44 miles @ 19.2 MPH average speed. Gina took the day off to go Christmas shopping so it gave me a chance to rid with the boys. Turned out to be a nice fast ride with lots of teamwork. I'm always trying to coordinate the riders hoping to get in a nice consistent pace. I myself like to ride with guys that actually "ride with you". Many time we have a nice thing going but somebody will take the front and instead of giving the guy who just pulled off the front a chance to catch his breath, the rider will sprint away or lift the pace 3 or 4 MPH. Never made sense to me! Why try to kill the guy who just gave you a break? Not to mention, by the time the others catch up, the sprinter dude has just faded and pulling off the front after 30 seconds or so.
Well today I told the guys the plan right from the start and all agreed. Along the way we did pick up a few riders here and there who did take a pull at the front. There were a couple of times that Jose fell off the back but IMO it was that he was not given a fair chance to catch his breath. One time the rider in front of him sprinted and opened a big gap. So Jose responded pulling us back up to the rider (who happened to be doing less than the mileage we were riding). It was a super hard one minute effort and just as Jose caught the guy, he swerved off the front and left Jose out to dry. I know I was getting toasty at this point but Jose was at the front so I'm sure he really felt it. Then on the next underpass he really faded up the ramp into the wind. We rolled around him then he quickly fell behind and could not seem to catch back on at the end of the line. Mike was at the front now and was rolling pretty good. I looked back and noticed Jose so I shouted out to Mike to hold it down a notch for a minute to allow Jose to get back on. I dunno, I just can't find it in me to ditch a rider that has helped you along the way. On the return it seemed to be an identical situation. Could have been a bit of bad planning on his part this time. He had pulled maybe a little too long then pulled off the front right before we hit the ramp right after the 405 tunnel. I think again he was toasted then Mike took the front and picked it up to 23 right after the short climb. Jose fell off the back again. I'm thinking not enough time to recover. So again I shouted out to Mike who held it back for a minute or so. Jose got back on then we continued. I somehow got ahead of Mike and though out of turn I held the front at a steady pace giving Jose a chance to recover. After a while I could tell by his shadow that he was comfortable. OK cool, now I'll move over. We had a plan to hold it steady at about 20 but once Joaquin got in front, again the pace went back up to 23 MPH. But I could still see Jose's shadow next to my rear wheel and could tell he was comfortable once again. Joaquin pulled for a good clip then pulled off. He looked tired so as I took the front once again I made sure to hold the same or lower pace. I was probably doing about 21.5 at this point figuring he should recover. I'm not sure what happened and the others didn't say anything but once we got to the wooden bridge we noticed he was pretty far behind us. I had thought about slowing down but this was the end of his 20 miler as he stops and starts at Edna Park. So heck, we just continued and Jose was still with us. We had a plan of trying to hold an 18+ average. I would have been happy with 18.5 but at this point we had an 18.9 so heck no I ain't stopping now ha ha!
Mike seemed to fall out of order on the way back but knowing he had fresh legs I figured I could use him at the end of the ride. Jose and I had 44 miles on Saturday too where Mike didn't ride so I knew he was the fresher of the bunch, Sure enough he had a pretty good kick left at the end. At one point he was pushing pretty good holding 25 MPH! We had about a 1/2 mile left and no way was I going to let this 19.0 average go now ha ha! I stuck on his wheel and enjoyed the ride back to the finish. I was hoping for an 18.5 but ended up with a 19.2, wowzer I'm happy with it!
Saw PinoyBnter Ron on the trail.
That's me, Pretty In Pink!
No comments:
Post a Comment