[QUOTE=umd;6313238] I so wish I could have been there... [QUOTE]

You missed a good ride Steve. I'm always amazed at how fast the best riders can go. Aaron Olson, the Bissel rider, was hammering at the front, along w Mark and Ben, your fellow Platinum animals. For the first 30 miles it was relatively easy to sit in, but once we hit Vandenberg Air Force base, and a series of short sharp rollers, the winds picked up big time. The real killer was that it was a crosswind coming from the west (or left), so we were strung out single file in the gutter, groveling and trying to stay on.

All it took was for one or two riders to leave a gap and you had no chance of staying in the lead group. I ended up chasing w a group of 4-5 riders and we finished the 100 in 4:53, or roughly 20.5 mph, w no stops along the way. What was interesting was this was pretty much the same pace as last year, when I was able to sit in and make it to Foxen w the lead group. So this year, w a pro or two pushing the pace, the lead group was 3 mph on average faster than last year! - gene r