Let's start with the apology - sorry about the confusion. I am suffering from the worst sinus infection of the whole winter, and I'm groggy most of the time. Last night in my post I stated the ride tonight would "be at 5:15". Galloway contacted me five minutes after the post went live and asked about the time. It never occurred to me why he was asking. Of course the ride is 5:45 standard... I was confusing Jimmy office time, I'm guessing. Regardless, I hope no one was seriously put out.
Next up... Scott and I will be riding from Jimmy's office at 5:15. Let me double check that... Jimmy's office... 5:15... yup, that's right. Riding 'til dark, all invited.
Continuing on, Saturday's Century will start at 8 AM from Parkview, as normal. This seems to be the time that best fits conditions/schedules, and that is a consensus decision. Or should I say "quorum"? I will be at McDonald's by 7 AM, all are welcome (both to breakfast and the ride).
There's nothing guaranteeing I haven't posted something utterly nonsensical, so if you catch it, text me. I'll fix it ASAP.
On to tonight...
It was one of the best turnouts of this early year. Dan, John T., Troy, Galloway, Roy, Scott, Miller... we even saw DfO and Judy Cross out at the pee tree. The strong northwest wind promised a challenging return trip from the county line, though I didn't hear any real whining. Dan rode from his house, as did Troy. I came an hour and a half early to put in some miles.
From my early ride I got a taste of the strength of the wind, especially the gusts. It was the opposite of last week, only stronger. Straight down the pipe, but into our faces, with blasts that dropped speed 5 mph. Oh yeah, that was going to be fun...
After the guys chastised me for setting out the wrong starting time, we got rolling. Of course it was easy going south, and we hit 337 in good time. After getting on the road, John T. and Scott rolled to the front, dropped into aero, and were instantly off the front. Troy covered the move right away. Roy and Galloway ignored it. Miller and I were in the back with Dan talking about training. Suddenly Miller stood up and moved around Galloway and Roy. He was going to cover the ground before it was too late.
I was seriously conflicted. I'm sick, and really would have been smarter to stay put or at the very most drop into Roy's pull. I've never been accused of being overly smart, and it stung a little to get dropped. In fact, that's been happening a bit too much lately, and I think it finally reached the breaking point. If Miller could cover the gap, so could I.
It wasn't easy. Those guys had a big jump, and they weren't cruising. I was going 30-31 mph with the strong tailwind, and still the gap came down slowly. It wasn't until we were in the Lost River Valley I caught the group. That's when the real testosterone poisoning took me. I figured if I'd had to ride that hard to catch them, I wasn't going to wait. I moved right up to the front and poured on the coals. I really wanted to break away, though I knew that was practically an impossibility. Next best would be to make them work hard. That at least had a chance.
This was one of those rare times in riding that having a cassette with eleven teeth wasn't good enough. We flashed through Bromer at over 34 mph, and there wasn't any more gear to be had. I had the muscles to push, but not the ability to turn the legs over at a speed required to get more out of the cassette. I could hear the guys behind me, and they were in the same boat.
As we left town, Miller took over. He took us up for a bit, and were moving along at 31 mph. Slowly the speed began to drop. I decided to move around him again, and we charged in to the county line with a good head of steam.
I cannot say how hard the other guys worked. My cold hindered me, of course, and I began hacking right away, but I did get a good workout in that span. Whatever happened after that, I'd gotten a good hard segment.
DfO was at the line, along with Judy Cross. He said, "Well, since you guys already pulled out here, I might as well go." And he left. Comedy gold.
The guys talked about holding speed down, sharing the load, not dropping anyone, blah, blah, blah. The second we turned out on the road, Troy snapped the speed up and dropped Roy, Galloway, me, and Dan. I could have gone around and caught, it wasn't THAT fast. The thing was the "collaboration" lasted less than 5 seconds. Roy did an admirable job pulling Galloway (and me) back to the group, though it took a mile. Dan wasn't so fortunate. I looked back and he was nearly out of sight.
My conscience stung me. We said, "no drop". We forced him to go before he was ready to leave. Essentially, we set him up to be hammered. I was sick, didn't need to ride hard any more, so I opted to turn back and ride in with him.
From what I am told, the rest held a bit over 20 mph into the strong headwind. Troy pulled for 2 miles, Scott for 3, John T. for 2.5, then Miller finished it off. Galloway was dropped at some point (another data point!), and I'm not sure about Roy. They all had a strong ride, and no one complained. I should say also Dan never once complained about being left. He did thank me for coming back for him as we finished.
Back to the vehicles, John T., Roy, Scott, and I ran Allen's beloved Garden Three-Mile Run. Roy and I ran 11 seconds per mile faster than last week and Scott was still out of sight when he finished.
It was a great workout, better than I could have hoped for. God willing, I'll get over this infection soon and be able to challenge some of you guys in something... ANYTHING...
