Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/49141880
Attendees: Vince, Galen, Mitchell, Vin, Jeremy, Hiroshi and Jaffe
After a week off, it's nice to come back and do a lunch ride with the crew, but I must say that I thought I stepped into the Twilight Zone early on in the ride. Having started the ride from the back, I must have blinked several times when we headed out seeing Mitchell leading everyone out thinking my eyes must be deceiving me. Further, Galen and Vince were hanging back early on, so I was almost certain I had entered some other dimension where things behaved opposite of the norm. By the time we got to Anteater though, normalcy resumed.
The pace going up Shady toward Sunnyhill was a little heated early on courtesy of Vince and Galen, and I couldn't help but keep the pace up when I got up front. However, it didn't seem like I was up front for very long since Mitchell and the others passed me eager to take a turn up front as well. Thus, hints of that other dimension still loomed.
Jeremy led us onto Sunnyhill and subsequently Turtle Rock where it seemed like he was held out a little bit. Vince finally swung around from near the back and pulled Galen and I toward the front to relieve the poor guy.
Galen started us off on the climb on the other side and I followed where combined, it seemed we had some attrition that brought it down to I think only 4 of us. Vince took the front on the final rise before the stop sign and we mixed it up a little just before arriving at the intersection. Vince then led after followed by Galen and Jeremy, and pretty much took us all the way to the bike path on Shady. Mitchell also managed to latch on as well behind me.
Vince, Galen and Jeremy had a small gap on us initially, so I waited until after the first bridge where it pitched up to close the gap. Vince had accelerated near the top creating a gap on the others, but I managed to just latch on and the two of us took off trying to keep the others at bay. We probably could have had a better time climbing up Shady during our breakaway but Vince wisely suggested we pull back a little just so we'll have some left over for the stretch on the 405. At least I moved up on Strava for that segment. :)
The wind was especially noticeable on the 405 bike trail but Vince and I worked together to keep our pace up just enough to not be caught there. We pushed on toward University, and approaching Strawberry, Vince took the liberty of clearing the intersection and playing rabbit. I hesitated a little bit, but having already traveled half way, I figured I'd keep going. After crossing, I looked back and saw Mitchell, Galen, Vin and Jeremy just pulling up...so I picked it up some playing first chase group but trying to keep ahead of the 4.
When we got to Ridgeline, Vince was still ahead of me and he opted to go up the sidewalk to keep ahead, so I followed suit. You could see the others were coming, so I picked it up some and managed to catch up to Vince by the first section that pitched up. When I passed, I thought he had latched on, but then I realized I was on my own by the second section that pitched up. I didn't think it would last though and expected Vince to catch me on the Turtle Rock descent. However, he was just behind me as I rolled up to the red light on the left turn to Culver. We kept looking back to see if the others were coming, especially since we saw Jeremy was fast approaching on Ridgeline, but we never saw anyone so we knew we were in the clear after the light turned green.
Going on Culver and subsequently Bonita Canyon was an absolute bear. The headwind was pretty ridiculous at this point, so the two of us fighting through it was pretty abusive. We still had a gap on the others and saw our chance to clear the McArthur intersection when the light was green, but it turned yellow before our approach so I ended up stopping just to make sure we were safe.
As the light turned green, Vince took off seeing the others approaching fast and sure to make the green light with us. I knew the guys were just behind me, so I did some blocking crit style and held them off while Vince continued to gap. When the others finally passed me at the top of Ford, I hung back and prepared for a pass on Jamboree and would try and hook back up with Vince on the hill. To my surprise, none of the 4 guys I passed responded but I kept going anyway slowly closing the gap on Vince. Vince saw me coming and picked it up staying ahead of me for the rest of the condo segment. I was never able to get close enough, and thus lost Vince as he made the yellow crossing McArthur.
The others caught me at the McArthur intersection, and as always, I wanted to see who was game for a sprint. Despite the first light slowing us down, Vin eventually obliged after Jeremy gave the "Asian GO." The kid has some sprint, but I was still able to come around (although probably earlier than I should) and make my way past him before the intersection. He gave me kudos later in the locker for the sprint but then said he still had some left. Woulda, shoulda, coulda I always say. He must be learning from Adrian.
21 mph average for such a ridiculously windy day is pretty good. My forearm has been cramping randomly for the last hour or so after the ride, so I'd say I got a good workout. Galen was giving kudos to Vin and Mitchell for doing a lot of work when they were chasing us, but ummm...I wouldn't know since they were behind us. I know, I know...I'm a d#@$.
Thanks for coming out, gents!
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