Todd's solo run on the same course: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/92442204
At first, I thought everyone was going to ride with Todd today at 11:30 while I trained with Adrian in preparation for this Thursday's crit. I guess most everyone else decided to come with us instead, so Todd for the most part rode solo. Sorry, buddy. Jeremy had gone out a little before Todd though, so they did see one another here and there on today's course.
Vince came out sporting sexy new Soul shoes for his bike, and I think this also motivated him to ensure everyone knew just how much faster he would be on them too. Everyone must have thought the same thing in the beginning since NO ONE wanted to go first after we gathered at the corner. I wasn't interested to go either, but after everyone sat for about a minute waiting for someone to go, I decided to go ahead and lead the group out. Where's S-Gary when you need him?
I even had the honor of leading the group once we got on the bike trail for a bit, but then Adrian, Vince and Verm passed me after. I'll have to admit...Adrian does pull like a madman on crack, so when he did, that set the tone for the pace from that point on. Vince, Verm and I were also working to keep the pace up, but admittedly, I felt like I was struggling. Adrian shared the same sentiments as well after the ride.
Shannon got in the front rotation some time after the bridge to help keep the pace up as well, and I'm just glad he didn't splinter the group up on his initial pull. Before Jeffrey, Vince got ahead of Shannon and started to gap. Since Shannon wasn't interested in chasing him at that point, neither was the rest of the group behind him. Vince maintained that gap even after we got back on the bike trail after Jeffrey. Damn wheels.
Adrian was at the front of the chase group once we got on Jeffrey with me behind him and Vince well ahead of us. Then like a bat out of hell, shannon breaks off and starts sprinting towards Vince. I believe I was just barely able to utter "nice" as he left us. HA HA. Verm and I worked together though and closed in on Shannon and Vince as we neared Laguna Canyon.
For the sprint section on the 405 bike trail, Verm originally led us onto the trail and out toward the bridge. I was in the #2 spot. Then, Mitchell passed by where Vince grabbed on to his rear wheel and with me jumping on just behind them. I could feel the wind as we were on the bike trail and I was thinking to myself, we need to get close to the bridge before we take off or it'll be tough. Just after thinking that, Adrian shoots past me and takes off for the sprint. I swung out to go chase him, but then Vince swung out just in front of me with some serious force where his seat actually seemed to have acted like a gate on the bike path causing me to check up a bit. Once we got going, Vince and I were subsequently able to pass Adrian up (like I thought....too early), and although I was making up some ground on Vince, he took it with me just to his left with my front wheel beside his rear wheel. The funny thing about this was he was asking for tips for sprinting a few e-mails ago. What a sandbagger.
Going up Ridgeline, Hiroshi and Jaffe had decided to go up the sidewalk, and Verm rode up to the left of the road and crossed when it cleared. The rest of us went across at the bottom once the crosswalk light changed, so we had some serious ground to make up. I led us up the hill and was trying to maintain a good pace where I was hoping to still have enough to finish with the others at the top. However, after we passed Verm and shannon took over, I popped off where Shannon, Vince and Verm rode off ahead of me and eventually disappearing after they turned left on Turtle Rock.
On Turtle Rock, Hiroshi was able to grab my rear wheel and rode with me all the way up toward Shady. Just when I was thinking I need help getting up and over, I looked back behind me and he wasn't there anymore. Bummer. It was hella windy going down. I did run into Shannon at the light on Bonita Canyon and everyone else (minus Verm and Vince who had caught the light ahead of Shannon) caught up at this point.
On Bonita Canyon, it was nice to see Mitchell and Hiroshi also taking turns up front, and on the first slight up, it looked like Hiroshi was going to charge the hill. This was answered quickly by Adrian, who passed him on his right (hmmm) where I had to sprint just to get behind him.
As we crossed the light on Ford, Adrian and Mitchell took off and the rest of us hung back a little seemingly in preparation for a charge up Jamboree. Shannon even said Jamboree would be a good hill to sprint up, to which I agreed. As we turned from Ford to go up, there was a car that was turning right that had slowed our momentum a little bit, but once we got by, I thought I'd go ahead and charge up the hill. I again found a good tempo to do so, and although I thought someone might pass me, no one ever did. I could hear someone behind me where I thought it was Shannon sizing me up before he blows by me, but it turned out to be Adrian who said he made it 9/10s of the way before he popped off. I really like that hill.
For the charge over the 73 on Bison, Mitchell seemed like he was going to go for it even where Shannon commented that Mitchell must be me on a mission today. I gave chase just going through the yellow where others opted to hang back, and managed to reel him in eventually.
What a workout, today. Adrian had been riding a lot lately, so he was a little tired for today's outing as he explained to me. However, just as we were going in, he finally acknowledged that a few of us just came back from a 100+ mile ride with over 10K elevation gain. Awesome.
Thanks, guys!
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