Spinners Represent @ SCTAC for opening night!

Sounds like it was a great ride tonight @ SCTAC for the peeps in the A
group. I spoke briefly with Randy after the ride and he said that
there was a number of Spinners out there including him, Allen and
Abhay. Sorry if I have forgotten someone, but sounds like the A race
contingent did well with a strong showing.

Brian F, Bo Z and I took on the C1 country loop. The
pace always starts fast in this group, and Bo, being the consummate
gentleman, stopped to help a damsel in distress when she had a mechanical about 10 miles into the ride, thus having the luxury of riding the remainder of the ride with two lovely
ladies (that's not to say they didn't push it, they worked hard to try to regain the group).

Meanwhile, Brian and I continued on with the group. This is not a 'no
drop' ride, so whatever happens, happens. Brian did some monster
pulls out there, and drove the pace when it was necessary. Seems like
there were some folks a little timid about getting out in front.

We had an awesome time throughout the ride and especially on Holly
Road. This is a narrow, twisting road through some beautiful farm
country. About 3/4 of the way through the road, there is a very steep
drop follow by a short (but steep) climb. Almost immediately after we
turned onto this road, he waved me up next to him and said "trade 10
second pulls with me". Hell, I'm game, so I told him to go.

We began trading pulls and quickly pulled a gap on the rest of the
group. At one point, about half way along the road, as I was pulling
alongside to take my turn, I told him I wasn't sure I was going to be
able to keep that pace. Thankfully, he still had his head on straight
(because I was totally red-lined and no longer thinking straight), and
told me to bring it back a notch. I did, and we continued trading
pulls.

I hadn't really looked back once we started trading pulls, but when we
got close to the dip in the road, I did look back. We had pulled a
pretty big gap on the field (about 8-10 guys or so). After descending
into the dip in full race mode, we practically coasted the remainder
of the way to the stop sign (about a 1/4 mile or maybe a little more)
and were still in front of the pack. We killed it! Such a great
time.

Our average over the 30ish miles was 21.5 mph. Perhaps not a
staggering figure by any means, but part of the pride we take in this
particular ride is the stopping at the stop signs AND carrying this
average speed. We finished with 8 or 10 guys out of about 20 to 25
who started with us. The decelerations and re-accelerations really
take a toll on the average speed. I've seen as much as 0.3 mph change
in average speed in a single stop sign! It takes one hell of an
effort to bring that average back up.

So, great seeing a number of my Spinners team-mates and many of my peeps out there tonight. Congrats to the A group contingent for an excellent showing and Thanks to Bo and Brian for helping me represent on the C-1 group.