Double Play

I feel a little like Mark Zuckerberg (thx AT for keeping me straight on his spelling). Out of the blue, I invented a new concept. And it's a whole lot more productive than Facebook!

I am talking about the Double Roll fellas! 2 rides in 1!!

Me, Hoodie, Bergamo and Ullrich rolled a 6am "inner loop". All but hoodie were lumen-enabled. Note here that Bergie is a little like MacGruber. His lamp is almost literally a lamp. Puts out 900 lumens, and will blind a deer at 100 yards. One minor issue. It's not a bike lamp. More like a flashlight with macgruber-like velcro. but I digress.

Roll 1:

Dark and dare I say cool for the first hour of our ride. We headed north on 360 to Jollyville. About 3 cranks out of the parking lot, Bergie was off the front. We let him go until we crested Rob Roy, then things got frisky for the remainder of 360. Surreal to bomb those hills in the pitch black. Those 900 lumens came in handy! Thanks MacGruber!!

Hoodie was feeling his oats on Loop 1. Dropped me on the Steck descent (I had no answer), and on the Bull Creek sprint. Note on Strava I am in the top10 on Bull Creek. Hoodie is KOM baby!! Nice! Would have been higher if I knew when the segment ended. Coasting the last tenth of a mile is not good for your stats.

Let me call out Ullrich at this point. That kid is getting leaner and meaner everyday. After some pretty intense efforts, I would look over my shoulder. And there was the German. I have dropped the "big" modifier for obvious reasons. Keep grinding it Ullrich! and well done today!

After Bull Creek, the only event of note was the thousand or so runners on Shoal Creek and Jefferson. Was there an event today? They were everywhere. And many were hypoxic. This was evident in their choice of road vector. Many were running down the double yellow. WTF? More power to 'em for getting off the sofa.

ROLL2:

Bergie checked out post Roll1, leaving Hoodie, me and Ullrich to ride with Stanton, Malo!, MC, and Tyler. Stanton was a little compromised, due to the 50 beers he pounded yesterday. His performance today was superhuman, given that half his blood was Miller Lite.

We rolled the Mod Oz, with the going-in strategy of an endurance pace. As we left the parking lot, I would have sworn under oath and passed a lie-detector test, on my commitment to the endurance pace. Alas, there are a lot of riders out around 8am. When the first guy rode by on his Scattante, with a generic yellow jersey, I did not take the bait. Shortly thereafter, a girl passed us on a tri-bike. Like a greyhound that sees "Squirrel!" the concept of endurance pace ceased to exist in my mind. Game on, we rode the wheels of the Tri-crew for half of BeeCave. Then Stanton's blood started to thicken, and he jumped off the front as if he had a helium enema. Endurance pace? I seem to remember.....nah, that was last week, right?

Pretty calm pace on 620 until we got to the dam. Then Hoodie starts to channel the spirit of Marco Pantani and goes off! Stanton, still filled with his helium injection floats up there too. I was not strong today, but too proud to fall back, so I gritted it out. On a serious note, one of the guys Hoodie paced next to on the road (Tenzing guy), mentioned to him that he lost his son last week. Can't remember his name, but say a prayer for Tenzing guy and his family.

Regrouped at Walgreens, but did not refuel (mistake). Easy pace down 620. Thanks fellas. Moderate pace on Anderson Mill ( I pulled the whole way, thank you very much). Then Spicewood.

Hoodie encouraged a brisk pace on the Spicewood segment. Brisk was what we got. My best time so far on that segment was achieved due to The Hoodster playing the role of overseer, exhorting me, Stanton Tyler and himself on the last climb up Spicewood. Ridonk.

After Spicewood, I survived 360. Tyler was our KOM on the 360 climbs, finishing strong! Nice dude.

Great coffee/smoothie/conversation at Lola post-ride. Great to get Malo and Yeti back in the Pelo!

If you want to see Strava stats, page down in the blog for the HCD team ride info. Pretty cool!