Spring Saturday, Finally!

This morning I was debating doing either an 8:30 start 180k ride or a 10am start unspecified distance ride, and although both had appeal, I went for the 10 which allowed a little more beauty rest. I had my sleep schedule jerked around this week, with a few very early mornings, and as those close to me can attest (Tori), as each year goes by, my sleep schedule is becoming a little more sacred to me. Sufficient rest always feels hard to come by. Clothes were delightfully light - shorts, undershirt, jersey and armwarmers proved to be all I needed! Wow does that ever feel nice.

With that said, it was off to Cabin Cafe for 10. I saw Vincent Chahley in the Edworthy parking lot, stretching on the Porsche's bumper before a morning jog. Talked for a few minutes then went up to the Cabin to meet the usual suspects. Shawn, Devin, Finn, Natasha were common to last week's ride.

Alison Testrote showed up, she'd recently posted some good results at the Redlands Classic, hadn't seen her since Tucson last year. The pace was mild as we rode west, with Alison driving it for a while. Things heated up as we passed the three hills, there were lots of CrankMasters out to chase down as well. As we approached Bragg, the tempo was much more moderate, I did a couple pulls then drifted back to rest up. As Devin and Shawn were pulling side by side, I plotted to stretch the group out for the sprint finale. When I figured we were close enough that I could pull through to the sprint zone, instead of petering out pathetically before, I launched the tempo drive. I did my best to hold 550-600W for two minutes to stretch out the group and lead out the sprinters, and my legs siezed up pretty much where I thought they would. Unfortunately I couldn't see the end, but Shawn and Devin were the two frontmen.

I missed the instructions for the quick stop, and bought myself a cider that was 99% sugar and 1% rocket fuel. Pounded it back while everyone was gearing up to ride, it actually sat pretty well once it was down. We made our way south towards Plummers Road, using every incline as an excuse to battle it out for alpha male supremacy. I was fairly firmly in the wimpier sounding Ceta male category, although I was usually close enough to offer at least a little trash talk to Shawn just for fun.

Plummers Road to Millarville was a mini Roubaix, the surface was decent, and we worked the climbs, the flats, and the descents. I spent a lot of energy into Millarville trying do earn my keep in a 2 man effort with Devin, he took off on the prior hill and waited up, no doubt to assist me with a punishing interval workout.

We saw Pat Dodge and Juri Lipkov in Millarville. Pat has been roaming about in all black like the guys trying to dodge doping control, and has been putting in mega miles. Like I said last week, machine. And considering how much the rest of the Alberta crowd rides, he's a machine amongst machines.

We started seeking out the hills on the way into the south end of the city, and Devin departed to go be a parent. Shawn had a spoke issue, which we stopped to address, but that meant it was down to the two of us as Alison, Pat and Juri kept moving. My legs were now paying the price, and I was slow on the hills. We explored a couple roads new to me, then came in the south end of the city to see Calgary alive with spring. Nice to see as I missed a lot of the spring last year with work.

All in 150k, about 120k of which were hammer, and the last 30k I definitely lost the hammer. I'm feeling good, both by scientific measures of Watts, and less scientific ones, like I can usually still be close enough behind to see Devin crest the tops of hills.

Off to a birthday dinner tonight that I can hopefully stay awake through!