Lunch Ride - NPC Horseshoe Double BB Route (Hodgepodge Jersey Day)

Strava:  http://app.strava.com/activities/50326335

Attendees:  Vince, Galen, Todd, Vin, Adrian, Jaffe, Mitchell, Jeremy and Paul B.

It was a good sized group today to welcome Todd back from his vacation in Arizona.  Todd told me yesterday before he took out his TT bike that he wasn't feeling 100% as he's still feeling the effects of the flue he had, but then uploads a 22.6 mph average ride to Strava subsequently.  Ummm...does it say sucker on my forehead?  I don't think anyone else bought it either.

I have training plans later with Shannon at Orchard Hills, so I announced my plan to ride the draft the whole time during lunch so I can save some and not have Shannon chew me out for wasting his time.  HA HA.  If that sounds easy enough though, I'd beg to differ.  When you have all of those guys who came out today show up, you can bet you'll still get a great workout...if you can keep up.

The group was moving at a good pace through the campus and up Anteater reeling in one of the BRCM guys who rides alone that took off ahead of us pretty easily.  Paul B. also opted to take off ahead of us, but we were able to catch up to him by Bonita Canyon.  The group was pretty much together by the bottom of NPC before the climb, so once the light turned green everyone pretty much knew to line up behind Todd.  He sets a great pace up hills after all...IF you can keep up.

Todd led us past one guy who was on a steel bike and climbing off the seat, but I guess this guy opted to pick it up and jump on as we made our way under and past the 73 underpass.  Todd was still holding a good pace and reduced the number who were able to follow to a smaller few.  I guess steel bike guy wanted to pick it up more though and ended up passing with some authority seemingly with the intent to breakaway...at least that's what registers in the minds of a BAM.  Although Galen was the only one to wear BRCM, we still had to represent...so I took off after him and jumped on his rear wheel.  I think Vince and Todd were behind me when I did.  As we started getting closer to the top, we returned the favor and accelerated past steel bike guy snapping him off all in the spirit of friendly competition.  ;)  Todd wanted to duel it out near the top, so I tried but could barely hang on as he and Vince both passed me before San Joaquin.

As we made our way to the horseshoe, it was just the three of us but the others, with the help of Galen I'm sure, reeled us back in on that road.  I did end up taking a pull just before the end of the horseshoe just to help lead anyone out in case they wanted to charge this segment, but from what I could see we weren't able to challenge for the top spot (previously mine but recently stolen.  HA HA).

As we descended down San Joaquin and made our way to Jamboree, we eventually were able to regroup in full.  Paul B. was even riding with us at that time, and doing well in the line.  Jaffe just caught us as we were planning to make the left on Jamboree with Paul B. opting to go straight to hit Back Bay.

Going through Back Bay was pretty intense, and it looked like everyone was doing their part to help keep the pace up...okay, everyone but me.  I was hoping the winds would be in favor of a good BB run, but there were sections that still seemed windy and not conducive to a KOM-worthy effort.  When we got closer to the end (the wall), Todd and Jeremy or Galen charged it, so I came around just so they don't take off without me.  HAHA.  I did get to hear Vince audibly express his disapproval of those who opted to slow down before the wall.

Getting across East Bluff was tough due to traffic, so we almost rode all the way to Jamboree on the opposite side of the road waiting for an opening.  Jeremy had snuck through a small opening though and opted to keep going ahead of us.  I stayed with GTJ since I knew he doesn't take well to guys breaking away.

On the Jamboree climb, Jeremy was actually doing very well and Todd wasn't closing the gap too quickly likely to setup him up later on.  I was climbing off the seat and matching Todd's pace, but when I sat down and dropped gears, I felt I had enough to reel Jeremy in so I took off.   It was kind of a cheap move to do on a teammate, but seriously, this would NOT be the first time something like that happened on our lunch ride.  I did catch Jeremy and opted to latch on and he pretty much kept us ahead of the others all the way to the top and down the other side.  When we were descending, however, I saw Todd and Vince fast approaching, so at that point I had a decision to make:  1) help Jeremy break away or 2) wait.  #1 would not have satisfied my agenda for lunch and would likely have resulted in failure anyway.   By San Joaquin, the 4 of us were all together again.

When we were going back on Back Bay drive, I was still bringing up the rear but as we neared the gate, Vince tried to wave me up to get into the paceline.  I responded "I don't want to take away from your workout" and let him get back in ahead of me.  It worked!

The three guys rotated through Back Bay, but at one point Jeremy said to go ahead.  As we were already half way through, I figured I'll go ahead and take a pull.  I would say it wasn't one of the shortest pulls I've ever done (HA HA) but that would be the last one for that segment.  Jeremy did end up getting back in the rotation, but I guess for having missed one, Vince decided to hold him out (or set him up) for the final charge up the wall.   Jeremy did great though keeping the pace up, so he's definitely swinging back around to what we saw last year.  Vince rotated up eventually and then began to sprint but Todd and I were just able to stay with him.  As we started climbing the wall, there were riders heading down and it was a little sketchy.  Todd ended up getting to the top first, but Vince and I were right there and back on the line once we got on the sidewalk.

Todd led us all the way past the bridge on the trail beside University, but I did relieve him and took the front after.  Vince jumped before we got to California to be first to the light.

Going up California, Vince and Todd were talking about my "move" on Jamboree, so having felt guilty decided to go ahead and lead us up.  I was holding a pretty good pace for most of the way up, and seeing that the Bison light was green, Todd swung around and accelerated past me to tow me through the intersection and complete the ride with a 22.2 mph average according to Strava (22.5 according to Garmin Connect).  In any case, it was FAST!

I did confirm with Shannon afterwards that we still have plans to go to Orchard Hills tonight, so ummm...yay?   Just kidding.  Expect another write-up for that later.

Thanks for coming out, gents!