Strava: http://app.strava.com/rides/9805456
Attendees: Vince, Vin, Todd, Mitchell, Marc, Jaffe and Jeremy
It was warm and a little windy today, but that didn't seem to slow the guys down much. From the descent down California, it seemed Todd was already eager to break away gapping us early on. Fortunately, the lights did not let him get away onto the bike trail across University.
Once we were on the bike trail, however, being toward the back of the line did have us sprinting to catch up as Todd picked up the pace early. Vince did some pulling subsequently, but it was a day where almost everyone (cough...except Marc...cough) was going to have to do their share on Back Bay too. Marc gets a pass though due to his infrequent but rather welcomed participation.
Jeremy and Mitchell started out Back Bay for us, but Todd went to pass both of them with me in tow and everyone lining up behind us. The wind was definitely against us there, so we were all too happy when the next guy would come around and take their turn to pull.
As we came up on San Joaquin, Jeremy was up front leading us to it but I took off on the hill wanting to test out the compact crank after not having ridden my Cervelo for at least a couple weeks (rear derailleur spring broke). Man, what a fun bike! As I neared Jamboree, I got the green light and thought to just go ahead of everyone, so I can rest a little until they caught me. I thought I was free and clear, but shortly after going through, I look over my shoulder and see a menacing black jersey coming up on me. Yup...LTJ had just made it. Great (spoken sarcastically).
When he passed me, I thought that it would be an accomplishment just to stay on his wheel all the way up. It was a little hard when he'd take off through an intersection unexpectedly (smh) but I did manage to stay with him even pushing up front on occasion and taking a pull here and there. After Spyglass though, he started to gap me but not by much. I kept the cadence high, so when we got to the top, I was able to reel him back in for some more wheel sucking action.
We both ended up going to NPC whereas I heard some of the guys behind us opted to go by the Firestation via Ridge Park. However, Todd and I were still alone by the time we made the left turn on Vista. Todd got the early jump at the light on me, so I was never able to have him drag me up with him. I stayed relatively close up the first steep rise, but he had gotten away pretty good on the false flat. By the time I got to the 2nd rise, I closed on him a little again but he was gone for the extra credit by the time I reached Ridge Park.
Now, I SHOULD have skipped the extra credit as I knew the other guys must have been creeping up on me, but I opted not to. As I thought I wasn't too far behind Todd as we crossed near the end of the road, I was thinking he would probably wait for others. To my surprise, however, I get back to the intersection at Vista and Ridge, and no one was there. Crap! I looked to see if anyone was coming from Vista and no one. Double crap!
I shot down Ridge Park and made the right to NPC hoping to see someone but no luck. I kept going down NPC as fast as I could and at 2 lights before Bonita Canyon, I see Todd, Mitchell and Jaffe waiting to turn right. YES! When we made the right, I was still trying to recover and almost fell off as Todd and Mitchell turned it up. Jaffe kept looking back as though he wanted me to jump in ahead of him, but I thought to myself "Negative, ghostrider, the pattern is full." In other words, get your ass up there, Jaffe, and pull us back up to Todd and Mitchell! He did.
I did rotate up to the front once we started going up, and Todd and I rotated all the way up to the light on McArthur. Once we got on Ford, Todd took off but decided he was going to hang back with me instead where we let Mitchell and Jaffe lead us out to the Condo. Once I made the right turn, I didn't like the gear I was in and dropped to a shorter gear, but that ended up feeling like my cadence was a little too high for a sprint up the hill. I didn't want to break momentum, so I stayed in it and decided to do the best I could. I thought I was still moving up at a pretty good clip though, and it was nice to see LTJ behind me as I pushed to get to the top. Once I got up there though, I ran out of steam where LTJ whipped beside me and kept going to get his PR for the condo. He did say that was the best lead out he's ever had on there after we got back to the locker room. My response: You're welcome. HA HA
He kept going on Bison and probably like me on San Joaquin, thought it would be more enjoyable finishing ahead of us by getting the light on McArthur leaving the rest of us behind. We did see Marc at the light as he skipped the Condo and Vince and Vin were already at the lockers by the time we arrived. Cool.
Great training ride today, gents!
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