January 13, 2008

gimbel’s ride 2008.1.13

we had ourselves a true tempo ride today. it was all good. good weather (a bit windy at times), the road was dry, and the pace was well maintained. it could’ve been a “great” ride if we had few more people willing to share the work, but i really can’t complain much.

despite having hamean and stiggy on the ride, the only person to take a chance on an early solo flyer was pedro. he headed out into the wind and hung on for a while. we weren’t chasing him down that hard. instead a bunch of folks got to the front and tried to organize a paceline. when it was working, it worked beautifully. will, akin, myself and maybe 2-3 other guys found the right rhythm and rotated with pretty good precision. 

the only trouble was the constant gaps that opened up just behind the 5-6 guys working at the front. i don’t really mind people hitching a free ride on the train, but i really wish they will at least keep the gaps from opening unnecessarily. a couple of times i had to encourage them to stay on the wheels.

cliff set a smart tempo for us on the picket fence and the double-whammy was also climbed at a pace that most folks were comfortable with.

after the first sprint (will took this like he was on a sunday stroll) i felt like i had enough gas left in the tank to think about attacking. tentatively i thought about having a go on the con ed hill unless a better opportunity presented itself.

that guy on cannondale took the descent into rye train station pretty hard and created a 10 second gap. when he realized he had some daylight behind him, he just kept going. after staying on clarence’s wheel while he chased, i attacked and bridge across to him on the con ed hill - sort of like the plan i had in mind. i didn’t know how strong he was and i didn’t want to regret playing tactics with him and getting caught, so i just put my nose down and went as hard as i could for as long as i could. 

i only turned around to take a peek when we were on the first hump. it was that guy on the cannondale, hammean, and clarence i think. i was pretty pleased with how long i was able to stay away so i eased off and rolled in with the pack who caught me with 50 meters to go.