Descenders,7 of us rode to Old Julian today. It was a bit chilly at the start – Rob, Guido and I rode from Springmeadow to the meeting spot, where only Eric was waiting – but soon we were joined by Tony, Bernie and Cresap. Cresap was uncrecognizable – he was riding a new Diamondback ride and was sporting a mean goatee. Don’t F with Cresap!

Because we had a fairly small number of riders, all roughly equal ability and because nobody was trying to prove anything to others, we rode essentially the entire 60+ miles as a group – we climbed HVR together (for the first time, in my memory), rode down Bandy canyon and climbed most of Ramona Grade as a group (we only had to regroup once during this ride, briefly waiting for Cresap at the top), then we climbed Old Julian together – Cresap had to go home early to do some woodwork, and Eric turned at the top of the Old Julian as he was racing the next day. We kept it controlled but the 5 of us pushed the pace only a bit towards turn around point at the end of Old Julian – Rob got a strava KOM, clocking a segment at 30+mph!

The five of us returned via SPP into a headwind, 64 miles and 4,300 ft of climbing on a beautiful day. Fantastic day of training and truly a "GROUP" ride.

Photos:
http://goo.gl/y3iUuz

You should have come!