GPS stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/72171865
Todd, Vin, Jaffe and Hiroshi came out today for a ride with Hiroshi indicating his back is still bothering him where he'll be taking it easy. I think we have a new sandbagger in the group as Hiroshi did very well despite his alleged pains.
I was resolved to let Todd do most of the work today to save up my legs for the weekend, but after feeling the winds on the bike trail and Back Bay, I decided to step up and alternate the pulls with him. Wha? Vin actually came around at one point and took a pull too. Wha wha? Good job.
Did I mention that Back Bay was windy? Despite this, we were keeping a pretty decent pace going through and ended up passing a group of 4 older guys before San Joaquin where one guy up front was wearing a Bike Religion kit. I didn't think much of it, but coming out of the exit of Back Bay, Todd and I were still fighting the wind as best we could when two of the guys shot out from behind us at sprint speeds. I sprinted to jump on to see what they had, but as soon as they got to the parking lot opening decided to turn right. I think they may be related to the guy on the TT bike who did something similar to Vince and I on Sunday.
We kept the pace up on PCH with Todd doing the work initially and me helping out before Avocado. When going toward Ocean, I realize another guy had jumped on as he asked where we were coming from. I answered and invited him to keep coming along, but on the steep narrow hill, he ended up falling off a bit where we lost him before we reached Ocean. Hiroshi charged the hill pretty good on that hill by the way, so that was the first sign he may be sandbagging.
Once back on PCH, Todd and I took turns again to get everyone to NPC. Once we went up, Todd started charging up with Hiroshi sticking with him the whole time. After crossing to go to Pelican, Hiroshi actually led up the first set of hills (2nd sandbagging sign) where Todd didn't reel him in until before the dip and the final hill climb. I tried to reel Hiroshi in, but ran out of room near the top.
We regrouped at NPC and Todd led the way to the light at San Joaquin. We were all on the left turn lane where the light didn't turn green as we expected. Todd went to go hit the crosswalk light and was followed by everyone else...well. I went to follow but as I rolled forward, the left turn light turned green so off I went. At first, I thought I'd roll and wait for them, but as their light didn't change that quickly, I took off.
I was full on trying to break away so I charged up the hill initially and then down the other side. I was timing lights pretty good where I knew they were going to have a problem closing. I ended up even passing this one guy at the bottom of the hill and was full on going for it. And then I hit the red light at San Miguel and waited...and waited...and waited. Of course, the guy I passed caught up after a while and soon after, so did the rest of the guys. Bummer. HA HA
When it finally turned green, Hiroshi led the charge at first (3rd and final sign) and then Todd followed up after with a pull on McArthur. Since I got some rest from waiting, I thought I'd try and light these guys up. Even though I passed pretty fast, Todd managed to latch on and we were off and bouncing off near the 40 mph mark. I did this for as long as I could until I detonated. Thank God Todd got worked also where he didn't pass me too aggressively after (to make me his son also).
We got caught at the light on Bonita Canyon/Ford but from there, Todd took off with Jaffe in tow, and with me not too far behind. We rounded Bison pretty quickly and Todd was keeping the pace up as we headed toward the 73. Once we got passed the first light, I thought I'd try to dump them again, and this time, Todd and Jaffe did not catch my wheel. However, Todd did start to reel me in as we got close to CA. For the sprint to the gate, I was fortunate that there were pedestrians to slow us down, so I got a good jump for the finish.
As we approached the gym doors, Vin passed me as I was coming to a stop and said he beat me again. We may need to see if Vin and Eddie are related.
Good workout today...probably more than I hoped for. Thanks for coming out!
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