Another Great Lunchtime Workout with the Team

Strava:  https://app.strava.com/activities/295599711

Attendees:  Shannon, Todd, Vin, Mitchell, Jaffe, Seon and me

Highlights:

• Everyone work the black kit except Todd.   The reordered Giordana kits should fix this insubordination soon.
• Given that we shamelessly let Todd lead everyone out all the way to Culver, his defiance is excused.
• I did rotate to relieve Todd a couple times as we made our way to Turtle Rock, but he led us all the way to the top as well.  
• More began rotating in after with Shannon leading us up the Shady rise toward Bonita Canyon initially.  I made my way to the front on the descent after Vin, and Shannon busted an uncontested sprint to the bike trail opening.  We ain't dumb....
• We made our way up on Turtle Ridge toward Summit, but Shannon dropped a chain.  I made the mistake of waiting for him only to have him regroup with Vin and Todd at the front dropping me in the process.  
• I wasn't far behind after the turn around and Vin then Todd led toward the bottom.  As we got close to Turtle Ridge, I was yelling out to turn left but Vin and Todd didn't hear me in time and decided to follow Mitchell (who turned around early on the hill).
• Shannon and I waited for Jaffe only to let him set the pace up NPC up to the 73 underpass.  Once we got passed the offramp, Shannon took the front and turned it up a notch leaving me  hanging on for life and Jaffe off the back.  
• Shannon and I got to the horseshoe and it was 80% Shannon doing the work through it.  We did manage to catch up to Seon who skipped Summit (I'm guessing) and subsequently regroup with Jaffe at the San Joaquin corner.  
• On the way down, we hit some good sections of speed but got stopped at the McArthur light.  Vin showed up shortly after having skipped the horseshoe, so we opted to wait for Todd and Mitchell just after crossing. 
• Todd arrived with Mitchell indicating he didn't get any relief the whole time, and not one person found that the least bit surprising.  Not one.
• What Todd didn't know was that we really waited for him as we wanted him to pull us through Back Bay too.  
• Seon had taken off to give us a rabbit to chase, and this group loves chasing rabbits.  
• The rest of us stayed together all the way down to the entrance to Back Bay where Todd warned us how it will likely be painful given the Shannonator was with us.
• I led us onto Back Bay feeling pretty decent and tried to bring us to a respectable pace early...and then a big ass bug flew in my mouth.  I kept pedaling though like you're supposed to do, but I was shaking my head trying to spit out the bits and pieces of whatever bug broke apart in my mouth.  I literally could still taste it back in the locker room.
• Mitchell relieved me followed by the others rotating, but once Shannon took the front, it got nutty.  I literally struggled to latch on being at the back of the pack after getting accordion-ed off through some of the turns.  
• When Shannon finally rolled off, Mitchell had to push up and I don't think anyone wanted to be in his shoes after that much intensity.  The funny thing is neither Todd nor I was eager to get back in the rotation and 'kindly' let Shannon back in ahead of us.  
• Shannon did make his way back up to the front before the hill and started to amp it up, and while Todd didn't pursue, I gave it a shot...and failed as expected. 
• Shannon and I made it across the street to get just behind Seon just before Jamboree.  Seon actually led the climb up Jamboree at a pretty good pace, and I sat behind him thinking WTF?  Is he going to drop me too?  Good job, Seon!
• Shannon passed us after, and I hopped on the Shannon train as he towed me  up the hill.  I took advantage near the end and spun past him like the tool I described a few blogs ago.  It is what it is.
• We regrouped at the left turn and had Todd lead us out after the McArthur intersection.  As we got passed the first light, Vin decided to pull a noob move by taking off and passing Todd and Shannon to their 'right' (SMH) for a sprint.  Shannon reacted promptly and latched on ultimately setting Vin up for a pass just before the corner.  Nice work!

It was a good day of climbing, sprinting, and getting a great workout for sure.  Most importantly, it was another fun team ride.  Thanks for coming out!