Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/64314049
With the upcoming holiday weekend, I wasn't figuring on seeing a big crew for today's lunch ride. To add to it, Vince had called for the Puke route, so I thought that may discourage those not wanting to do a ton of climbing on such a hot, muggy day like today. However, we actually had a pretty decent sized crew consisting of Todd, Vince, Jeremy, Vin, Adrian Andy and Mr. Funny Guy himself, Marc Rabin. It's probably been over a year since Marc has ridden with us, so welcome back!
One of the conditions Vince set for the ride is that if you're in the front group, you must do extra credit unless you're more than 15 feet behind the lead guy, who we expected would be Todd. For me, the plan was to just stay behind Todd as much as possible and see how that goes. I think everyone was thinking the same thing at the start, so no one wanted to leave until he did. However, he wasn't interested in leading right away, so Jeremy and Vince took off and ended up pulling away from the rest of us. Of course, everyone else lined up behind Todd as part of the chase group. HA HA
While Vince and Jeremy worked together to keep ahead of us, we let Todd lead us out all the way to Anteater. While Vin would have been complacent to continue to hold Todd out even longer, I finally decided to take a turn up front and offer him some relief as well as help try to close in on the two guys ahead. Adrian took a turn as well on Bonita Canyon, but we were not able to close in on Vince and Jeremy before they made the left on NPC.
When the rest of us got to the left turn lane to start the climb, the anxiety was too much resulting in some giving chase to the two guys ahead. I ended up going through the intersection last while Todd and Adrian gave chase with the rest between us. I knew Todd was going to find the right pace to do so, especially given the horrible wind conditions (headwind on the climb), so I made my way past the others and latched onto Adrian's wheel as he was latched on to Todd's.
Todd was holding a good pace on the climb as we started to pull away from those behind us, and to my surprise I couldn't believe Adrian was hanging on for as long as he did. He stayed with Todd until the 73 underpass, and then I saw him start to pop off. I made my way around him to latch onto Todd's wheel as he made his way to reeling Jeremy in. Once we passed, Jeremy latched on and it seemed we were getting close to having Vince meet the same fate. However, Vince continued to be a slippery fish who got the jump ahead of us on Park, so I was going to just try and hang on to Todd's wheel some more as we climbed up that beast of a hill.
For a while, I was doing okay and stayed with Todd up through and around the bend. Jeremy had fallen a little off, but I kept thinking he's probably just playing possum. As Todd started ascending on the last part before the stop sign, he started to pull away from me. Wouldn't you know it, once he crossed Vista, I was just far back enough to where I was not required to do the extra credit according to Vince's pre-ride clause (wink wink). Oh darn!
As Todd went straight giving chase to Vince, who had also done the extra credit given he was in the lead, I made the right turn on Vista accordingly. I figured I'd give them someone to chase and hoped that someone else would roll up on me so that I'd be able to work with them to keep ahead.
When I got stopped at the left to NPC, I kept looking back and no one. I got stopped at the first Pelican light and looked back...no one. After climbing Pelican and getting stopped at that light on NPC I looked back. You got it...no one. I pulled back just a notch as I started climbing Vista and still didn't see anyone behind me upon reaching the false flat. I could have just chilled at that point, but there's always this nagging suspicion that someone's going to blow past me where I kept my power level just a little under threshold as I finished the rest of the climb up Vista.
I contemplated on doing extra credit knowing I was up front, but I'd rather not get separated from the group and ended up waiting across the street to regroup just after the stop sign. Yeah, that's it. That's the ticket. When I saw someone cresting Vista, I thought it was Todd and was certain he would pull over with me and wait for the rest. When I looked up again and realized it was Vince, all I saw after was him going by me as he started the descent. HA HA...nice.
I couldn't resist and gave chase once I realized what happened, but chasing Vince on a descent is not really productive...especially with a compact crank. I know the guy can descend, so my strategy was just to not let him pull away and just hold the distance until he gets caught at a light or if not, try and reel him in on Bonita Canyon if possible. That strategy spit on my face as Vince slipped through the green light after the 73 underpass and having it turn yellow and red to catch me behind it.
Maybe there was still a chance to catch him at an intersection, but after hitting the next 2-3 lights consecutively, I figured I was on my own. It really sucked to be on my own on Bonita Canyon too. The wind on that section just blew (literally and figuratively). I did keep looking back, half expecting someone to roll up on me, but ended up finishing the rest of the ride like a Heart song...Alone. Vince was already at the gym upon my arrival, and the rest of the guys trickled in just behind me. From what I heard, traffic lights were not good to them either. I guess we all met that fate today.
After 2000 feet of climbing in ~18 miles, I'd say I'm ready for this long 4th of July weekend. Then again, anyone want to ride tomorrow? :)
Thanks for coming out, gents!