Edit: Oh! The title, "Justice is Served" refers to the possible KOM effort on the reverse time trial segment. Turns out I missed it - by one second. As I told the guys at Wendy's, I'm glad. This was a group effort, and it wouldn't have been right taking it from Troy that way. I was already 2nd on the list, so no harm done.
Next up... Scott and I will be riding from Jimmy's office at 5:15. Let me double check that... Jimmy's office... 5:15... yup, that's right. Riding 'til dark, all invited.
Continuing on, Saturday's Century will start at 8 AM from Parkview, as normal. This seems to be the time that best fits conditions/schedules, and that is a consensus decision. Or should I say "quorum"? I will be at McDonald's by 7 AM, all are welcome (both to breakfast and the ride).
There's nothing guaranteeing I haven't posted something utterly nonsensical, so if you catch it, text me. I'll fix it ASAP.
On to tonight...
It was one of the best turnouts of this early year. Dan, John T., Troy, Galloway, Roy, Scott, Miller... we even saw DfO and Judy Cross out at the pee tree. The strong northwest wind promised a challenging return trip from the county line, though I didn't hear any real whining. Dan rode from his house, as did Troy. I came an hour and a half early to put in some miles.
From my early ride I got a taste of the strength of the wind, especially the gusts. It was the opposite of last week, only stronger. Straight down the pipe, but into our faces, with blasts that dropped speed 5 mph. Oh yeah, that was going to be fun...
After the guys chastised me for setting out the wrong starting time, we got rolling. Of course it was easy going south, and we hit 337 in good time. After getting on the road, John T. and Scott rolled to the front, dropped into aero, and were instantly off the front. Troy covered the move right away. Roy and Galloway ignored it. Miller and I were in the back with Dan talking about training. Suddenly Miller stood up and moved around Galloway and Roy. He was going to cover the ground before it was too late.
I was seriously conflicted. I'm sick, and really would have been smarter to stay put or at the very most drop into Roy's pull. I've never been accused of being overly smart, and it stung a little to get dropped. In fact, that's been happening a bit too much lately, and I think it finally reached the breaking point. If Miller could cover the gap, so could I.
It wasn't easy. Those guys had a big jump, and they weren't cruising. I was going 30-31 mph with the strong tailwind, and still the gap came down slowly. It wasn't until we were in the Lost River Valley I caught the group. That's when the real testosterone poisoning took me. I figured if I'd had to ride that hard to catch them, I wasn't going to wait. I moved right up to the front and poured on the coals. I really wanted to break away, though I knew that was practically an impossibility. Next best would be to make them work hard. That at least had a chance.
This was one of those rare times in riding that having a cassette with eleven teeth wasn't good enough. We flashed through Bromer at over 34 mph, and there wasn't any more gear to be had. I had the muscles to push, but not the ability to turn the legs over at a speed required to get more out of the cassette. I could hear the guys behind me, and they were in the same boat.
As we left town, Miller took over. He took us up for a bit, and were moving along at 31 mph. Slowly the speed began to drop. I decided to move around him again, and we charged in to the county line with a good head of steam.
I cannot say how hard the other guys worked. My cold hindered me, of course, and I began hacking right away, but I did get a good workout in that span. Whatever happened after that, I'd gotten a good hard segment.
DfO was at the line, along with Judy Cross. He said, "Well, since you guys already pulled out here, I might as well go." And he left. Comedy gold.
The guys talked about holding speed down, sharing the load, not dropping anyone, blah, blah, blah. The second we turned out on the road, Troy snapped the speed up and dropped Roy, Galloway, me, and Dan. I could have gone around and caught, it wasn't THAT fast. The thing was the "collaboration" lasted less than 5 seconds. Roy did an admirable job pulling Galloway (and me) back to the group, though it took a mile. Dan wasn't so fortunate. I looked back and he was nearly out of sight.
My conscience stung me. We said, "no drop". We forced him to go before he was ready to leave. Essentially, we set him up to be hammered. I was sick, didn't need to ride hard any more, so I opted to turn back and ride in with him.
From what I am told, the rest held a bit over 20 mph into the strong headwind. Troy pulled for 2 miles, Scott for 3, John T. for 2.5, then Miller finished it off. Galloway was dropped at some point (another data point!), and I'm not sure about Roy. They all had a strong ride, and no one complained. I should say also Dan never once complained about being left. He did thank me for coming back for him as we finished.
Back to the vehicles, John T., Roy, Scott, and I ran Allen's beloved Garden Three-Mile Run. Roy and I ran 11 seconds per mile faster than last week and Scott was still out of sight when he finished.
It was a great workout, better than I could have hoped for. God willing, I'll get over this infection soon and be able to challenge some of you guys in something... ANYTHING...
Edit: Oh! The title, "Justice is Served" refers to the possible KOM effort on the reverse time trial segment. Turns out I missed it - by one second. As I told the guys at Wendy's, I'm glad. This was a group effort, and it wouldn't have been right taking it from Troy that way. I was already 2nd on the list, so no harm done.
So the ride Saturday is at 7 from McDonalds? I can't make it. --JA
ReplyDelete