Not too many of us this morning; myself, Kevin (pilot), Kevin (son), Marcus, Mark P, Joe, JR. With Marcus attending there would normally be an assumption of a fast ride, but thankfully Kevin (son, not the pilot) had a small seizure on the run-in to Huddart Park while on Greer, which meant that going for time was no longer relevant. Good thing too since I still didn’t feel too fast, at least not until later in the ride.

So, about that Stages power meter. It is interesting to know what sort of continuous power you’re capable of, and know that you can or cannot sustain whatever your current pace is. But today the pace was generally well under the norm, with the exception of the final run up to Skyline from Sky Londa (which today was about 850 watts) and the final sprint on Albion (just over 1000). Pro sprinters are up in the 1400 -2000 watt range (Mark Cavendish typically cranks out 1600 at the end of a 5 hour race). The peloton need not fear my return. 🙂

One other thing I noticed. The “final bump” segment for the end of West Old LaHonda? Be careful trying to get a good time on it, because the segment seems to end in the middle of highway 35! Strava goes to so much trouble to flag and kill downhill segments because they’re “dangerous” but leaves intact segments that end in the middle of an intersection?

In some ways the commute home was a more-satisfying ride. Flat out the whole way, on my BikeFriday, with a backpack holding my hefty laptop, power supply, shoes and other stuff. Nearly every one of the 4 stop lights was timed almost perfectly, and as you clear each successive one, you start working it a bit harder, wondering how low you can get that total elapsed time home. Today it was 13:26, not bad at all, arriving home completely wasted and out of breath.