When the whip comes down
June 6, 2013 § 11 Comments
If your computer shook and blew a little smoke out the back this morning, there’s a reason. The record for the most iconic climb in SoCal fell, and not by a little. Josh Alverson took eleven seconds out of the fastest time up the 1.9-mile Palos Verdes Switchbacks.
This is a climb whose top times include monster riders like Kevin Phillips, Tony Restuccia, Derek Brauch, Evan Stade, Pete Smith, Jeff Konsmo, and one-off wankers like G3, Tri-Dork, and Stormin’ Norman who can pull some amazing stuff out of their shorts when they have to. Out of 15,567 efforts by 1,983 riders, Josh’s time reigns supreme. Hats off to this madcap, funny-talking moto hammerhead!
The first time I met Josh was on a Donut Ride. He was wearing a Bike Palace kit and hadn’t gotten the memo that you’re not supposed to attack out of Malaga Cove, attack onto Paseo del Mar, attack out of Lunada Bay, attack in Portuguese Bend, attack at the bottom of the Switchbacks and then drop the field. I would have personally delivered the memo had I not been languishing several miles in the rear.
Josh now rides for Spy-Giant-RIDE, and along with teammate Eric Anderson and Big Orange wanker Peyton Cooke, they made an assault on the Switchbacks after doing the NPR and Via del Monte. The arrangement was as follows: Peyton led from the bottom to the first left-hander. Eric took over from there until the steep section after Turn Four. Josh soloed to the finish.
News reports indicate that Peyton went so fast and so hard on his section that he almost fell over when he swung over. Eric, a fierce and unpleasant wheel to be on even in the best of times, buried it for the next three turns, fading just before the juncture with Ganado. Josh sprinted/sat/sprinted/sat/sprinted all the way to the finish. Strava link here.
Kudos, all three of you!
Now go get jobs.
Cycling in the South Bay 
GLORY on the roads of PV..always fun to read about…WM, remember, ‘JOBS’ is a 4-letter word to most cyclists…
I guess blogging in mid-afternoon on a Thursday doesn’t give me much room to, uh, point the finger, does it?
I can now go Cry in my Beet Juice and chalk that one Off my list of Possible Strava KOM’s….
It was never even on mine…
Holy crap! And this is after he incinerated me on the bridge to nowhere on the NPR. The due’s a beast!
I can’t stand him, either.
at 450 Watts, I need him to come over and heat my house.
He will do anything for beer and Mexican food.
Wait… do you know what “heat” means? This sounds entirely different.
I can’t even imagine imagining that. And my imagination is where all my cycling chops live.
He’s a very sick boy.