With the upcoming holiday weekend, I wasn't figuring on seeing a big crew for today's lunch ride. To add to it, Vince had called for the Puke route, so I thought that may discourage those not wanting to do a ton of climbing on such a hot, muggy day like today. However, we actually had a pretty decent sized crew consisting of Todd, Vince, Jeremy, Vin, Adrian Andy and Mr. Funny Guy himself, Marc Rabin. It's probably been over a year since Marc has ridden with us, so welcome back!
One of the conditions Vince set for the ride is that if you're in the front group, you must do extra credit unless you're more than 15 feet behind the lead guy, who we expected would be Todd. For me, the plan was to just stay behind Todd as much as possible and see how that goes. I think everyone was thinking the same thing at the start, so no one wanted to leave until he did. However, he wasn't interested in leading right away, so Jeremy and Vince took off and ended up pulling away from the rest of us. Of course, everyone else lined up behind Todd as part of the chase group. HA HA
While Vince and Jeremy worked together to keep ahead of us, we let Todd lead us out all the way to Anteater. While Vin would have been complacent to continue to hold Todd out even longer, I finally decided to take a turn up front and offer him some relief as well as help try to close in on the two guys ahead. Adrian took a turn as well on Bonita Canyon, but we were not able to close in on Vince and Jeremy before they made the left on NPC.
When the rest of us got to the left turn lane to start the climb, the anxiety was too much resulting in some giving chase to the two guys ahead. I ended up going through the intersection last while Todd and Adrian gave chase with the rest between us. I knew Todd was going to find the right pace to do so, especially given the horrible wind conditions (headwind on the climb), so I made my way past the others and latched onto Adrian's wheel as he was latched on to Todd's.
Todd was holding a good pace on the climb as we started to pull away from those behind us, and to my surprise I couldn't believe Adrian was hanging on for as long as he did. He stayed with Todd until the 73 underpass, and then I saw him start to pop off. I made my way around him to latch onto Todd's wheel as he made his way to reeling Jeremy in. Once we passed, Jeremy latched on and it seemed we were getting close to having Vince meet the same fate. However, Vince continued to be a slippery fish who got the jump ahead of us on Park, so I was going to just try and hang on to Todd's wheel some more as we climbed up that beast of a hill.
For a while, I was doing okay and stayed with Todd up through and around the bend. Jeremy had fallen a little off, but I kept thinking he's probably just playing possum. As Todd started ascending on the last part before the stop sign, he started to pull away from me. Wouldn't you know it, once he crossed Vista, I was just far back enough to where I was not required to do the extra credit according to Vince's pre-ride clause (wink wink). Oh darn!
As Todd went straight giving chase to Vince, who had also done the extra credit given he was in the lead, I made the right turn on Vista accordingly. I figured I'd give them someone to chase and hoped that someone else would roll up on me so that I'd be able to work with them to keep ahead.
When I got stopped at the left to NPC, I kept looking back and no one. I got stopped at the first Pelican light and looked back...no one. After climbing Pelican and getting stopped at that light on NPC I looked back. You got it...no one. I pulled back just a notch as I started climbing Vista and still didn't see anyone behind me upon reaching the false flat. I could have just chilled at that point, but there's always this nagging suspicion that someone's going to blow past me where I kept my power level just a little under threshold as I finished the rest of the climb up Vista.
I contemplated on doing extra credit knowing I was up front, but I'd rather not get separated from the group and ended up waiting across the street to regroup just after the stop sign. Yeah, that's it. That's the ticket. When I saw someone cresting Vista, I thought it was Todd and was certain he would pull over with me and wait for the rest. When I looked up again and realized it was Vince, all I saw after was him going by me as he started the descent. HA HA...nice.
I couldn't resist and gave chase once I realized what happened, but chasing Vince on a descent is not really productive...especially with a compact crank. I know the guy can descend, so my strategy was just to not let him pull away and just hold the distance until he gets caught at a light or if not, try and reel him in on Bonita Canyon if possible. That strategy spit on my face as Vince slipped through the green light after the 73 underpass and having it turn yellow and red to catch me behind it.
Maybe there was still a chance to catch him at an intersection, but after hitting the next 2-3 lights consecutively, I figured I was on my own. It really sucked to be on my own on Bonita Canyon too. The wind on that section just blew (literally and figuratively). I did keep looking back, half expecting someone to roll up on me, but ended up finishing the rest of the ride like a Heart song...Alone. Vince was already at the gym upon my arrival, and the rest of the guys trickled in just behind me. From what I heard, traffic lights were not good to them either. I guess we all met that fate today.
After 2000 feet of climbing in ~18 miles, I'd say I'm ready for this long 4th of July weekend. Then again, anyone want to ride tomorrow? :)
Thanks for coming out, gents!
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