Tuesday Climbing Ride

Tonight's evening climbing ride of 14 riders split-up into two groups (OK, maybe 2 1/2 groups): the Billy Goats doing the full clockwise route, the Easy Riders opting for the easy clockwise route, and the Junior Billy Goats knocking out the easy clockwise route, but at a faster pace than the Easy Riders. I opted to cruise with the Easy Riders.

Chief Billy Goat, Jeff, was gracious enough to lead the front group and take Frank, Andrew, Patrick, & Tim on the romp through the foothills of Folsom. I'm not too sure of what all went on in their group, but I think Frank was the first one back that did the full route (but also skipped the water stop at the park). Jeff and Andrew were not far behind and had an average speed of 17.3 mph. Nice riding guys!

The Easy Riders got dropped by the Billy Goats about 4 miles into the ride, but they caught a couple of green lights. Ya, OK, they were flat-out faster, no excuses. I lead Krysta, Cesar, Stan, Danny, Rowland, Oz, Bruce, & Kevin over the local cols. Junior Billy Goats Bruce and Kevin were itching too much to go faster and attacked over the top of Ridgeview and disappeared off the front. However, the Easy Riders skipped the water stop at the park and scooted on up Sophia toward Cote de Costco and slipped up the road, leap-frogging the Billy Goats and the Junior Billy Goats. That didn't last long! Up near the little climb on Sophia near E. Natoma, a blur of cyclists shot by us as the Easy Riders were searching for lower gears! That would be the last time till the ride's end that we would see the Billy Goats & Junior Billy Goats.

The Easy Riders cruised over Cote de Costco and suffered through the lights on Iron Point, but put in a solid effort for a great ride.

My Easy Rider stats for the evening were 25.4 miles in 1:37 ride time for an average speed of 15.6 mph and about 1,800 feet of climbing. I was happy to have a mellow ride keeping my average heart rate at 134 bpm.

Thanks for the ride everyone!