January 12, 2008

gimbel’s ride 2008.1.12

i’m trying to remember the last time i had to take off a layer before the ride started and i can’t. so there i was stripping in public (again) when i was greeted by some familiar faces. first, pedro rolled up. there goes my prediction that we weren’t going to see him again on the g-ride for the next 5 or 6 years. his wife and the baby are both doing well and he took the opportunity to sneak out the house. there’s so much to learn from this guy.

then manny (aka juan, aka manuel, aka juan-manuel) showed up with a dozen+ representatives from toga. it was so nice to see him again. it was the first time since “the” accident. i gave him a huge bear hug - but not in that prison movie kind of way. he looked really good. he said he’s about 60% back. i will debunk this later.

the regular ride ended up being very similar to the last week’s. ryan kicked things off by turning the screw on 22 and i sat near the front watching when the train will form and when to get on it.

when will jumped with 4-5 toga boys in tow, there was no question it was the right time to go. the first split ended up being about 10 guys. about 3 guys from toga did most of the pace-setting work. i was convinced they were setting up something for their team mates and just kept an eye on things. but i was way off. they were just looking for a hard ride, nothing tactical. still the pace was unbearable at times for this has-been weekend warrior and i started to struggle to hold the wheel in front of me.

things got really bad on the double-whammy. a climb where i could always manage to hang on to just about anyone was now turning into a moment of suck-it-up or get shelled out the back. i was heavily leaning towards the latter when will encouraged me to stay on his wheel. a very kind gesture and a clear sign that toga boys weren’t interested in shattering the breakaway group.

just before the first sprint, the chasing group caught us and now the leading pack had ballooned to about 25 riders. i feared things weren’t going to slow down any time soon and just tried to hide and skip pulls like my life depended on it. on the other hand, manny “i’m only about 60%” jumped out of the saddle to bag the first sprint. i caught up to him and asked him to to redo his math :-)

after we rolled into rye, will jumped near the poggio and got a 10 second gap. toga boys, who’s been fantastical all day, were again exemplary. they weren’t blocking but they weren’t exactly flat out chasing down their own team mate either. it was up to the rest of us to chase him down. and we did. that tall guy on a seven, who put his nose into the wind alll day, did a really nice job of coming through and closing him down with 2k remaining.

i was definitely popped by this point. actually i’ve been popped for the whole 2nd half of the ride but i still wanted to lead out. i got a chance when the pack slowed down at the top of the first hump. hoping that either will or clarence would be on my wheels, i jumped into the valley.

as soon as i made my jump, i knew that wasn’t going to cut it. you know the feeling… like you’re pushing your bike with your shoulders rather than pedaling it forward. but the effort was good enough to build a 20 meter gap on the rest. will came around me in the last 50 meters to win the sprint. the guy wasn’t even breathing hard. manny finished 3rd few yards behind me. it looked like he took pity on me and hit the brakes just before i crossed the line.