Such a typical human emotion. Wind-assisted speed is so easy to credit to yourself. You think, "man this training is paying off," or "Am I having a good day or what?"
These fantasies always evaporate. Wind turns, taking your fantasy with it, careening down the road behind you and out of your consciousness. You are reminded that your success on the planet is driven in large part by forces outside your own skin. [Life Lesson #1]
Me, Ullrich, AT, Stanton, Q (for Qlimb), and Dan P! (aka bunny hopper) showed up for a morning roll. It was great to see Dan again. He looks unchanged in the six months of elapsed time between rides. Only having two hours, we did not get enough time to catch up, since he turned off at 222, at least I presume he did.
With the bolt-on of Lime Creek, I had planned to stretch our first refuel stop to the 7-11 at Anderson Mill and 620. I did not communicate this in the parking lot. [Life Lesson #2].
We spun out west on Bee Cave, with Q immediately off the front. That guy is using the same coach as Mauricio, and it shows. Once warm (about 25 minutes in), we bridged the Q and rolled briskly around to 620. Once on 620, Ullrich declared that this endurance pace was ill-suited for his gameplan, and ratcheted down his effort accordingly. I think Dan was back there too.
AT and I agreed that the pace was too brisk, slowed down for about 3 minutes, then promptly worked to bridge the Q gap. 620 was awesome today. I think I was just having a great day. And the training was really paying off. And it was a tailie the whole way. That may have contributed.
Climb up out of the dam was controlled. Q and Stanton hung back and all was well until AT "schlecked" his chain. We slowed down but didn't stop. At this point I will remind you that the planned refuel had been communicated only to Stanton and Q. We dropped AT (due solely to his chain) and cruised up Oasis. Rolled right through the light and CRANKED.
3 man paceline on 620. Hammer and tongs. Stanton and Q had some mega-pulls. Shortly after arriving at 7-11, AT rolled in. He would have been faster, but had rolled around Walgreens once. Or twice. Like a dog that lost his owner, not sure WTF to do.
At 7-11, we waited for Ullrich. I texted. We waited. I called. We waited. I called again. We waited. Guilt rising in my super-ego for the lack of communication. Given the already blown "endurance pace", we guessed that the German (not-so-big anymore!) had turned right with Dan and given us the finger. So we rolled.
Lime Creek was a headwind all the way to Volente. About halfway there, we spot an oncoming Doughnut. WTF is that? If you are quicker than me, you have already guessed it. The German had Rule 5'd it. And dropped down Bullick Hollow. All we got was a smile and a wave as he blew past us, enjoying his tailie while we toiled into the wind. [Ullrich later texted me. He did the full Oz solo. Big Rule 5 props to the German!!]
At Volente we ran into the Assassin. Apparently, he rides with other buddies too. as we made small talk, the ATC ride turned right onto Lime Creek. That is a svelte group. Bidding Sean and his two bros adieu, we hoofed it on the heels of ATC. Q bridged us about a mile or so up the road. We sat in with those dudes until the 3 beeyotches. It was a blast. Here's the weird thing. No Rey. Whaddup with that? No rey, but there were apparently 3 pros in the group. This was evident once we hit the hill.
BAM! There went the party. Those guys busted ass up that hill in stunning fashion. Give Q and Stanton props. They hung in there for varying degrees of the climb. But all the Dough were ultimately digested and shat out the back of the ATC Monster.
Anderson Mill was a blast. Spicewood was fast. Q was doing 5 minute VO2 Max intervals. We hung on for the first one.Once on 360, the wind gave us a Dikembe Mutombo. And we "let" Q go. Me, Stanton and AT spun it out, ending a brisk run with a bit of a whimper. Stats below.
Happy Easter!!
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/81038555
These fantasies always evaporate. Wind turns, taking your fantasy with it, careening down the road behind you and out of your consciousness. You are reminded that your success on the planet is driven in large part by forces outside your own skin. [Life Lesson #1]
Me, Ullrich, AT, Stanton, Q (for Qlimb), and Dan P! (aka bunny hopper) showed up for a morning roll. It was great to see Dan again. He looks unchanged in the six months of elapsed time between rides. Only having two hours, we did not get enough time to catch up, since he turned off at 222, at least I presume he did.
