GC: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/108895942
What a way to start a ride. While we were waiting for everyone at the corner, two young attractive ladies wearing black t-shirts and shorts driving a Muscle Milk truck pulled up and offered us a free drink. While my dumb ass responded that we were okay given that we were just starting the ride, PV saved the day and said he'd take one. Once they came out of the truck, it became obvious that PV made the right call so we all lined up behind him and got our free drink. We even got to take a picture with one of them. It was a pain in the ass having to carry a 14 oz bottle on this ride, but well worth it considering its origin. I can only imagine that LTJ is reading this and kicking himself for missing the ride today.
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| Not the same ones, but close enough |
When we got to NPC, PV decided to go across the street on the red while the rest of us waited. We'll have to pull out Sandy and let him carry her around on the next ride as a result. He didn't break away on it though, but we can't have Galen (who joined us again) think this is commonplace for our rides.
When the light turned green, Galen was the one who decided to break away from the others first and got a good head start up the hill. It took a bit of work to make my way up to him after coming around from behind PV and some others. He did latch on for a little bit, but was off the back before I got to the 73. It looked like they were reeling me in after the 73, but I was able to hold them off throughout. I considered stopping to regroup, but decided that it may be more fun to be chased instead.
On the downhill to San Joaquin, I was pleasantly surprised by Galen who had rolled up beside me. He even jumped ahead and pulled where I gladly got in his draft. We worked together through McArthur and PCH, and I guess PV wasn't too far off the back since he ended up catching us on Jamboree. The funny thing was I asked Galen where he came from, and he responded with...he caught us but he runs lights. HA HA. I told you, PV.
The 3 of us worked together on the first Back Bay pass and it was nice to have others help keep the pace up. Galen is still getting familiar with our routes but gladly took turns up front once he was on board with the destination. We all crested Back Bay together.
On Jamboree, I took yet another opportunity to try and break off from the two. I passed Tim, who was running up the hill, and he yelled out some encouragement to keep me going. I managed to get through the Bison, Ford and San Joaquin lights, but I did get caught at the light on Santa Barbara. I looked back and I think I saw Galen making his way toward me, so once the light turned green, I just put my head down and took off.
On Back Bay, I kept thinking that PV and Galen would work together to reel me in, but I guess the two had gotten split up as well. I saw a couple guys in red jerseys ahead of me and thought they were members of our group, so I chased them down only to realize they weren't. I guess the same thing happened for Galen.
I managed to get to the bottom of California with a 22.1 average at that point. I kept looking over my shoulder thinking someone was going to roll up behind me, but I got the green light before Galen could. I guess he was chasing me down the whole time as well. He tried to chase me up California, but ran out of gas. I'm glad as it was windy going up that hill. What a perfect fit for our group though. Another BAM candidate identified.
Good ride everyone. Hiroshi brought out his new Felt B16 tri bike, so I hope he enjoyed that thing on Back Bay. We'll have to get behind him just to see what he can do on that thing.
Read my mind. Damn, I missed it.
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