Last in San Diego was the big surf monkey race that Rock and Huddle put on. As a result, many of my training partners decided to compete in it and avoid the traditional big Sat ironman training ride. However, I didn’t really have an interest in racing the aquathon and thought my training would be better spent getting some miles. I contacted Kevin and Thurs and he mentioned he was going up to LA for a big weekend with Ian Mikelson---crazy strong triathlete who is having a great season.
Since Ian has made a few trips to SD, I thought I would call him to see what was on tap. He mentioned Sat would be 5 hrs of riding through some hills near his home, Sat night a long run and then Sun a massive 7 hr ride up the coast. Definitely some big days and sounded better than Surf Money. Yes, there is something wrong with me. However, I still wasn’t sold because I just didn’t think the riding in LA would be that great. Well, after talking to Kevin again I was in.
So, Kevin and I met up, we loaded up my Honda Element and we drove up to Ian’s parent’s house in Torrance for a IM training weekend to remember. We got Fri night and after being off a block managed to find his house. We couldn’t see the street signs but knew the house with the loud stereo and college kids drinking in the front yard wasn’t it.
On Sat morning, we awoke and knocked out a good breakfast---lots of bananas and peanut butter. The weekend theme. We got rolling around 7 and managed to make several loops around Palos Verdes. Ian had this random connection of roads that made two loops. An outer loop, flatter with more signal lights and an inner loop with a nice climb. Other than losing a bottle after 4 hr, we had a great 5 hr ride for 95 miles!
Since Ian has made a few trips to SD, I thought I would call him to see what was on tap. He mentioned Sat would be 5 hrs of riding through some hills near his home, Sat night a long run and then Sun a massive 7 hr ride up the coast. Definitely some big days and sounded better than Surf Money. Yes, there is something wrong with me. However, I still wasn’t sold because I just didn’t think the riding in LA would be that great. Well, after talking to Kevin again I was in.
So, Kevin and I met up, we loaded up my Honda Element and we drove up to Ian’s parent’s house in Torrance for a IM training weekend to remember. We got Fri night and after being off a block managed to find his house. We couldn’t see the street signs but knew the house with the loud stereo and college kids drinking in the front yard wasn’t it.
On Sat morning, we awoke and knocked out a good breakfast---lots of bananas and peanut butter. The weekend theme. We got rolling around 7 and managed to make several loops around Palos Verdes. Ian had this random connection of roads that made two loops. An outer loop, flatter with more signal lights and an inner loop with a nice climb. Other than losing a bottle after 4 hr, we had a great 5 hr ride for 95 miles!
We got home, ate a little bit of food and lounged around until 3:30. Now it was time to load up and head for the beach and an oceanfront run. The goal was 2hr 15 min out and back from Redondo Beach to whenever. It was flat on not too bad running along the bike path. The only bad part was the AVP tournament going on in Hermosa Beach. We had to zig-zag our way through a lot of people for a mile.
Surprisingly, the run went well. I tossed in 20 min of tempo at 1hr 45 min and it was painful. But other than that the run was a solid 19 miles. It was a great site to see Ian’s girlfriend “T” sitting on the beach after her long run. She was kind enough to go back to the car and pick-up our cooler with drinks.
We returned home and the feast began. Ian’s father Larry, made a trip to the store and had chicken and salmon. We tossed in a couple pizza’s as we prepped the food. I worked the grill and cooked the fish, chicken and some corn. About the time we started to eat, Ian friends Ryan and his girlfriend joined the group. Dinner was great and not having to go to the store was killer. BY now it was late and time to get to bed before Sunday’s adventure.
Sun was crazy long day. I awoke and ate as much food as I could before we left for a 7 hr tour up the coast. It took us a little bit more time to get going than we hoped. We got about 2 blocks away and Ian had a flat, so we turned back to fix it. About 20 min later we, we got rolling again. We wound our way through LA and up the coast and through Santa Monica and finally out to good riding. The rolling hills up the 1 were great. We cruised up the coast to Oxnard and grabbed some food/water and we headed home.
Once again, we got rolling just in time for Ryan to have a flat. We fixed it and started rolling. The wind getting back to the Malibu coast was strong. Kevin took a great a pull to give Ian a break and then we started working together. We were rolling and then Ryan got another flat. 3 flats in one day! We got rolling again and everything was great until this random cyclist hoped in and sat in the middle! We tried to talk to him but he blew us off. Eventually we reached Santa Monica and waited a bit for Ryan who stopped for water after being dropped. The ride was 5.5 hrs by then and I was starting to get tired. Unfortunately, the ride turned to city streets and the bike path and the ride went from great to bad for the last hour and a half. We rolled into the Mickelson mansion with 7 hr and 5 min of riding and 134 miles! Big day. We ate, loaded up the car and headed home to SD.
I arrived home around 8PM. I was dead tired and got nothing else done but some great training. I had 14 hrs of training with 19 miles of running and 229 miles of riding. Ian is a freaking freight train and his parents are great. If the riding was better, I could see myself making this trip a few more times. OK, that’s all from here.
