L & 20th Group Ride
The infamous L & 20th Street riders; every weekend they meet at the corner of L and 20th street in the city of Lancaster, California. They leave at 8:00 am sharp for rides that range from 50 to 100 plus miles, and they do it fast!
A few months into my rebirth in riding, I started feeling cocky about my riding ability or more accurately, my fitness level. I started believing there was no one in the Antelope Valley that I couldn’t keep up with. So I began to ask questions at my LBS as to whom I could ride with and actually have a challenge. Lancaster is located in the high desert or Antelope Valley, the Western portion of the great Mojave Desert. It is only 50 miles North of Los Angeles but the mountain range in between the two almost makes L.A. a world away. I don’t think we got our first Starbucks until just a few years ago, came at the same time as our first Barnes and Noble but I digress. My point in this rambling is that there is no organized bicycle club within 30 miles of here (there is now – The High Desert Cyclist is just getting organized, yours truly is the vice-president.) On any given day there are a lot of riders riding around but not together. Everyone is doing their own thing and if you have aspirations to be a racer you need a fast group or pack to ride in. I needed to find this group.
I started hearing that a small group leaves a park in Palmdale, another group starts at Highland High School, etc. I would also hear that a small group of riders meets at the Ralph’s grocery store on weekends at the corner of L & 20th street. But almost everyone that gave me this information would then go on to say, “but you don’t want to ride with them – they have a bad reputation for dumping riders and generally trying to humiliate anyone that thinks they can stay with them.” I put the last sentence in quotes but that’s not accurate – no one ever said it in just those terms but everyone who mentioned the L/20th boys said something like it or worse…assholes, jerks, etc. Seemed like a perfect group to ride with but maybe I need to be in better shape…months went by and I pretty much forgot about the L/20th group. Racing season was getting closer and I still had not been “tested” by riding with a fast club group. In mid January, in between rainstorms, I decided to go out and do a 50 mile hill ride. As I was finishing the ride I noticed 5 or so riders that were approaching the same intersection that I was. I got to the intersection first and turned east with the group of riders about 300 m behind me. I’m used to riding down other riders and usually don’t have any problems riding away from them either but this group was coming fast. What’s more, they knew what they were doing and were in a pace line. I quickly abandoned the idea of riding away from this group as a pace line group is too fast and efficient compared to a single rider. I was also tired from my own ride, the “Three Canyons” ride that has a lot of climbing with several 8% grades involved. So I slowed up and moved out toward the center of the traffic lane and waited for their approach. As they pulled up along side we exchanged greetings and I asked them where they were coming from. They replied that they were finishing the “3 Points” ride. This impressed me, as the 3 Points ride was a good 60+ mile ride with some moderate steep grades involved. I joined the group’s pace line and as I approached my turnoff to head home they wanted to know if I wanted to join them in the morning. I asked where and they said, meet us at L & 20th, we leave at 8:00 sharp. The L & 20th group and me had finally come together.
The next morning I got up early and made the 6-mile ride from my house to L & 20th. There were about 5 or 6 guys waiting around for 8:00. Most were friendly but a couple of the guys were pretty reserved. The ride started and we headed west at about a nice warm-up speed of around 18 mph or so. When we got to the edge of town it was a different story…the pace line formed and the leader took off at 25 mph and the “race” was on. We set up a slow rotating pace line that was just eating up the miles. A couple of miles of this and I knew I was with an intense group. My heart rate was approaching LT and I started wondering if I was going to hang on to this pack…would I be the next “newbie” to be shelled off the back? It didn’t happen, I kept up with the group for the complete 50 or so miles. Due to the rains we couldn’t go into the hills so we were forced to stay in the flats – a big plus for me, and my 190+ pounds. I didn’t get dropped but that doesn’t mean I didn’t have to work hard. I was certainly tired by the end of the ride but I knew this was the group I needed to ride with each weekend to prepare for races. I’ve been riding with this group for a few months now and I think I’ve been accepted. They are a fierce group and do not have any problems dropping a weaker rider but that’s a right of passage that every, would be racer must endure when riding with a competitive group. What’s really amazing though is their age; most of the time I’m the youngest rider in the group at the age of 48! In my next post I’ll talk about the other riders and their abilities in more detail. But for now I will say the strongest rider in the group or at least the best climber is a 53 year-old man with a titanium rod in his left leg!
Today, April 2, 2005 we finished the 67 mile 3 Points ride with an average speed of over 18 mph and that included several tough climbs and stopping for a couple of mechanical problems. This was the toughest workout I’ve had in years. The Merced race of 48 miles, completed at an average speed of 25 mph, was child’s play compared to this. I walked around like a zombie for the rest of the day after this ride. For you lovers of technical info; this was a 4 hour workout and I spent 49 minutes at level 5 according to my heart rate monitor – a tough day.
