Lunch Ride - BB San Joaq NPC Pelican Vista Bonita Cyn McArthur Loop

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/activities/39305190

Attendees:  Galen, Vin, Todd, Vince, Adrian, Mitchell, Jaffe, Seon (welcome back!), Jeremy

Nice to see a good sized crew out today and with the exception of only a couple peeps, representing BRCM white at that.  The weather was warmer than it has been, and overall the winds seemed relatively calm making for optimal conditions.

Before I start writing about the ride, I do want to mention how I literally almost fainted after yesterday's spin class.  My point in bringing it up was that I thought that was probably about as bad as it'll get as far as pushing myself to the limit in that relatively short period of time.  I come out for today's ride thinking it couldn't possibly be THAT bad.  Damn...I was wrong.

Going down California, I came up from the back and decided to do a little taunting of another breakaway similar to Tuesday's ride.  However, no one came with and we got caught at the first light before University.  I didn't figure one would stick anyway, but it was fun to make people nervous.  #twisted

When we got on the bike trail, Todd, Jeremy and Galen led us out to Back Bay.  Todd had come off the front at one point going backwards to get in the rotation, but knowing we were doing hills I decided to let him in front of me (I was in #4 position) just to tire him out a little more.  I knew he wouldn't care.

On Back Bay, I knew we had a good crew to be able to push the charge to San Joaquin, so I did start to get into the rotation along with Galen and Todd.  We were pushing pretty hard but surprisingly it didn't string out the group as I thought it might.  Just goes to show you how much stronger everyone is getting.  Vince ended up letting in front of him one point so I can get back in the rotation with the other two (thanks?  ha ha).    When Todd didn't end up relieving Galen (maybe my earlier strategy worked?), I took the final pull having tired of watching Galen look over his shoulders with this WTF? look.  AHA.

As we hit the little sprinter hill on San Joaquin leading up to Jamboree, Jaffe decided to launch an R5 attack and just started going for it.  When I looked back and saw no one responding, I felt somewhat compelled to keep Jaffe honest and charged on up after him.  I did manage to catch and pass him, but I think I literally blew my wad for the rest of the ride as a result.  I honestly could have turned around at that point and called it a day for my lunch workout.

When we started making our way to McArthur, I was pretty much on survival mode so while Vince, Todd and Galen pushed the group, I would suck on anyone's wheel who was willing to let me just to keep up.  I was hoping I would recover enough so that I wouldn't fall off that much going up past Spyglass.  However, before we hit that street, Vince had ran over something that kicked something up and ultimately had Vin run it over blowing out one of his tires.  As I was just behind him, I checked up a little but having seen Jeremy stopping as a result and confirming he would help Vin, I pressed on.  Of course, Vin calls me out at the gym telling me now he knows who his friends are.  Maybe he should spend more time thinking about knowing where to buy new tires that toiling over stupid shiz.  Just sayin'.

Anyway, I did try to make my way up to the guys who kept going ahead of me, but just missed the light on Spyglass along with Adrian as Mitchell, Galen, Todd and Vince kept going.  What was funny here was how Adrian started cursing at how the light was turning red, but from my vantage point it looked like he could have made it if he really wanted to.  After coming to a stop, he says out loud about Vince and Todd that they better keep going or something to that effect inferring somehow that it was their only chance to get away.  Adrian, if you read this, please click on this link:  http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/delusional?db=dictionary.  What made it even funnier was as soon as the light turned green, I popped him off faster than a person who just left fat camp removing the top of a Coca Cola bottle.

I was hoping to make my way up to the others, but only managed to reel in Mitchell, who may have just been playing possum to let me catch him in order to perform his wingman responsibilities.  I think I even heard a "click" as he locked onto my rear wheel after I passed.  He did help me during that climb and pretty much all the rest of the climbs as well as a pull on Bonita Canyon subsequently so THANK YOU, Mitchell.  Good job.

Adrian did manage to catch up to us as we got on NPC, and lo and behold did take the front finally as we began descending down NPC toward the bottom Pelican.  Can you say "finally?"   By the way, have I mentioned he's the only one still sporting his aero bars?  Just pointing out the facts....

After exchanging pulls down the hill, Mitchell and I pulled away once we got on Pelican.  As we made our way toward the last part of the climb, Vin had made his way down the opposite way and u-turned to join us.  When we got to the top and made the left turn on NPC, he took this opportunity to accelerate away from us and stayed ahead for the rest of the climb up Vista as well.  I felt like I was about to die on the last part of Vista, so I was never able to reel him in.  Mitchell once again came to my rescue there.

With no one there on Ridge Park upon our arrival, we just kept going and ultimately ran into Vin, Hiroshi and Jeremy on NPC.   Hiroshi and Mitchell were both getting in the rotations going down NPC or on Bonita Canyon subsequently, so when Vin finally made his way up front as we hit the crest before McArthur, he was once again in breakaway mode or so it seemed.  Well, I wasn't about to let that happen again this time.  I let the guy lead us onto Bison holding him out just as he'd been sitting in the draft for most of the ride, and when he tried to bust it after the 2nd light over the 73, he got slapped down like a redheaded stepchild.  Of course, when I tried to give him kudos on his sprint attempt, he tried to play it off like he wasn't sprinting.  Typical.

We never saw Vince, Todd or Galen after they broke away until we got back in the locker room, but in a way, that was a good thing.  They tore it up and averaged more than 1 mph faster than the rest of us.  Here's a link for them:  http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/overachievers?s=t.

Okay, so maybe I didn't almost pass out after the ride, but I did see glimpses of my past similar to what I would expect when arriving at death's door.  I can't ask for anymore than that in terms of training.  #sick

Thanks for coming out, gents!