The "Be Gentle" Lunch Ride - Yeah, Right!

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/rides/13675127


With this group, time off the bike can be measured comparably to dog years where 1 week can actually feels like 7.  Although a collective sigh could be heard from the group when we were notified that Galen and Shannon couldn't come out, there was still the likes of Vince, Vin, Todd, Jeremy, Mitchell, Gary, Jaffe, Seon  and Marc who came out and are quite capable of inflicting pain.  Thus, the plan today was to exercise my humility as much as my cardio/legs.

Now before I talk about the ride, three things had me scratching my head as to whether this was the group with whom I normally ride:  1) Marc offered to ride behind me to see if my bib shorts were worn out, 2) The first thing Mitchell says to me was I missed you, and 3) Jeremy said something about licking the sweat off my shoulders at the end of the ride.  Ummm...do we need to change our acronym from BAM to BAF/BAH?

Okay, so about the ride....

Gary, in typical fashion, led us out, which is what I like about this guy since no one really wants to start the ride up front.  However, he did so in a more manageable pace, which was perfect for today.  It wasn't until Anteater that Jeremy took the front but started to break away from everyone else.  Todd gave chase and then subsequently Vince, and I just sat on Vince's wheel as he worked to close the gap on the two guys ahead.

After we crossed Bonita Canyon, it was Vince, Todd and Jeremy doing all the work while I let them rotate back in ahead of me (e.g. humble pie mode). Vince did amp it up some after we got on the bike trail that swings out toward the bridge, and this started out some attrition within the group, but not much.  They pretty much kept the pace up all the way up and over Shady and along the bike trail parallel to the 405.  Vin decided to help though, but passed on the right without calling it out and was swiftly reprimanded by the guys up front.  LOL.  As a result, I think they held him out a little, and I did too subsequently after I let him rotate back in front of me.  HA HA

When we got on Ridgeline, Todd and Jeremy broke away a little bit, but Mitchell and I were able to latch on.  Vince knew it was a bad idea to let them get away, but his efforts earlier (that and his weekend of partying) took its toll. Todd pretty much led us all the way up the hill, and the 3 of us stayed in the back and just managed our pace to stay together.

It was only when we got back on Shady heading up towards Bonita Canyon that I decided to help out up front.  After seeing Jeremy's frustration from Mitchell holding him out, I figured I better do some work finally.  Todd did relieve me with a sprint pace heading toward the bike trail and we all just hung on for the ride after I was able to latch back onto his wheel.

We got lucky on Bonita Canyon and caught the left turn light as we approached it.  I did start to take more turns up front (finally) and helped keep the pace up as we made our way across McArthur (caught that green light too).

We made it to Back Bay and I think I took the first pull after rounding from San Joaquin.  They amped up the pace after and I actually dropped off a little bit (enough to let Todd roll back in to the paceline ahead of me).  Jeremy got a little flustered being held out again, but he'll someday learn that it's not in everyone to get up front and work.  I remember a time when....  HA HA.  He did take the last pull before it pitched up before Eastbluff, and I darted ahead only to have LTJ not take any prisoners and inch me out to get on the sidewalk first.  He ended up towing us to just after the Jamboree underpass, but after the bridge, I took the front and led all the way back to California.  No sprints thank goodness.

Going up CA, Jeremy charged a little bit ahead after crossing University, but we all got caught at the first light.  Once we got going, he took off but Todd got beside him and stayed there while I sat in BOTH their drafts.  Because a car had pulled out of one of the side streets, Jeremy had to give up his spot beside Todd and got behind me.  I then jumped ahead to take the last pull toward the middle of the hill, and when we got closer to Bison, I took the pace up even more.  Mr. Take-no-prisoners wasn't having any of it and we got into a little race in the end.  He won.  Cool.

It was definitely a good ride for me coming back after a week off from the group.  I did ride on Sunday on my own, and having a 170 BPM HR average for the whole 60 mile route was another reason I had to take it easy early on since it'll take a little time before my heart meds kick in.  Today's average was 164.  Comparably, Todd's average HR was 121.  Sigh.

Thanks, gents!