GPS stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/79221631
What a turnout! Even with Todd and Vince away, there were 14 of us out there today ready to get some good climbing on (mine showed 1800+ feet but PV's showed 2300+). Maybe they all came out BECAUSE Vince and Todd were out? HA HA. Nevertheless, everyone seemed set to attack on the hills.
The pace down CA was a little more mellow than usual, but Gary, Adrian, Mike Z. and Jaffe made it interesting by crossing the light at University ahead of the rest of us. Once the light turned green again, the chase was on.
Mitchell lead the initial charge (apparently fully rejuvenated from Sunday and I believe his ride yesterday) all or most of the way to Back Bay. Once on Back Bay, PV, Shannon (on team Trek for this ride), Eddie and I worked together to catch the 4 guys at the light on San Joaquin and Jamboree with Noah jumping to the front near the bottom of the hill.
Going up San Joaquin, we hit a bunch of lights, which helped to keep the group together for the most part. On the last intersection before the climb, Noah got a jump and created a pretty good gap on everyone. He must have been saving for Ridge Park and soft pedaling near the top where I caught him with Shannon, PV and Adrian not far behind. The rest of the group must not have been far behind either as a lot of them caught us at the light on Ridge Park.
Once the light turned green, Jaffe and Marc got a good jump and attacked the hill in front of us. I started to make my way up with Noah behind me, but orders from the team car (okay, so it was Noah) were to slow up and let Jaffe take the hill. Apparently, Adrian's earphone must have been broken as he then started charging after we all slowed down. Typical. Since the free pass was only for Jaffe, Noah said "I'm not going to let Adrian take the hill" and charged ahead of him. I tried to keep pace, but we all know that can't end well.
I did keep Noah in sight and saw him charge the brief uphill once on Vista. As I was rounding the corner, I looked back to see PV making his way behind me. I was thinking it wouldn't be too long before catching Noah on the down, but he was moving on a mission to keep the gap. I did manage to catch up near the bottom with PV behind, but he wasn't going to let up the charge and caught the light on Ridge Park from NPC (the opposite side) where PV and I just missed it.
PV and I also missed the light to turn left on San Joaquin again, and as we sat, watched David pass shortly followed by Shannon and Adrian. Once the last two went by, we couldn't let them get away so we took off after them. They must have thought it was funny and upped the pace A LOT once they saw us coming. I gave chase and was hoping to work with PV, but when I looked back, I didn't see him so I chased these characters down (passing Noah and David mid-hill) and fortunately ran into them at the light at the bottom.
As we got to the McArthur light, more of the rest of the group caught up. Jaffe was again getting up front, and ended up doing a TLB with Adrian at the light near Jamboree. Fortunately for us (Shannon, Mitchell and I), we were able to get through the Jamboree light with them although still with a good gap.
Mitchell led the initial chase followed by Shannon (who appeared to not be content on the Trek today along with having problems shifting). I think once Shannon got up front, Adrian thought better than to try and keep the gap and started soft pedaling, with Jaffe behind him. I had gotten in front to close the gap on these guys and upon approaching told them to "GO!" HA HA. Adrian finally started spooling up and a few of us started alternating keeping the pace up. Adrian took a pretty mad pull at one point with Jaffe behind him where I was thinking, I need to make sure Jaffe doesn't pop and let Adrian get away. That didn't happen today. In fact, Jaffe even took a good pull to almost lead us up to the top of Back Bay! Holy smokes!
I was able to sprint to the top uncontested but then worried what Jamboree would hold. After crossing the street, Shannon passed me and said "one more," so I jumped on. At the base, Shannon again didn't seem to be feeling it, so I got up front with Adrian behind me. I got in a good rhythm thinking Adrian wasn't going to hold on, but he not only hung on, he also passed me (more to make a point than anything else) but detonated literally seconds after. I returned the pass after.
On Bison, a few us were together again at the light at McArthur, which speaks volumes to how strong the group is. Mitchell lead the initial charge once the light turned green, but Adrian and Noah were able to charge past him and Jaffe? on the 73 bridge. I sprinted after thinking I may not catch Adrian but I can't let a climber beat me. Although I was able to close on them by the time we got to CA, they both got the best of me to the gate. Noah must have had his sprint face on, but on this occasion, I could not see it from behind him. Awesome!
I think I provide more detail on lunch rides than centuries, right? HA HA
Good showing today and some really impressive riding out there from a lot of folks. Thanks!
Impressive ride by everyone today. I knew the pace was going to be high, but it was "ridiculous". The whole concept of it not being as fast since Todd and Vince were not with us was not even close to reality.
ReplyDeleteI ended up losing contact on the last part of SJ, but was able to still catch the group at the light before Ridge. The pace right as the light turn green was higher than I felt I could sustain, so I again lost contract with the group for a while. I did catch up to folks towards the top, but could not quite close the gap on Marc fully.
Marc and I met at the left to turn back onto SJ and worked together to try and bridge the gap. I think we hit every light possible. At one of the lights, the rest of the group caught up and we start BB together. Mike started us off with a strong pull to set the pace. I took over, with Mike following. Out of no were, Eddie comes off the front and does a breakaway with a look behind. Mike blew up, and so I chased Eddie down with the group following. Just as I caught on to the back of Eddie, he started fading so I took the next pull. Again, out of no were, Marc tries to make a break away. No one passed me to chase him down, so I started to bridge the gap. We caught him and I was relieved on my pulling by hanging onto Marc's wheel for a while.
Just before the end of BB, I took a pull to lead us into the hill. Eddie and I charged the hill and continued onto Jamboree. I tried to hold a strong pace and got to Bison first, but not to far behind was the rest of the group. On Bison, we soft pedaled to MacArthur and then I tried to sprint the rest of the distance, but kept hitting the lights. No challengers so it was just me wasting a lot of energy :)
Good job, Gary!
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