Day two of the Men's training camp was an epic day, an out and back century ride to Mission. The spring weather treated us like champs as we had sun all the way. The ride started with an early morning departure from the delectable Pane from Heaven located in the heart of the Kitsilano area and headed off down Broadway and Lougheed Hwy until we arrived in Pitt Meadows ( a nice 20 km warm up).
We then did some pace lines around back roads to get the blood moving and kick in the ye olde metabolism. The farm roads in the area are amazing road riding and if you haven't had a change to make it out to Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge you should.
Once we entered Maple Ridge and Mission you could feel tensions rising a bit as there was some hard intervals up the short steep climbs out in the 240th Ave area of Maple Ridge. We did however pause for a bit for ice cream (Dan really?) and a photo opp outside of the Mission sign.
However, all these niceties were simply a distraction from the soon to be nightmarish Stave Lake Dam...
The Attack @ Stave Lake
Once inside the Mission boundaries it is a short ride to the infamous Stave Lake Dam climb, which on this ride turned out to easily be the hardest part of the day.
To help you understand the importance of the Stave Lake Dam climb, it helps to understand that the climb comes in at about 80 km into the ride. While there is nothing inherently excessive about 80 km, you have to remember that you still have another 90 km to go to get home. Blowing yourself up here is not the smartest idea.
With that in mind we all rolled up tentatively to the bottom of the climb with all of us undoubtedly wondering what lays ahead? None of us want to send off a whole bag of hurt... well none of us that is except JP.
Right off the gun JP surprised us (and perhaps himself) all by staging an early and incredibly powerful attack right at the very the frackin' bottom. Myself, Allan, and likely everyone else, were totally caught totally off guard.
At the time I remember thinking that the pace of the attack was outrageous, we weren't in the tour. You see the worse thing about an unplanned attack, is well the unplanned part of it. Its a psychological mind #$%. When you can prepare for an attack somehow they don't hurt as much. You know they are coming, you have the right gearing and you have spun up the mental focus to give you the needed pain shield.
But when its unplanned its like you a kid again being pounded on mercilessly by an older brother who has 30 lbs on you and 5 extra years of hate.
Being a smart man I decided to try the witty counter attack first, instead of trying to match speed:
"Hey, JP do you know how looooong that climb is?"
"Memo's in, didn't anyone tell you its not the tour?"
Despite the deluge of witty remarks flung in JP's direction, he kept on attacking wasn't showing signs of letting off. At this point we all knew we had to start digging my heels or be left behind.
Oy Vey!
So we all dug and raced after JP. I can't speak for everyone but the pace was epic, and I wasn't sure where I was going to find the speed to keep this up to the top, but that was neither here nor there. For now all you can do is focus on getting the most out of each pedal stroke and let chips fall as they may.
Then after a couple switchbacks JP all of a sudden sat up and let off on trying to tear our legs off.
Are you &*(^% kidding me, I thought to myself!!!
I was pissed. First off I was taken totally by surprise, second I was killing myself to hang on and now that is all of it!! This was not the end of it if I have anything to say about it! So I continued pushing pretty much the same pace as what John started. Hrmmm... get me all riled up... I will show you riled up.
At this point I didn't care what happened, I was going to go until I dropped. Slowly the group thinned until it was just me and Allan, a well known Billy Goat. Then as I was wondering if I could put a gap on Allan, he decided the pace was too slow and attacked on top of my attack.
I followed suit holding on to his wheel. I was hurting like hell but I wasn't going to let go of it for nothing. I looked down at my bike computer and my HR was 182 BPM, right on my threshold... perfect. And I kept following Allan, I couldn't gain ground only hold. This kept on for quite awhile until it got even steeper, then I made the epic rookie mistake of looking down at my heart rate again, this time it was 195 BPM. Oy Vey!
A word of advice, if you are ever in a race and things are hurt like hell, never EVER look at your heart rate, it will likely only discourage you.
At this point I knew I had gone too deep that tying to hold Allan was madness, since there was still 90km riding left and I was way into Zone 5! - For the record my max is 205 so I had a little head room so watch out Allan!
At this point I pulled things back and let Allan gap me to the top. All I have to say is screw you Allan, nicely done Mr 2x Yaletown Champ!
The Ride Home
So far we had executed this century ride with nearly flawless precision, which means it was just about time to get a rash of mechanicals. Sure enough as we were re-entering Maple Ridge on our way back from Mission we were hit with a rash as JP decided to take a rest from his hard climbing attacks by slicing and dicing his tire.
A few powerbar wrappers later and a bunch of air cartridges later we had fixed the tire and were back in fine form and none too soon too as the group was becoming grumpy will all the stops and starts.
From Maple Ridge to Vancouver we cruised in at a relaxed pace and finished the day off where we started.
Photo Album
The weather also provide a great backdrop for some photos, which you can view here.
The Route
So I know many of you may be interested to know the secret century route concocted by Allan... well I was sworn to secrecy by have decided to break that secret trust and post the route below (don't hate me Allan!)
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