back within a few minutes, as most riders take one look at the aerobars on my bike and think that I'd be sloppy bike handler. At least that's what I assume, since roadies tend to be fairly snobby about triathletes on bikes, although I do agree that in general, bike handling skills in a tight pack with heavy drafting is far superior with the pure roadies compared to triathletes.

Once we hit Mandeville, the pace picks up. Gradually at first, but after the first stop sign, it's a full-out hammerfest. Due to my awareness that other roadies won't want to draft off me unless they absolutely have to, I start in the back and work my way up by dropping anybody who can't keep up. In the past, I usually drop the back third of the group and then settle into a solo groove at that point. Today though, was different. We set off at a brisk but manageable pace, and within 5 minutes, the group had split into two, with me hanging off the back of the front pack. The pace ratched up again, and started burning off riders 2-3 at a time. Unfortunately, it's a narrow road with car traffic so passing can be a bit tricky, so I definitely lost a bunch of time as I sometimes had to wait to pass slowing riders, and then had to sprint to catch the pack. I noticed that I dropped "Bruce" like a rock within the first 10 minutes of riding, and that for the first time, I had the leaders of the ride in full view. I had grand aspirations of pulling myself into the top 5 riders, but they lead 7 guys were definitely too strong for me - which was no surprise, and as a pack, they accelerated away as the biggest final hill started up. I ended up riding the final half mile in solo, but I caught the 7th guy en route, and actually saw the leaders pulling up the steep climb to the finish just ahead of me. Climbing the final 14% incline really hurt, but I definitely have particularly good leg power on hills, and I was able to maintain an aggressive pace all the way up. It was quite satisfying for me to pull in right behind the leaders, and see their surprise of "who the heck is that?" as they saw me roll in right behind them, as usually the front 10 guys who finish are all known entities.

After a mass regroup, I had no idea what was next in store, but we were still riding. Apparently, the group goes down and then rides back up the hill a SECOND time. I'm glad I didn't know this, as I probably would have held something back the first go-around! The second repeat was much less aggressive, with front half of the pack holding firm at a solidly uncomfortable pace until the base of the final climb, where everyone peeled away for the hill sprint. Again, my results were similarly excellent, as I promptly pulled out of the rear position, and swept up 10-12 riders in a single push. In fact, my hill acceleration was as fast as the leaders on the 2nd climb, as they didn't pull away from me this time. It's a good group of guys though, and I got a lot of "great climbing!" from the guys that I pulled past. I like doing the same when I get dropped from the rear.

I followed the lead 4 riders up the final climb, which is a very steep 18% hill but shorter, at about a mile and a half, with peak incline for only the last half mile. All the other riders bailed at this point, leaving me with 4 very strong riders. Fortunately, we were in mellow mode until the final half mile, so I got to catch my breath. These guys were really out of my league - I'm amazed that I could even keep them in sight today. One guy just rode the Leadville 100 mountain bike race that Lance Armstrong just won, and this guy finished 25th out of 1300 riders. Including a lot of pro mountain bikers. The other guy was training for the "Everest" challenge, which involves climbing 35,000 feet over 2 days. To put this in perspective, my longest, hilliest rides involve 5 hours of riding with 6,000 feet of climbing. I'd have to triple that in a single day in that race. Yikes!

Today's bike ride was a nice affirmation that the long and hilly bike rides that I've been doing most weekends with the triguys have indeed made me stronger. Significantly stronger, judging from my results today. I really enjoy riding with stronger riders - I definitely pushed myself harder than I could have alone while desperately trying to hang with the front pack. I'm hoping that this winter, I'll get the chance to put in some serious bike miles and take my cycling to another level, but I'll have to prioritize running/swimming before figuring that out.

I think I'm finally "legit" on the bike - I don't think I have to worry about being a "poseur" on my racing bike anymore!