Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/90699390
It was a good-sized turnout today with 9 of us out there including Galen who is just coming back after a 2-3 week hiatus and S-Gary making a cameo appearance as well. Let's hope we get to see both more often. The rest included me, todd, Mitchell, Jeremy, Adrian, Jaffe and Vin.
When we started, I wasn't sure what Todd was doing but he waited a little bit to take off while the rest of us started down the BAM runway. Jeremy seemed eager to get away and gapped the group up the first hill and everyone else lined up behind Gary as part of the chase group. Maybe that was for sentimental reasons given that the segment was named after him, but most likely it was that no one was too eager to give chase and reel Jeremy in right away. I kept looking back making sure Todd wasn't having a mechanical, but he failed to mention that he was interested to see what it would be like to give chase. Given that we were all held up at the light on Bonita Canyon, however, it only lasted up until that point.
Once we got going up toward Sunnyhill, Jeremy, Todd, Galen and me led us to the top but on the descent, Adrian blows by us like a bat out of hell with not so much as an "on your left," "excuse me" or God forbid "thank you." I didn't give chase right, and as history has proven time and again, I didn't need to. We had caught back up to him by the time we made the left on Sunnyhill. Sigh.
By the time we got to Turtle Rock, it seemed almost everyone who was still with us was pushing up to take a turn up front. I saw Mitchell and Adrian push up, and even Vin pushed up front taking a turn for as long as he could hold his 250 RPM cadence. I relieved him eventually in fear that he'd blow a knee out or something.
When we got past Campus and started the climb, Jeremy once again started to push ahead and create a gap, so it took time to close in on him where he probably felt like he was held out for a while. The reality was we spend a lot of energy to catch him and I, personally, won't relieve him until I, myself, can catch my breath too. sorry bud.
When we got on Starcrest, Todd started to push his way up, and it was just at a pace I couldn't hold with him. I had a pretty good pace though, but broke my momentum after a crappy SRAM front derraileur misshift, and Galen made his way past me after (despite having had a shift problem too). Jeremy made his way up just behind me, and Mitchell then Vin after. Vin didn't see anyone else behind him, so we opted to take off believing that the others may have taken a shortcut to regroup.
We pretty much made our way back over to Shady together with "the regular people" alternating to tow the group. We picked up one rider on the climb, and he was letting us rotate in front of him but latching on after. The rotation made it's way back up to me, so I led the final charge down toward Bonita Canyon for anyone wanting to sprint. Todd and Galen took off, as did the rider who latched on, and although I contemplated doing so also, I didn't given NPC was just around the corner. I think our guys were able to fend him off....
As we got on Bonita Canyon and headed toward NPC, our passenger ended up taking Turtle Ridge and putting himself ahead of us on the climb. We were slowed a little bit on NPC for the left turn until Vin decided to take off and get a headstart, which the group ended up doing as well. Todd took off and had a gap on us immediately, so I took the lead on the chase group. We passed Vin fairly early on, and made our way past the 73 watching Todd try to reel in the rider ahead of him. Galen came around and took the next pull, then Jeremy came around and began to amp it up again toward the top. We just barely hung on, until we regrouped with Todd just before the horseshoe.
On the horseshoe, Jeremy once again had gapped us for a little bit but Galen was able to reel him back in again with Todd, myself and Mitchell in tow. Todd took the next pull, and I finished the loop leading us back onto San Joaquin. On the descent, we were all together, but as soon as we made the right turn to Spyglass, boom. Vin had taken a shortcut and was ahead of us on the climb, and Jeremy and Galen stood up and started hammering as they led us onto the road. Todd and I did as well, and I found myself passing the other guys but holding a pace that I just couldn't sustain for the length of the climb. Bummer. I was closing in on Vin, but exploded just beforehand mostly because of the panic that set in hearing Todd closing in behind me. HA HA.
We regrouped at the light to San Miguel, but Jeremy had arrived just in time to get the green and once again take off ahead of the rest of us. It must have been something he ate or girl problems...both good reasons to make for aggressive riding...at least for me anyway. We were able to corral him once again before we got back on San Joaquin.
I was up front when we got to San Joaquin and had prepared to lead us onto McArthur, but I heard someone call out or say something so I checked up. The next thing you know, Todd and Galen passed with Todd grumbling about how he hates to lead out for this section since he thinks he'd get dropped. He brought the pace up pretty fast though, and Galen and Jeremy took the subsequent pulls that led us over to the stop light on Bonita. I had taken the front just before the intersection and threw out the sign to slow down only to have Todd mock me given we were only going about 4 mph at the time.
Once the light turned green, I brought the pace up once again and led us onto Bison where it seemed like people were eager for a sprint finish. Todd led us onto the bridge where Galen and Jeremy ended up taking off from, so I gave chase from the #4 spot. It took a while to get past Jeremy, and I was starting to reel in Galen but ran out of real estate to see if I could get by. In the locker room subsequently though, he mentioned how he was just waiting for me. I see.
Great ride today, gents, and definitely a great pace with a 21.7 mph average registering on my Garmin (21.6 on Strava). Imagine the possibilities if we could have these types of training rides on a closed course though. This came up after, and the thought is definitely interesting. Hmmm.
Thanks for coming out!
