Strava: http://app.strava.com/rides/8305091
After a less than stellar outing at last night's crit, I was really eager to get out with the guys this morning to give myself a solid beating. Galen, Gary and Jeremy made it out for the ride, and with the weather being ideal (in my opinion anyway), I knew it would be a good one.
Gary led us out in the beginning in typical S-Gary fashion, but rather than waiting until Bonita Canyon, I did opt to relieve him just before we got to Anteater. Galen came around for a pull as well in his typical fashion also. I took over after we crossed Bonita Canyon but he came back around and brought the pace up as we made our way up the first rise to the top. I hung on for dear life, but unfortunately S-G and Jeremy were not up for such a pace.
I did come around after we got to the crest and the two of us made our way toward the gate and the bike trail up Shady. Galen was again up front once on the bike trail, but I came around during the steep rise just after the first bridge. I stayed up front for a bit but Galen said we should keep the pace moderate until we get to the 133 where we can mix it up. Fine by me. HA HA
We regrouped with Gary and Jeremy just at the top of Quail Hill and made our way together toward the 133. I had a pretty good pace as I led us out to there, and when Galen took over on the 133, it was just Jeremy and I with him. Jeremy stayed on Galen's wheel as he took the lead, so I got on Jeremy's. At some point, Galen thought Jeremy said "go," so he kicked it up a notch as we climbed to the top. Jeremy tried to hang on, but Galen was moving so he waved me on to pass. Galen was already moving though, so even as I stood up to try and sprint to his rear wheel, that proved to be an effort in futility. Fortunately, Galen slowed up for me after we got over the top, and we made our way down toward PCH together taking turns pulling.
We regrouped again just before PCH and then made our way to NPC. Jeremy took a pull on PCH but eventually Galen and I were alone again on NPC.
I was already worked by the time we got on NPC, but I wanted to work on my off the seat climb. I found a decent rhythm going up where at first, I wasn't sure I'd be able to hold it but my heart/lungs settled down and I was able to stay off the seat for a decent amount of time. Galen stayed with me throwing out words of encouragement that helped, but passed just after the 2nd Pelican light at the top. Fortunately, I had enough left just to barely be able to stay with him.
We made our way down the other side and got the light to go on Bonita Canyon. I know Galen's strong on this section, so I stayed behind him all the way until after the 73 underpass. As we started going up the rise, I finally got up to the front and helped get us to McArthur. Here, Galen was saying he didn't think he had it in him to attack the condo, so I told him I'll see how I feel when I get there.
I led us up Ford initially, but Galen jumped to the front just before the top. There were a lot of cars on Ford, so we had to ride to the right of them as we made our way onto Jamboree. The light was green, however, so we knew it would be clear once we got on there. Galen picked up speed and went out wide and started mashing where he gapped me immediately. His pace, however, slowed once he sat down where my steady higher cadence pace let me get by him about 3/4 of the way up. Despite doing so, I knew my pace wasn't fast enough to challenge the KOM so I did slow down just before the intersection.
When we got on Bison, Galen and I were talking about the condo and he'll be trying a different strategy next time around. Oh great. He did indicate his sprint could use some work (in his words, he said his sprint sucked), so I thought I'd challenge that after we got over the 73. I took off and started to donkey kick for a sprint to use my hamstrings more than my quads, but when I sat down and looked at my speed, I knew it wouldn't be long before he passed. Sure enough...Galen did. Sandbagger. HA HA
It was good to get a morning workout in like this, so I hope we set this up more regularly. Thanks for the workout, gents!
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