Afton ride

Rolled with the fast group last night from Mahtomedi to Afton, about 40 miles. "Warm up" consisted of immediate tempo and pacelining, which gradually ramped up as we neared Afton. When we got to Valley Creek the entire group missed the turn except for Brian and me. So, instead of killing each other up Trading Post, we kept it somewhat sane. When the wrong-way riders went by us on Old 95, Brian turned around and joined them. I didn't know he did this until I looked over my shoulder and saw the whole group way up the hill behind me. Hooray!

So, now I was in solo mode (much like last year's ride where I flatted at the top of Trading Post). I made my way into Afton and saw 4 riders from one of the ride's other groups. They were just putting along, so I decided to fly by and hopefully catch somebody else along the way, and work to latch back onto the group. I passed a few stragglers up Indian, but no one had the legs to work together. Same story on Hudson, I passed about 5 guys but nobody grabbed my wheel. One guy latched-on on Neal, and by that time I could see another group just up the road. I said, "let's go get 'em!" but he didn't pull through and eventually fell off. I could still catch glimpses of the group about half of a mile ahead, so I went into time trial mode. After much suffering, I latched on at Lake Elmo. Feeling surprisingly good, I went to the front and proceeded to pull 99% of the way back to Mahtomedi. I was actually able to put in attacks on the last two climbs and stay off the front. Why the hell can't I ride like that in a race?