It was a good-sized turnout today with 9 of us out there including Galen who is just coming back after a 2-3 week hiatus and S-Gary making a cameo appearance as well. Let's hope we get to see both more often. The rest included me, todd, Mitchell, Jeremy, Adrian, Jaffe and Vin.
When we started, I wasn't sure what Todd was doing but he waited a little bit to take off while the rest of us started down the BAM runway. Jeremy seemed eager to get away and gapped the group up the first hill and everyone else lined up behind Gary as part of the chase group. Maybe that was for sentimental reasons given that the segment was named after him, but most likely it was that no one was too eager to give chase and reel Jeremy in right away. I kept looking back making sure Todd wasn't having a mechanical, but he failed to mention that he was interested to see what it would be like to give chase. Given that we were all held up at the light on Bonita Canyon, however, it only lasted up until that point.
Once we got going up toward Sunnyhill, Jeremy, Todd, Galen and me led us to the top but on the descent, Adrian blows by us like a bat out of hell with not so much as an "on your left," "excuse me" or God forbid "thank you." I didn't give chase right, and as history has proven time and again, I didn't need to. We had caught back up to him by the time we made the left on Sunnyhill. Sigh.
By the time we got to Turtle Rock, it seemed almost everyone who was still with us was pushing up to take a turn up front. I saw Mitchell and Adrian push up, and even Vin pushed up front taking a turn for as long as he could hold his 250 RPM cadence. I relieved him eventually in fear that he'd blow a knee out or something.
When we got past Campus and started the climb, Jeremy once again started to push ahead and create a gap, so it took time to close in on him where he probably felt like he was held out for a while. The reality was we spend a lot of energy to catch him and I, personally, won't relieve him until I, myself, can catch my breath too. sorry bud.
When we got on Starcrest, Todd started to push his way up, and it was just at a pace I couldn't hold with him. I had a pretty good pace though, but broke my momentum after a crappy SRAM front derraileur misshift, and Galen made his way past me after (despite having had a shift problem too). Jeremy made his way up just behind me, and Mitchell then Vin after. Vin didn't see anyone else behind him, so we opted to take off believing that the others may have taken a shortcut to regroup.
We pretty much made our way back over to Shady together with "the regular people" alternating to tow the group. We picked up one rider on the climb, and he was letting us rotate in front of him but latching on after. The rotation made it's way back up to me, so I led the final charge down toward Bonita Canyon for anyone wanting to sprint. Todd and Galen took off, as did the rider who latched on, and although I contemplated doing so also, I didn't given NPC was just around the corner. I think our guys were able to fend him off....
As we got on Bonita Canyon and headed toward NPC, our passenger ended up taking Turtle Ridge and putting himself ahead of us on the climb. We were slowed a little bit on NPC for the left turn until Vin decided to take off and get a headstart, which the group ended up doing as well. Todd took off and had a gap on us immediately, so I took the lead on the chase group. We passed Vin fairly early on, and made our way past the 73 watching Todd try to reel in the rider ahead of him. Galen came around and took the next pull, then Jeremy came around and began to amp it up again toward the top. We just barely hung on, until we regrouped with Todd just before the horseshoe.
On the horseshoe, Jeremy once again had gapped us for a little bit but Galen was able to reel him back in again with Todd, myself and Mitchell in tow. Todd took the next pull, and I finished the loop leading us back onto San Joaquin. On the descent, we were all together, but as soon as we made the right turn to Spyglass, boom. Vin had taken a shortcut and was ahead of us on the climb, and Jeremy and Galen stood up and started hammering as they led us onto the road. Todd and I did as well, and I found myself passing the other guys but holding a pace that I just couldn't sustain for the length of the climb. Bummer. I was closing in on Vin, but exploded just beforehand mostly because of the panic that set in hearing Todd closing in behind me. HA HA.
We regrouped at the light to San Miguel, but Jeremy had arrived just in time to get the green and once again take off ahead of the rest of us. It must have been something he ate or girl problems...both good reasons to make for aggressive riding...at least for me anyway. We were able to corral him once again before we got back on San Joaquin.
I was up front when we got to San Joaquin and had prepared to lead us onto McArthur, but I heard someone call out or say something so I checked up. The next thing you know, Todd and Galen passed with Todd grumbling about how he hates to lead out for this section since he thinks he'd get dropped. He brought the pace up pretty fast though, and Galen and Jeremy took the subsequent pulls that led us over to the stop light on Bonita. I had taken the front just before the intersection and threw out the sign to slow down only to have Todd mock me given we were only going about 4 mph at the time.
Once the light turned green, I brought the pace up once again and led us onto Bison where it seemed like people were eager for a sprint finish. Todd led us onto the bridge where Galen and Jeremy ended up taking off from, so I gave chase from the #4 spot. It took a while to get past Jeremy, and I was starting to reel in Galen but ran out of real estate to see if I could get by. In the locker room subsequently though, he mentioned how he was just waiting for me. I see.
Great ride today, gents, and definitely a great pace with a 21.7 mph average registering on my Garmin (21.6 on Strava). Imagine the possibilities if we could have these types of training rides on a closed course though. This came up after, and the thought is definitely interesting. Hmmm.
Thanks for coming out!
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