Morning Ride with Vince and Galen

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/10804554

The three of us met at Bldg 6 but Vince had forgotten his helmet.  Galen thought he had a spare in his office, but I eventually ended up borrowing Adrian's since I knew he left his in  his office (I guess I should tell him outside of this blog).  Neither Galen nor I wanted Vince to go out at the pace we plan to hit helmet-free despite his willingness to do so.  We look after our own.

I was feeling pretty good in the beginning of the ride (unusual, right?), so I was actually doing a fair share of the pulling early on.  I think I led us all the way out to Bonita Canyon, which worked for me since it was a good warm-up pace to start out with.  Once we crossed the street, the pace definitely picked up and the rotations began.

We all stayed together up and over the first rise and going up Shady on the bike trail, Galen cranked it up a notch after the last bridge where Vince wasn't up for it yet but was not too far behind.  We were all together again on the downhill and at Quail Hill, and the rotations continued.

On the 133, I think I took the first pull after Galen had finished leading us out to it, and the 3 of us were working together and ended up going by another lone rider who jumped on our paceline.  The 3 of continued to work together with the guy in tow as we made our way over the hill, but eventually he ended up joining the rotations but seemed to pass with some bad intentions.  We all responded for a while, but after his last pass while I was up front toward the bottom, I ran out of steam.  Galen and Vince went on with him, but fortunately for me, they waited for me just before getting on PCH.

From then on, it was mostly Vince and Galen doing the work, but I did get up front on occasion when I could.  These guys were crushing it on several sections though, so I was struggling just to hang on.  At the segment between McArthur and Jamboree, Galen dropped the hammer going for a PR and Vince and I hung on cheering him on at the end for a ridiculous pull.

On BB, you can tell we were pretty cooked, but me more than the other two.  I did what I could to rotate up front and take some pulls, but fought just to latch on when the two would pass me.  Toward the end, Galen had the last pull and I hung on to his wheel where I looked back and Vince seemed to have dropped off a little.  As we hit the rise, though, Galen took off and I struggled to keep forward momentum where Vince passed me despite him cramping up midway up.  Nice.

I had nothing left to keep up with the two after, so they went on ahead of me together to California while I casually made my way there on my own.  Up California, I did end up leading the guys up to keep the pace honest, and Vince then Galen passed me near the top.  By then, I was ready to have a fork stuck in me because I was surely done if not overcooked.

Fastest average on that loop so far, and I paid for it by trying to recover for several minutes in the gym after. Thanks for the great training, gents!