Garmin stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/73386342
4 man team out today with Jaffe, Vin, Eddie and me. We didn't see anyone else come out from the Wednesday crew, so I hope we're not causing the participation to drop. If so, it's Noah's fault.
We took off and ran into about 5 cyclist once we got on E. Peltason with a couple being kitted. I was going to hang back some today, but I thought it would be fun to mix it up if they were interested and got up front. We passed the first 2 guys pretty much where they weren't interested, but when we passed the next 2 guys, they latched on and turned with us up Anteater. After we rounded, they both jumped ahead. We got caught at one light, but after it turned green, the lead guy (in a kit) went ahead. I thought Vin was going to chase him down, but he wasn't closing the gap as we were going over towards Shady. Vin may not be aware of our Type A policy, but we typically contest anyone passing during our Tues/Thur ride. I chased the guy down and passed him after hoping it would get more interesting going up shady. They ended up turning on Bonita Canyon though.
Going up the road on Shady, we kicked it up a notch and Eddie stayed with me the whole time. Jaffe and Vin fell back a little bit, but were able to latch back on by the time we got to the bike trail.
Training for this weekend, I thought I'd kick it up a notch again going up to the top. Ironman Eddie stuck with me for most of the climb, but decided to back off just on the last grade. He was going to contest the top, but ended up deciding otherwise.
We all rode down the hill together, up Quail, and onto Laguna Canyon. I tried to get in front before the bridge to pull and caught Vin's shadow seemingly wanting to pass me on my right. Since it's unsafe (wink wink), I didn't let that happen.
Once we got on the bike trail, I decided to hang back a bit and let the 3 work together to get a better workout and allow us all to stick together. I, in turn, got a great workout hanging outside the draft and working through the trail against the wind like they were. I was hoping they'd work together more, but Eddie seemed to do a majority of the work. Plus, whenever he'd get up front, the pace would kick up a lot and make me work extra hard to not let them get too far off. Did I mention how windy it was?
Once we got on University, Jaffe was in front with Vin and Eddie in tow. I was thinking Eddie was going to sprint to CA here, but he never did. Jaffe looked like he was going for it though, so I decided to catch up and pass before as well as pull subsequently. We were at a 20.1 average by CA, so good job to the others for keeping that pace through the wind.
When we got under the bridge, we ran up on a guy wiht a red jersey who didn't seem to be pushing too hard. Once we got on the merged trail, I decided to pass him there with the others behind me. When we got to the light, I was slowing down but it turned green just before I came to a stop. Vin took off but then was chased down and passed by the guy in red. Going back to the Type A policy (plus to train more for this weekend), I chased the guy down and passed him just a little past midway up the hill. When I told Vin I chased the guy down for him to uphold his honor, he said he had slowed down to wait for me because he was worried about me. Wow...all along I didn't think he cared about me. hee hee
We all re-grouped again at the light on McArthur. When it turned green, Eddie put his bike in front of me to give the others a chance to get away. Vin broke away pretty good with Jaffe not too far behind. They actually got the next light, but as Eddie and I were coming up on it, the light turned yellow. Eddie called out to stop, so I did sliding the rear wheel some just to do it.
Once we got through, I saw that Vin and Jaffe had to check up a little for the first light over the 73. However, they took off shortly after that. Eddie had gotten ahead of me from that first stop light and managed to pass Jaffe. However, Vin was ahead of both and really wanted to contest the gate (as I later found out that they were conspiring to do since the bike trails). It took some time, but I was able to reel Vin in before we got to CA. When it came to the gate, I was waiting for him to contest, but he never came up. He did, however, pass me through the parking lot and beat me to the gym door. Good job! :)
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