Strava: http://app.strava.com/rides/2800064
Isn't winter time suppose to be when people taper off their training? It surely didn't feel like that on today's lunch ride. And based on what I'm reading on e-mails, it seems people are just working harder and harder in preparation for January's race. Awesome.
9 of us made it out today, but the pace (as well as mechanicals) caused some separation fairly early on. Vin also wore Sandy today to fulfill his obligation, and that probably stymied his random little attacks that he likes to do on occasion.
I led the group out to Culver/Bonita Canyon and had started the climb up Culver when Shannon passed where I mistakenly believed it was to relieve me. It turned out he was going for it on this section, so I tried in vain to get in his draft. I wasn't too far off, and while I didn't have anyone in my draft, Gary and Hiroshi weren't far off either. I'm not sure if David or anyone else was there also.
I did manage to get with Shannon on Campus and took the lead after rounding the corner to Turtle Rock. I had a pretty decent pace going, but then all of a sudden, Hiroshi passes with some serious momentum. No one was behind him when he did, so I had to jump up off the seat and chase him down just to get on his rear wheel for a bit. As he slowed, I came around and made my way up to Sunnyhill alone. I think Shannon may have had his chain come off during this section. When I got to Sunnyhill though, I looked back and saw Gary and Hiroshi +1 just a little bit behind me. By the time I got to the bike trail, they were with me again.
I led us up Shady initially, then S-G (despite his morning spin) took the lead for a bit and I gladly took the opportunity to catch my breath. I saw Hiroshi lingering behind and you can just tell he was trying to setup another "attack." I did take the lead again before the last bridge, and then broke off from the others on the last part of the climb.
On the downhill, I was still alone, but looking back at the bottom, you can see that some of the other guys are still not too far off. Then, I see Shannon coming at a pretty mean clip, so I prepared myself to be able to jump on and hopefully stay on. When he did go by, I was just able to get on, but I was nowhere near ready to try to help him as we made our way toward the bridge. He was moving, and when I did try to pass once, he never let up so I had to just get back in his draft and hang on. It was only after the bridge that he let me start trading pulls with him again.
Shannon and I made our way to Ridgeline and got stopped at the light for a little bit. When I noticed we could cross, I looked on the bike path and saw Gary and Hiroshi still in hot pursuit. It was like a recurring nightmare.
Shannon and I took turns going up Ridgeline and worked together to get to Turtle Rock. He had gapped me a little just before hitting that street, but I just caught up to him as he slowed for the stop sign on the way back to Sunnyhill.
I traded a pull or two with him, but once we got back on Shady headed up the hill toward Bonita Canyon, there was just no way I could help since he decided to again turn the screws here and make it hurt. I thought about throwing in the towel, but just did what I could to hang on. After we crested, I took the lead and led us down toward Bonita Canyon. No race...just teamwork.
We got the light at Bonita Canyon, fortunately, and we headed toward Turtle Ridge together. On Summit, Shannon did a little recovering, so I took advantage and got a little separated from him as we made our way up the hill. I figured he'd catch me at some point anyway. I did make it to the top ahead but I was never really sure where he was at behind me. I saw Hiroshi, Gary and also Vin making their way up the hill as I was descending, so I just kept going.
When I got down to Bonita Canyon again, I had just gotten the green but looked back and saw Shannon coming at a very high pace. I knew once again that I had to prepare for it, so once he passed, I was sprinting just to get onto his wheel. He was moving! He never really slowed down much all the way until past the 73 underpass, but I did manage to get in front to take the pull to the light before McArthur. He finished the rest of Bonita Canyon and I had actually started to fall off. Fortunately for me, the light on McArthur had turned green to red before either of us could have crossed it.
When we did cross, I was offering to lead him up the condo, but he didn't think he had enough for it. I pretty much felt the same way. After stopping at the light at the top, he descended ahead of me to go first. Since there was a car at the corner turning right, however, we both had to check up and hardly had enough momentum after squeezing between it and the sidewalk. That didn't stop Shannon from hammering after anyways. I tried to find a good pace that will hopefully not let him drop me too much, but that didn't happen. He gapped me pretty good.
I was lucky on Bison that the lights had slowed him down enough to get up to him again and we both ended up getting caught at the light on McArthur. We saw Peter turn right onto Bison from McArthur ahead of us, so the focus (for me anyway) was to see if we can catch him. Of course, we hit two more lights on there but once I got on the 73 bridge, I started to hammer and see if I could 1) catch Peter and 2) keep the average up. I did run into Peter, but just as he was getting ready to cross Health Science Rd from California. Good enough.
I was spent when I got to the gym where I had to lie down for a bit just to let my HR come back down to a respectable level. Peter, being the nice guy he was, offered me water and even a Gatorade, but the reality was I probably could only have benefited from a respirator at that point.
Good training ride today, gents! Thanks for coming out.
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