By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)
6/10/13
For some of us the weekend had been a busy one. One group did about 60 miles Saturday and another did 124. Some people from both groups were planning on riding Monday and so I had to take into account how tired or sore people might be before planning a ride. So I put up a rather easy ride that we could use for recovery and looked forward taking it easy for a day. We were going to meet earlier today so I was up early and had breakfast. I got a bit of a late start because my maintenance man must have forgotten to charge my Garmin and forgot to check my cleats on my Specialized Bike shoes on Sunday like he was supposed to. So I mounted a different computer and switched shoes and headed for coffee with Digger and Dura Max.
It was cooler than I expected but the hope was for an early burn off and a little sun before the ride had gone too far. Surgeon showed up despite the coolness of the morning as did Highlander and Tax Man. Quicksilver drove up about8:20 and unloaded her bike about the time I got a text from MacGyver saying he would catch us on the way to we could leave right at 8am. We moved down Gilmore and turned on Acacia to Kirby to head south.
I will admit I could feel a bit of soreness in my legs from Saturday but not so bad that I couldn’t ramp up to a pretty good spin. But I knew if I could feel it so would Quicksilver and maybe Highlander. But it didn’t seem to slow them down much as we turned onto Cypress and headed for Johnston. Sitting at the light on Johnston and Sanderson I wanted everyone to know there was no need to push it today because we could use it to work the blood through the legs. The goal then as we turned onto Sanderson and crossed Stetson heading for Mustang to just keep it at about 18 and to keep the group together.
Once we were on Domenigoni I started the pull and got us to 18 quickly enough before turning it over to Highlander. He started off at 18 but by Warren he had us rolling along at 20. The pace didn’t seem to bother anyone so I let it go till we crossed over the dry wash and saw MacGyver in the distance gaining on us. Quicksilver was in the middle of the pace line and holding her own so I let them continue to run while MacGyver worked his tail off trying to run us down. He finally caught us and pulled up next to me by Winchester. I laughed about how he wasn’t getting much of a chance to recover and he smiled knowing it was true. We rode together to the Saddle for a regroup.
We took a few minutes to rehydrate before heading down the back side of the Saddle and over to Menifee. I was chatting away with Highlander as we moved towards Holland and the Revive Hill. He told me he had no plans on racing me up the hill and I fell back to make sure Quicksilver picked the right gear for the little hill. She decided to attack me at the bottom of the hill but slightly misjudged the climb and had to fall off before we crested. We once again regroup at the top and then continued on past Garboni and rapidly rolled onto Scott.
I managed to do the pulling as we made our way to Scott. Looking back I could see the Saturday was starting to take its toll. MacGyver was just a bit sluggish, even if he kept pushing, and Quicksilver looked like she had to work a bit. Highlander seemed to be as strong as ever and Digger was a step off of his normal speed. I was not exempt either because my long term spin was off as well. Even if we seemed as if we were a wounded group we made our way west on Scott, past Antelope, over the freeway and onto Haun Drive.
The Next stop was on Haun and Newport where we took a fuel break before heading over to Bradley and north towards McCall.
I led for a while before I decided to attack the Segment called Golf Course Racing. Surgeon came with me and the MacGyver caught me and passed as I ran out of gas before the last stop sign. By the time we got to McCall Tax Man and Dura Max were with us as we decided to wait at the Valero till everyone caught up. Dura Max took off with a bit of a head start and as Highlander brought Digger and Quicksilver through the intersection he took them right on by so those of us at the gas station had to chase them to the light at Hillpoint were MacGyver tried another segment heading up Hospital Hill. The rest of us regrouped on the hill before heading down to Heritage and headed for Simpson.
The ride down Simpson was uneventful except that we had split into two groups. Highlander, Quicksilver, MacGyver, Digger and I took Leon to the dump road with the intention of taking a run at the dump road sprint. We were too tired however and only Digger tried for a PR on the road. We all met up at Chris’s for Coffee and Conversation. In this case we also had to do some minor adjustments to Quicksilver’s bike.
The sun finally came out and MacGyver, Surgeon and Dura Max headed for home first. Highlander, Quicksilver, Tax Man, Digger and I followed a few minutes later making the run up Winchester to Stowe and East.
Highlander and Quicksilver were in front most of the way to California till I spotted two riders in the distance heading for Stetson. I took off and closed in on them just before the turn. It turned out to be Back Draft and his daughter out for a training ride. I fell back to talk with them for a while and after Warren had to work my legs off to catch Highlander, Tax Man, Digger and Quicksilver before they got past Hanger 1 and out onto Sanderson. Once Highlander and Tax Man got to Lowes they headed for the barn leaving Digger, Quicksilver and me to get to Burger King on our own.
