Sometimes it really doesn’t matter how fast you are, as long as you’re faster than the other guy. That was the case this morning when, on the climb up Kings via Huddart, we came upon and passed the group from ShopX. Never mind that they’d probably already ridden hard this morning, while we were just starting out. All that matters is that we left ShopX (and their former owner, Les) in the dust. Sort of. We did dispatch with Les and the guy he was riding with, while two others who were up ahead a bit pulled off to the side, obviously totally intimidated by us, but I’m sure their story is that they were waiting for Les. Yes, that would have been my story too.

We made it to the upper park entrance in about 9:40 which, for me, is pretty good. I was trying to stay in the saddle no-matter-what and doing a pretty good job of it. Why? To work on different leg muscles and try to get smoother videos. I managed to stay in the mix, as we rode yet again at a fairly civil pace. Who was with us today? Kevin (pilot), Karl, Karen, Eric, Joe (first timer, on his new Trek Domane!), Jan, Todd, Marcus & Mark. New-guy Joe did very very well, and I suspect he’s only going to be getting faster because he’s not only new, but also fairly young. Hate that!

A small bit of excitement on west-side Old LaHonda when, rounding a bend, Jan found himself coming face-to-bumper with a large truck. Fortunately everyone was going pretty slowly so Jan had plenty of time to get out of the way.

Overall a pretty tough ride, despite Strava giving a “suffer” score of just 91. Maybe Strava downplayed the toughness to make it seem like we were just coasting past as we went by ShopX?