After pondering last week if I should continue on with the Glider Wednesday ride I decided to suit up this morning as I had no better alternate plan. At first it looked like it was just going to be me, the Ride Captain and one other dude. Then at the last minute Boss Hogg, San Diego, Skeletor and this other dude I don't have  a cool nickname for yet appeared.

Anyway true to form  Hogg was hogging it up for most of the ride. I tip my hat to him, the guy is a beast. In the second half of the ride Hogg and I are at the front in the double paceline. Anyone who knows me knows that in that scenario I always wait for the other dude to say they are ready to fall back. So we are riding and riding. We ride a long time together at the front, not so much as saying boo to each other. After a while I look back and realize that once again we have dropped many of the other riders. It's not like we are going crazy fast. I don't know why this happens.So we slow down to let the other people catch up and gradually ease the pace back up.

At this point however we are in front of Chestnut Hill, which if you recall is a pretty steep hill for this area. I must confess I have always wondered how I would match up against Boss Hogg going up this hill. On the one hand he is a bigger dude with a lot of beef on his legs to generate power. On the other hand I have a wiry build and have less than 150 lbs for gravity to pull on when going up inclines.

So this is it. Hogg and I are up front and the hill is right there. I am a little tentative at first and stay seated instead of going on an all out attack. I feel a little hesitant because we had dropped all those riders and they just got back on. Now they are about to get dropped again. I wasn't sure what the etiquette is and as we all know group biking etiquette is not my strong point. Anyway we are halfway up and the grind of the incline starts to kick in. Hogg pulls away a little so I stand out of the saddle for more power. We crest the hill and I am a few feet behind him.

It's interesting that some people like Boss Hogg and the Dad stay seated virtually the whole ride whereas if I want to maximize a climb or a sprint I have to stand.

So several minuted later we are coming back on Millhopper road. I take the lead a little before the I-75 hill. Once at the hill I downshift a gear and immediately stand up and take it over 400 watts. I crest the hill and sit down for a brief respite, then out of the saddle again for the next brief incline. I look in the Italian Bike mirror and I have opened up a significant gap.

Now it's just a matter of how long I can stay in front until someone catches me. I'm hurting but I get out of the saddle again to build up some speed on a decline before the final hill. I sit down and get low to try to build up some more speed. At this point Skeletor and Boss Hogg have caught up. On the last hill I get out of the saddle again and am cranking it for all I've got. I'm pretty gassed but I keep pounding it out of the saddle until I reach this bike lane sign, which is what I normally do on my Monday Millhopper solo ride. 

I give up the lead and put in an extra burst to reattach to what is now 2 other riders. Skeletor and Hogg each do 1-2 minute pulls and I am back up. At this point I notice that I am close to setting a new 10 minute watts record. I am kind of exhausted and need whatever motivation I can find. I need to pedal over 240 watts for the next 2:30 minutes or so. It's tough but I crank it out averaging 24 mph with the help of a little tailwind. When I give up the front Skeletor is gone and it's just me and Hogg. Again I put in an extra burst to reattach. I am right on his wheel to maximize the draft. We are only 2 miles away from the finish but he is pulling away and I am too drained to keep up. 

All in all a pretty good ride. Some might say I should have pulled less at the front on the way back in on Millhopper and saved my strength for the final push. I don't know. I'd rather go harder earlier and train on getting better at hanging on at the very end. Besides I set a sick ass new 10 minutes watts record (and a 3 and 4 minute mark as well) and totally cranked it on some hills.