Who would Dare on Christmas Day!!!

I would, and six others.  This morning I did the Gimbles Ride (26º starting - 41ºfinishing).  I thought no one came out and decided to do the course myself but on the way up Central Avenue, I ran into two riders repairing a flat and they said some guys were up ahead so I put in my time trialing skills and caught them after 20 minutes.  I was happy to see Otto, founding member of the ride, Big Tom, Dennis, a rider in his 60ies who have underwent a drastic change in weight.  Last time I saw him he must have weighed up to 200 lbs, but now he seems to be close to 150-160 lbs, if that much.  Then there was Sox and three other riders.  Usually there are over 50-60 riders on the holiday rides, but today it seemed that only the six of us would make up the ride.  we cruised to White Plains (16 mph avg) and Dennis veered off, Otto when another 3 miles and veered off also.  We cruised and upped the tempo to the split then when a little harder to Rt. 120 (Airport road)  This kid from the Cafeteros team  went to the front and pulled even harder.  I was there today for the roll out and didn't go with them on the sprint.  They left me at the double whammie and I went solo all the way home at: Avg. 14.4 Trip. 53.3 Time: 3:41:59.  Felt okay, strong at some points, had a little problem on the hills, but got some good advise from one of the riders: Kill the beer drinking and put in some more millage.  If this helps in my reaching my goal for June, 2010, I'm in.