With the bolt-on of Lime Creek, I had planned to stretch our first refuel stop to the 7-11 at Anderson Mill and 620. I did not communicate this in the parking lot. [Life Lesson #2].
We spun out west on Bee Cave, with Q immediately off the front. That guy is using the same coach as Mauricio, and it shows. Once warm (about 25 minutes in), we bridged the Q and rolled briskly around to 620. Once on 620, Ullrich declared that this endurance pace was ill-suited for his gameplan, and ratcheted down his effort accordingly. I think Dan was back there too.
AT and I agreed that the pace was too brisk, slowed down for about 3 minutes, then promptly worked to bridge the Q gap. 620 was awesome today. I think I was just having a great day. And the training was really paying off. And it was a tailie the whole way. That may have contributed.
Climb up out of the dam was controlled. Q and Stanton hung back and all was well until AT "schlecked" his chain. We slowed down but didn't stop. At this point I will remind you that the planned refuel had been communicated only to Stanton and Q. We dropped AT (due solely to his chain) and cruised up Oasis. Rolled right through the light and CRANKED.
3 man paceline on 620. Hammer and tongs. Stanton and Q had some mega-pulls. Shortly after arriving at 7-11, AT rolled in. He would have been faster, but had rolled around Walgreens once. Or twice. Like a dog that lost his owner, not sure WTF to do.
At 7-11, we waited for Ullrich. I texted. We waited. I called. We waited. I called again. We waited. Guilt rising in my super-ego for the lack of communication. Given the already blown "endurance pace", we guessed that the German (not-so-big anymore!) had turned right with Dan and given us the finger. So we rolled.
Lime Creek was a headwind all the way to Volente. About halfway there, we spot an oncoming Doughnut. WTF is that? If you are quicker than me, you have already guessed it. The German had Rule 5'd it. And dropped down Bullick Hollow. All we got was a smile and a wave as he blew past us, enjoying his tailie while we toiled into the wind. [Ullrich later texted me. He did the full Oz solo. Big Rule 5 props to the German!!]
At Volente we ran into the Assassin. Apparently, he rides with other buddies too. as we made small talk, the ATC ride turned right onto Lime Creek. That is a svelte group. Bidding Sean and his two bros adieu, we hoofed it on the heels of ATC. Q bridged us about a mile or so up the road. We sat in with those dudes until the 3 beeyotches. It was a blast. Here's the weird thing. No Rey. Whaddup with that? No rey, but there were apparently 3 pros in the group. This was evident once we hit the hill.
BAM! There went the party. Those guys busted ass up that hill in stunning fashion. Give Q and Stanton props. They hung in there for varying degrees of the climb. But all the Dough were ultimately digested and shat out the back of the ATC Monster.
Anderson Mill was a blast. Spicewood was fast. Q was doing 5 minute VO2 Max intervals. We hung on for the first one.Once on 360, the wind gave us a Dikembe Mutombo. And we "let" Q go. Me, Stanton and AT spun it out, ending a brisk run with a bit of a whimper. Stats below.
Happy Easter!!
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/81038555
5 comments:
The Scheibs and I (Malo) did a Dough Splinter Group ride from his house to Andice. Yes, there was a pickled egg waiting there for me. We found ourselves to be proficient down wind guys knocking out the outbound 23.5 miles in 1 hour + 12 minutes. The return ride not so good with a 1 hour + 43 minute time. Wind no bueno. Miss you boys and will plan to grab a ride again real soon. Malo.
Great recap coach. Ride today was fun and painful.
-Stanton
Bonus rule #5 points for Ullrich! We didn't even contemplate the full Aussie at the 360 turn... and you ran the entire track solo. Outstanding job Mark!!
No worries guys! It was kind of cool first running into Sean and then the rest of the Dough coming in the opposite direction. After seeing you guys on Lime Creek, I stopped at said 7-11 but did not wait. At that point I thought I was a rabbit with a 3 mile head start. I thought you guys would be gunning to catch me. Left turn at 360 and then down to Holtzman thru Rollingwood and back to Lola's. I saw Stanton near Westlake HS. I had a great 65 miler at a controlled pace. I had to nap during the afternoon.
Ullrich
Oh yeah, I hate the wind!
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