Garmin stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/68770947
8 of us made it out today to squeeze a ride out in between storms (9 including Mike Z., but he went solo after we got back). Nice to see Seon coming out again to join us.
Gary must not have liked how I yelled out to him to turn right on Health Sciences Rd as he was trying to bust it from the onset. Thankfully, a car slowed him up on the turn to East Peltason. I did relieve him and PV and Vince also kept the pace up all the way to Culver.
At the light, I believe Vince took off first toward Campus and was already pushing the pace and PV and Gary responded by pushing it even harder. Vince eventually took over and then created a gap as he rounded to go on Turtle Rock. He thought the route was flatter given what mapmyride.com showed for the elevation gain, so he was pushing hard the whole time. Umm...hello? This is not the first time we've done this route. Plus, Summit was thrown in, which increased the elevation gain further. Unlike Paul, Vince may have map dependency issues.
When Vince gapped us, PV lead and I contemplated on trying to close it but KNEW this was going to be hilly and decided it would not be good strategically. When I saw Vince wasn't slowing, I did alternate with PV (while Eddie sat comfortably in both our drafts) and kept Vince in our sights but never really closed the gap as we should have done.
On the bike trail up Shady, PV wasn't too far behind Vince but I fell off PV's draft. Eddie took over and actually helped but, we were never able to close on PV after this. I'm not saying it's Eddie's fault, but.... Near the top, I took over but according to Eddie, I pulled an "Adrian." (Definition - passing with the intent to drop after sitting in the draft. Synonym: selfish). In my defense, I was just trying to not let PV (and Vince for that matter) get away. Eddie did end up catching me near the bottom, and we worked together through University.
On Ridgeline, PV and Vince were still visible through most of the hill, but not really after (except when Vince was going down Summit as I was nearing the top). PV decided to take a different Summit AND skip the Ford Jamboree climb (another handicapped map reader identified), but we'll let it go this time.
Eddie was doing pretty good on Ridgeline (albeit sucking on my rear wheel like a drug addict would on a doobie) but had fallen back a little 3/4 of the way up. He was able to reel me back in though on Turtle Rock and stayed with me all the down to Bonita, up Turtle Ridge and the beginning of Summit. He started having shifting problems though, so that must be how he fell off on the hill.
On the way down near the bottom of Summit, I saw Seon and Jaffe just starting to make the turn to climb. Surprisingly, Jaffe didn't just make a u-turn and follow at this point to tell me how slow I was at the next light.
On Bonita Canyon, I was in battling the wind solo but looking ahead, I could not see anyone else. Bummer. I had to stop at the light before McArthur, and then spent going down the following hill trying to clip back in. (For the record, the tolerance on Speedplays sucks if the cleat comes loose). I thought I saw someone from our group ahead of me going onto Ford but I ended up missing the same green light. Lo and behold, Eddie catches me here too.
We go up Ford together and I go wide to turn in tight on Jamboree to see if I can get a good pace going from the base of the hill. When I thought I did, Eddie decided it was time to bust it and tries to breakaway to keep me honest. Nice! He actually gapped me for a bit, but I reeled him back in and passed to return the favor. He kept me honest all the way to the gate. I guess now that he's adjusted his seat height on the F1, he's now finding more power on it. Officially, I'd have to agree with Adrian...Eddie's back!
We may need to do something to keep the group together more for the next ride. The ride and ditch is great for training though, so I doubt Team Agro will change their MO.
Good ride today, gents! Thanks for the workout.
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