A few months into my rebirth in riding, I started feeling cocky about my riding ability or more accurately, my fitness level. I started believing there was no one in the Antelope Valley that I couldn’t keep up with. So I began to ask questions at my LBS as to whom I could ride with and actually have a challenge. Lancaster is located in the high desert or Antelope Valley, the Western portion of the great Mojave Desert. It is only 50 miles North of Los Angeles but the mountain range in between the two almost makes L.A. a world away. I don’t think we got our first Starbucks until just a few years ago, came at the same time as our first Barnes and Noble but I digress. My point in this rambling is that there is no organized bicycle club within 30 miles of here (there is now – The High Desert Cyclist is just getting organized, yours truly is the vice-president.) On any given day there are a lot of riders riding around but not together. Everyone is doing their own thing and if you have aspirations to be a racer you need a fast group or pack to ride in. I needed to find this group.
I started hearing that a small group leaves a park in Palmdale, another group starts at Highland High School, etc. I would also hear that a small group of riders meets at the Ralph’s grocery store on weekends at the corner of L & 20th street. But almost everyone that gave me this information would then go on to say, “but you don’t want to ride with them – they have a bad reputation for dumping riders and generally trying to humiliate anyone that thinks they can stay with them.” I put the last sentence in quotes but that’s not accurate – no one ever said it in just those terms but everyone who mentioned the L/20th boys said something like it or worse…assholes, jerks, etc. Seemed like a perfect group to ride with but maybe I need to be in better shape…months went by and I pretty much forgot about the L/20th group. Racing season was getting closer and I still had not been “tested” by riding with a fast club group. In mid January, in between rainstorms, I decided to go out and do a 50 mile hill ride. As I was finishing the ride I noticed 5 or so riders that were approaching the same intersection that I was. I got to the intersection first and turned east with the group of riders about 300 m behind me. I’m used to riding down other riders and usually don’t have any problems riding away from them either but this group was coming fast. What’s more, they knew what they were doing and were in a pace line. I quickly abandoned the idea of riding away from this group as a pace line group is too fast and efficient compared to a single rider. I was also tired from my own ride, the “Three Canyons” ride that has a lot of climbing with several 8% grades involved. So I slowed up and moved out toward the center of the traffic lane and waited for their approach. As they pulled up along side we exchanged greetings and I asked them where they were coming from. They replied that they were finishing the “3 Points” ride. This impressed me, as the 3 Points ride was a good 60+ mile ride with some moderate steep grades involved. I joined the group’s pace line and as I approached my turnoff to head home they wanted to know if I wanted to join them in the morning. I asked where and they said, meet us at L & 20th, we leave at 8:00 sharp. The L & 20th group and me had finally come together.
The next morning I got up early and made the 6-mile ride from my house to L & 20th. There were about 5 or 6 guys waiting around for 8:00. Most were friendly but a couple of the guys were pretty reserved. The ride started and we headed west at about a nice warm-up speed of around 18 mph or so. When we got to the edge of town it was a different story…the pace line formed and the leader took off at 25 mph and the “race” was on. We set up a slow rotating pace line that was just eating up the miles. A couple of miles of this and I knew I was with an intense group. My heart rate was approaching LT and I started wondering if I was going to hang on to this pack…would I be the next “newbie” to be shelled off the back? It didn’t happen, I kept up with the group for the complete 50 or so miles. Due to the rains we couldn’t go into the hills so we were forced to stay in the flats – a big plus for me, and my 190+ pounds. I didn’t get dropped but that doesn’t mean I didn’t have to work hard. I was certainly tired by the end of the ride but I knew this was the group I needed to ride with each weekend to prepare for races. I’ve been riding with this group for a few months now and I think I’ve been accepted. They are a fierce group and do not have any problems dropping a weaker rider but that’s a right of passage that every, would be racer must endure when riding with a competitive group. What’s really amazing though is their age; most of the time I’m the youngest rider in the group at the age of 48! In my next post I’ll talk about the other riders and their abilities in more detail. But for now I will say the strongest rider in the group or at least the best climber is a 53 year-old man with a titanium rod in his left leg!
Today, April 2, 2005 we finished the 67 mile 3 Points ride with an average speed of over 18 mph and that included several tough climbs and stopping for a couple of mechanical problems. This was the toughest workout I’ve had in years. The Merced race of 48 miles, completed at an average speed of 25 mph, was child’s play compared to this. I walked around like a zombie for the rest of the day after this ride. For you lovers of technical info; this was a 4 hour workout and I spent 49 minutes at level 5 according to my heart rate monitor – a tough day.
posted by Bob Grove at 11:52 AM
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