It was a beautiful, very clear, haze-free, day today. 😍 Warm without the windchill but just as chilly as yesterday when it was windy. Just before the holidays, Ali and I talked about going to Fort Ord and generally riding dirt that would be easier to get to while she was on the Peninsula. Emily couldn’t make it to Fort Ord as she had an appointment to go to in the early afternoon. Tomorrow it's supposed to rain. So instead of a straightforward ride call we had a lot of back and forth about what to do instead. We finally settled on an undetermined city loop for Ali and I until Emily was available. Then we were going to do a Headlands loop. Part of the struggle to figure out what to do was the fact that Ali wasn’t in a good mood. Her time off didn't go as planned and she was rightfully salty about it. Feeling slow she we tootled hard on our city lap. So much so that I was starting to get cold, my heartrate was so low. Ali was also salty that once we met up with Emily and Kyro, the pace was going get spicy. I don't think Emily realizes she's picking up the pace but she'll push it. Push it real good. 🤪 I challenged everyone when we first met to ride as slow as possible. It stayed slow when we called it out and at first we didn’t have a choice since we had to fight through the tourist crowds on the east sidewalk of the bridge. Emily would eventually ride off the front without realizing it. I'd have to chase her down to bring the pace back down. We had a pretty good, chill, pace going up Hawk Hill but at the top, Emily started to pull away. We let the gap open up and I was playing the mental game of, how far can I let her get ahead and still sprint for the win at the top? Well a car ruined that and I had to start my sprint earlier than I wanted to. It was still fun. 😂 Emily said she knew it was coming but only because of the shockwave of air being pushed ahead of me. 🤣 It was Kyro's first time up to Battery Townsley which felt a bit surprising. Naturally, we had to take him to the labyrinth. He seemed super reluctant to ride the gravel on his road bike even though it's so roadbikeably chill. There were some puddles and quite a bit of mud under the tunnel of trees right at the end before you turn to get to the Labyrinth. A) there were some puddles and B) there was some mud too, especially under the tunnel of trees right before the left turn to the Labryinth. He had to walk it, whereas Emily and I being the Thai mud experts we are now, rode everything. I don't know how but Kyro's rim brake calipers were packed full of mud. We left Rodeo Beach right at sunset but not before watching the surfers riding higher than normal waves. The wind had picked up and with the sun gone down, it was getting pretty chilly. The pace was getting spicy again and the length of train was increasing. I felt bad that Ali was getting dropped but I also needed to get warm. On Bunker Rd. we brought everyone back together again after passing Field Rd. when a dude went by us. I was at the front and let him ride off but then Emily shouted to me to go get him, to sprint. So I did. I was gaining on the guy fast and didn't want to pass him only to slow right down and have to wait for everyone. That was fun but Ali was regretting riding with me when I was in a good mood. All the talk of being salty, Ali actually lives near a Salt & Straw and everyone was excited to go... except me - couldn't afford to have something cold and lower my core temp drastically when it was already getting much colder after dark. Luckily there was a pizza place, Gioia Pizzeria, nearby as well that had pretty good slices. While we were eating, Ali's boyfriend, the infamous Geoff that I'd heard so much about, came home so I finally got to meet him and chat for a bit. I didn't really know where I was in the city or the best way to get back to my car. I just followed Emily and didn't realize we were at the Wiggle and it was time to part ways, I was supposed to turn right and she was going to turn left. I didn't understand what she was trying to tell me at first. She just kind of aggressively pointed to the right and said, "You. Go, There." as she was riding to the left and then we parted ways. I thought it was a pretty funny way to do that. 🤣