Once everyone was back in their vehicle and on their way home I rode back to my house thinking of lunch and a shower. The sun was out and it hadn’t gotten hot yet so it was a nice ride. I felt a little sorry for Quicksilver because she thought she had an off day today. But after checking Strava when I got home I saw she had at least three PRS on a day she felt slow. I need a few days like that.
I will admit I could feel a bit of soreness in my legs from Saturday but not so bad that I couldn’t ramp up to a pretty good spin. But I knew if I could feel it so would Quicksilver and maybe Highlander. But it didn’t seem to slow them down much as we turned onto Cypress and headed for Johnston. Sitting at the light on Johnston and Sanderson I wanted everyone to know there was no need to push it today because we could use it to work the blood through the legs. The goal then as we turned onto Sanderson and crossed Stetson heading for Mustang to just keep it at about 18 and to keep the group together.
Once we were on Domenigoni I started the pull and got us to 18 quickly enough before turning it over to Highlander. He started off at 18 but by Warren he had us rolling along at 20. The pace didn’t seem to bother anyone so I let it go till we crossed over the dry wash and saw MacGyver in the distance gaining on us. Quicksilver was in the middle of the pace line and holding her own so I let them continue to run while MacGyver worked his tail off trying to run us down. He finally caught us and pulled up next to me by Winchester. I laughed about how he wasn’t getting much of a chance to recover and he smiled knowing it was true. We rode together to the Saddle for a regroup.
We took a few minutes to rehydrate before heading down the back side of the Saddle and over to Menifee. I was chatting away with Highlander as we moved towards Holland and the Revive Hill. He told me he had no plans on racing me up the hill and I fell back to make sure Quicksilver picked the right gear for the little hill. She decided to attack me at the bottom of the hill but slightly misjudged the climb and had to fall off before we crested. We once again regroup at the top and then continued on past Garboni and rapidly rolled onto Scott.
I managed to do the pulling as we made our way to Scott. Looking back I could see the Saturday was starting to take its toll. MacGyver was just a bit sluggish, even if he kept pushing, and Quicksilver looked like she had to work a bit. Highlander seemed to be as strong as ever and Digger was a step off of his normal speed. I was not exempt either because my long term spin was off as well. Even if we seemed as if we were a wounded group we made our way west on Scott, past Antelope, over the freeway and onto Haun Drive.
The Next stop was on Haun and Newport where we took a fuel break before heading over to Bradley and north towards McCall.
I led for a while before I decided to attack the Segment called Golf Course Racing. Surgeon came with me and the MacGyver caught me and passed as I ran out of gas before the last stop sign. By the time we got to McCall Tax Man and Dura Max were with us as we decided to wait at the Valero till everyone caught up. Dura Max took off with a bit of a head start and as Highlander brought Digger and Quicksilver through the intersection he took them right on by so those of us at the gas station had to chase them to the light at Hillpoint were MacGyver tried another segment heading up Hospital Hill. The rest of us regrouped on the hill before heading down to Heritage and headed for Simpson.
The ride down Simpson was uneventful except that we had split into two groups. Highlander, Quicksilver, MacGyver, Digger and I took Leon to the dump road with the intention of taking a run at the dump road sprint. We were too tired however and only Digger tried for a PR on the road. We all met up at Chris’s for Coffee and Conversation. In this case we also had to do some minor adjustments to Quicksilver’s bike.
The sun finally came out and MacGyver, Surgeon and Dura Max headed for home first. Highlander, Quicksilver, Tax Man, Digger and I followed a few minutes later making the run up Winchester to Stowe and East.
Highlander and Quicksilver were in front most of the way to California till I spotted two riders in the distance heading for Stetson. I took off and closed in on them just before the turn. It turned out to be Back Draft and his daughter out for a training ride. I fell back to talk with them for a while and after Warren had to work my legs off to catch Highlander, Tax Man, Digger and Quicksilver before they got past Hanger 1 and out onto Sanderson. Once Highlander and Tax Man got to Lowes they headed for the barn leaving Digger, Quicksilver and me to get to Burger King on our own.
Once everyone was back in their vehicle and on their way home I rode back to my house thinking of lunch and a shower. The sun was out and it hadn’t gotten hot yet so it was a nice ride. I felt a little sorry for Quicksilver because she thought she had an off day today. But after checking Strava when I got home I saw she had at least three PRS on a day she felt slow. I need a few days like that.
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