Lunch Ride - BB PCH Ocean NPC Pelican Vista San Joaq BB CA

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/1725876

Seeing that it was just Vince and Todd coming out today, my anxiety level before the ride pretty much peaked since the pace tends to get manic with these 2 guys together.  I got our earlier than them and sat at "the corner" hoping that someone, anyone, would come out of the Bldg 11 gym;  no luck.  And unlike the last couple days, I didn't have my camera today where I couldn't use it as an excuse to ride diva-style in the back.   Today, I had to work.

Heading out on Back Bay was pretty tough.  We could barely keep the pace above 22 against that wind.  On top of that, Todd wasn't 100% and neither was Vince's bike.  Even my bike was knocking like it was running on bad gas, so we were not exactly firing on all cylinders out there.  That didn't stop us from trying though.  I think we all pretty much shared pulls pretty evenly as we made our way out to NPC.

Before we made a left on NPC, I asked Todd if we really needed to do Pelican and Vista...essentially echoing Vince earlier when he found out on Back Bay.  LTJ said we can do it but we'll take it easy (where have I heard this before?).  Once the light turned green, he tore off trying to get the segment from NPC to Pelican.   I tore off after him and probably would have gotten a pretty good time as well, but after uploading to Strava...it didn't register.  WTF?!?  Maybe the segment starts from across the street vs. the left turn.  In any case, boo!

On Pelican, I thought I'd try something a little different today so that these guys aren't waiting too long for me atop each of the climbs.  Rather than trying to manage their pace, I found a rhythm that I thought I could hold instead.  While it did have me drop off their back for a bit, I was able to be just behind them at the crest and also made the same light getting back on NPC.

I was a little more worried on Vista, and they did get a pretty good jump on me at the start.  However, I was able to again find a rhythm (albeit I would have preferred a faster one with a compact crank) and have Vince lead me up the first steep climb.   Vince gapped me pretty good once he got up on the false flat in the middle of the hill, but rather than try to make ground there, I saved up for a charge up the last hill.  This worked today, and I was able to catch up to Vince and we rode to Park together to an awaiting LTJ.

We decided to hit San Joaquin and BB for some extra credit and that's always fun.  Vince was hanging back a bit here and there, but it seemed more by choice since he'd be up with us again when it counted.

Back Bay was a lot more fun heading in, and we definitely got to pick up our pace here more.  Good transitions between the 3 of us, and all of us putting in the work.  At the top, LTJ got on the sidewalk first and decided he was going to turn it up.  So Vince and I chased him down and only managed to get on his wheel after the bridge where we sat there trying to recover rather than sprint to CA.

Todd started to lead us up CA, but I thought I'd kick it up a notch passing them both on a big gear (how do the big gear boys do this?!?).  There was still some fight in LTJ, so he worked his way to pass me where we ended up sprinting to the top.  I think he beat me, but I was delirious at that point.

Another good workout for the books, gents.  Thanks!  Let's see what I'll have left over for Sunday.