First Fatcake ride (not counting Presidervals) since before the Pandemic! I've been wanting to for a while, ever since I started going back in to the office. I recognized a few faces but as I thought, most people were new. Or am I new? I kept it pretty chill until we got to Sloat when the pace always picks up. I was towards the front so I decided to try and stay with the group. The pace picked up harder than I remember when we got onto Lake Merced with a sprinting going on. At that point, I don't know what was going behind me anymore. When Sunset merges with Lake Merced is typically where I lose contact with the front of the group since it's slightly uphill. There was quite a headwind too so I popped off. Luckily, remnants of the front group got caught at the light at Winston and a new fast group formed. I stayed with this group but around the lap, I was spending too much time in the wind. I wasn't really familiar with everyone's wheels so ended up on the outside. Before the merge onto Skyline the pace picked up. Not being in the draft or being able to find a good wheel to follow meant I got popped just after the Great Highway turn off. Before the lake lap, I asked Emily if she planned on lighting it up and she said she'd follow me. I didn't know how close to me she was until I got popped and saw that she was not that far behind having popped herself shortly before I did. We TT'd Great Highway to try and get to the front of the line at Breadbelly. Every 3rd Thursday of the month, pastries are free thanks to Bicycle Law. On the way though, none of us knew the route and we missed our "exit" and did some bonus miles and some dirt. Not many photos taken during the ride today given the effort. Before the ride, I was thinking of going to Arsicault on the way back to work so when Kryo said he wanted to go, it was a done deal. The Breadbelly Kaya Bun seemed a little stale but can't complain since it's free. The Chocolate Almond Croissant was super fresh and nicely offset the bun. I was telling Kyro how all my rides are typically Z2 for the majority and it was nice to put in more of an effort. Sure enough this morning it was 50/50 Z2/Z3.