Strava: http://app.strava.com/rides/2103366
GC: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/124301543
So who didn't come out today? The head count was 16 all together, so this was probably THE biggest lunch outing that I can recall. On top of that, Eddie FINALLY made an appearance again. I must say, when I arrived at "the corner" and saw him, I had to look up and make sure the sky wasn't falling as I was certain it would before he came out again.
Everyone patiently waited for Todd at the corner, and once we saw him coming, we started to roll. I guess Todd either felt bad and raced up to the front to work for the guys, or he perceived us leaving as an act of aggression and thought immediately to try and drop us. Either way, WTF?!? And I'm not talking about Galen's bike either.
On E. Peltason, Gary unfortunately busted a spoke and couldn't continue from there. Some people stayed while others took off. I contemplated staying, but 1) it was close to work, 2) no one REALLY knew the route, and 3) it would hurt to try and catch the pack after Gary confirmed he didn't need any help. We still got strung out some on Anteater, but I wasn't about to blow it up here again considering the last time.
Thankfully, we did manage to regroup at the left turn to Turtle Ridge, but Todd and Jaffe opted for some extra credit and busted a U-turn at the following light. Show offs.
For the charge up Summit, I decided to try and improve my strava position here. Todd, however, decided to defend the hill and got to the top first. I think everyone was just behind us here and came around just seconds after.
I think we all regrouped on the light to go up NPC. Todd and Vince decided to break away early, but since Shannon was with me, I thought I'd stay on his wheel as he made his way past everyone else. Can you say DUMB? Once he started to close the gap on Vince and Todd, this was enough for me to decide that his pace wasn't for me. To boot, once these 3 get together, you can pretty much expect not to catch them again unless the traffic lights work in your favor. In today's case, they did not. My last glimpse of them was near the top of Spyglass and that was it.
I did make my way up NPC with Adrian and Eddie not too far behind. They were able to latch on by the time we hit the Newport Ridge loop where Adrian started to comment on how I could possibly be sweating so much in 65 degree temperature. Of course, this was while he conveniently sat in my draft for most of this loop. When he did decide to get up front, I think it was for all of 15 seconds before rolling off. Despite my "suggestion" to him to keep working, I went by him only to realize he was trying to set me up for a pass near the top to maintain his KOM for this section. If he was going to get/keep it, he'd have to work though so I turned around and passed him right back to finish ahead by San Joaquin. Since he started the hill after me though, he was able to advance his last time and keep his KOM. Adrian, you're welcome.
As we got on San Joaquin, Adrian and I exchanged pulls but before the crest, Eddie jumped ahead to take a pull (again, wha?). He jumped a little too fast for the both of us though where before we could even latch on, Eddie was already waving us by to pass. HA HA. I took the front as we started shooting down the hill after the crest and when Adrian started to pass, I yelled out turn right on Spyglass. Since he didn't appear to slow down, I yelled it out 2 more times. Eddie ended up zooming past me as well despite my efforts to tell them to turn right. Now, I published the route beforehand, I described it probably twice at the corner, and even after calling it out 3 times, they still kept going forward where my spider senses tell me...intentional? HA HA
I wasn't going to skip Spyglass due to this and made the right turn. Again, I saw the 3 amigos just at the top, but I wasn't really sure how the hill was going to be where I didn't want to chance sprinting up it only to blow up midway. By the time I did get to the top, I kept thinking "that's it?" Weak. I got held up at the light on San Miguel and the one just before San Joaquin where Seon rolled up on me at that point. When we made our way to McArthur, that light held us up for a while where everyone else caught us for the left turn to McArthur.
Jaffe, as usual, got up to the front of the light and wanted to take the initial pull, or so it seemed. I, however, was a little annoyed at all the lights and decided to kick it up from there and jumped to the front bringing the group to the Jamboree light at a pretty decent clip (even got a PR on PCH segment). Paul came up and was giving me kudos for the pace, but I thought he was going to complain about all the sweat. HA HA.
After again spending some time at the light, Jaffe once again takes off from the front, but I reeled him in with others in tow midway down before Bayside. On Bayside, the group got a little strung out, and I think only Jaffe and Seon or Vin was with me for a bit. I did manage to break away on the bike trail by the trailer park, but Jaffe caught me as I got on Back Bay Drive after yielding to a car.
He stayed with me on Back Bay and took a couple good pulls after San Joaquin to help keep the pace up around 26 mph. Thanks! We did get separated on the sprinter hill to the top but he and Seon were able to catch me at the light on Jamboree/Bison. We ran into Mike Z. on Bison, and I thought the big guy was up for a sprint to CA. However, he ended up stopping at the light and I kept going (not realizing the light had changed).
Overall, another great training day for the books (except for Gary...sorry, bud). Looks like some good movement on Strava again today along with lots of PRs and a 20.2/20.3 average for this route. I'll take it. Good job, gents!
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