Super warm, super fast...

That's basically what today was. I headed to HP for the noon ride and found the usual suspects ready for action. As is customary, the first lap was the warm up, but as soon as we turned on the airport side, the crossed tail wind increase the group's speed and the guys were feeling frisky already. And once the second lap began, the gloves came off and it was every rider for him/herself...I was hanging on for dear life and as lap three started things got just plain ugly and before I knew the rider infront of me opened a gap and that was it. At the speed the group was going, I couldn't have closed the gap even if I had a motor onboard. A quick recovery and the second group came by and I jumped on. The speed was good and everyone was taking pulls. The new position on the bike felt a little weird and the longer stem (110m) gave me a little pain on my right shoulder, but I'm hoping it's just the muscles getting used to the position. I can't believe how fast the big dogs are riding this early in the year. I didn't do many noon rides last year and I'm wondering if the speeds will remain the same all year long, with the same riders applying the pressure at the front. It's a long year.