Fun Rides

The phone rang at 10:45AM, and Dani was ready to ride after having a bout with some bug for the last 72 hours. Not soon had I gotten off the phone with the "pelotudo", Jose was ringing me to see what the plans for the day were. "A nice stroll to Heins because Dani is coming back and he wants to ride slow, besides, my legs feel a bit cooked from the weekend". Enrique made his usual appearance, because the guy is a flatlander and he likes to remind us of that everytime he gets a chance. At HP, we joined the group at the end of the first lap and I was thinking to myself, "this pace is nice, small ring and spinning, exactly what the legs need". But as is customary with the HP crowd, by lap number three the action was full on. Thinking that I'm not wanting another beating, I find my usual spot at the end of the group while the other three amigos are trading punches at the front. First attack with Jose in it breaks the group and I wait as the second group comes by with Dani and Enrique, I continue to wait and now the third and last group goes by and I latch on. After an upbeat chase, I spot Dani coming backwards, he tried to get on the wheel, but the engine was broken, "no mas". Next is Enrique who hangs there for a few more laps until one hard acceleration puts an end to his day in the group. Jose is still up there and I'm content (actually I'm hanging on for dear life) to see the exchange from the back. I had forgotten to check the time but I feel a extremely hard acceleration and my legs are not responding, and as I glance down I see "12:56PM" on my computer, signalling this is the last lap, so I give it one more hard effort to stay with the group, and Jose is doing the same, as I see him giving it all he has, but in my case, the engine room was closed and the group pulls away. Got dropped 200 meters from the finish, which is probably the best I have done so far at HP. Usually I last about two laps, so not bad considering the long miles of the weekend. Afterwards we sat around and joked and talked about each others ride. This is part of why I like riding with the "Spanish Mafia", it doesn't matter how good or bad you rode, the trash talk will be there no matter what and it makes it for some really fun rides.