Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/46979180
I contemplated going on this lunch ride today since Shannon and I were planning to train at Orchard Hills with the racers this afternoon. I knew Todd was out sick and Shannon couldn't make it, so I figured I can spin in the back of the crew today just to get some miles. At least I gave them heads up beforehand. Then, as I was performing my pre-ride ritual (ahem), I heard his voice as he came into the locker room and thought, damn, Galen's riding today. Of all days to return to the lunch rides....
Jeremy, Vin, Mitchell and Adrian came out too, so although it was a rather smallish crew, they seemed all eager to work despite some pretty windy sections today. Mitchell took a good pull early on before we hit Harvard, and in typical fashion, the guys punished him for not latching on right away after coming off. Maybe it was me not calling out soon enough to have him rotate in front of me, but he should have been watching nonetheless. BAM! I forget who was up front at the time, but they accelerated rather abruptly leaving him trying to regroup and catch back up. Since I was in DQD (Draft Queen Diva) mode, I was behind him waiting for him to do so. HAHA. When I saw him drop his head, however, I knew he was cooked where I had to get around him and yell "don't quit!" which only fell on deaf ears.
Vin also took a few turns up front, but for some reason wasn't doing so hot today and struggled to keep up. I did help to try and latch back onto the group a couple times, but he was definitely not as energetic as normal...even from the draft. Here's a suggestion: eat!
Galen was a monster throughout and took some good pulls, as would Adrian and Jeremy. Adrian would do also try to inflict pain by taking the turns fast and trying to pull away causing everyone to have to accelerate really hard just to get back in the draft. What's that called again? Oh yeah..."cheap!"
Jeremy and Galen got us over to Shady via Quail Hill, and Jeremy led up the hill originally. Galen thought to rile things up here though and began accelerating like mad up the hill. Of course, being fresh from having sat in the draft, DQD had to oblige and give chase. I stood up mashing it in the beginning and hardly gaining any ground on the guy after he broke away for a little bit. Once I dropped down a gear and spun up, however, I began to reel him in. As I was coming up on him, I yelled out to him to "Work!" to which he responded "No!" and cheered me on as I passed him on the climb. That's so Galen.
I did break him off by the top and had visions of grandeur where I thought, hmmm...maybe I should breakaway here and have some fun. I squashed that idea about 2.4 seconds later though since 1) I know Galen will catch me and 2) I can hear Shannon yelling at me later for not saving any for OH.
We managed to regroup by the gate, and the guys originally tried to get me to pull them up the hill. With my pace up front being virtually in reverse, they did opt to pass me and take the front again with Galen breaking away momentarily but checking up to regroup before the top. Adrian took the front as we were making our way to the bike path, and I thought I'd use my DQD skills to see how hard I could snap them off in a sprint to the bike path. I felt like I had a really good jump and didn't really notice that anyone had latched on, but as I neared the bike trail I turned around only to see that Galen was right there behind me. Nice pick up!
Mitchell was waiting at the light when we arrived there, so we were all together again on Bonita Canyon. I returned to my DQD self, but after having ridden behind Galen, I did take the front once and led them to the light where we would turn to go up Spyglass. Thankfully, that was it for me and Adrian, Jeremy and Galen continued to rotate to get us back.
On University, Galen amped it up some after we went over the bridge, and we all sat in his monster pull draft as he led us toward CA. I did opt to come around him and relieve him near the end, but Adrian took that as a sign to sprint albeit we were like 20 feet from the CA intersection. Okay, whatever, stud.
Jeremy led us up California at a pretty good clip while everyone sat behind him. As it flattened out, I could hear Galen (who said he was going to spin up but never really slowed down) telling Jeremy to sprint as I started to pass. I was only trying to take the front to keep the pace up, but I couldn't resist accommodating Galen's taunting...so I took off. I probably looked like an idiot to any bystanders looking on given no one followed me. Oh well.
Good work, everyone. 21.4 mph average today despite the winds. Thanks for letting me play DQD!
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