Got out super late this morning. Had only 1 1/2 hrs to cover the first 36 miles. See the Arial Flyover Recap Map to see what happens when I call out The Dragon Mode 🔥🐲 Got there right on time. The crew was gathering out front of the ARTIC Bus Depot. Took a couple of miles to warm them up and get a pace line going. I rolled up to about 24 mph at the front for a while and sudd there was a rush of cyclists 🚴🏽‍♀️ flying by - I thoughtht it as some of our group so I jump in and we were half way to the coast before I realized none of them was my group and there was no sign of them off the back. We had a regroup point already agreed upon at the first beach side restroom with a water bottle refill station along Pacific Coast Highway so i set out to either drop the speedsters or out sprint them for the PCH under tunnel for SART. I ended up grenading the group with over a mile to PCH before the last wooden bridge. Another fella came up from behind about half way from the wooden bridge to PCH and I sprinted him off for first to reach PCH. He was a good sport - congratulated me for the win. My group eventually showed up and we headed south towards South Laguna. One of the ladies whose quite strong in the saddle didn’t like the close quarters of the tight almost stopped traffic to get through Laguna. Forgot the name of the eatery! They didn’t have anything a vegan would enjoyy anyway. I had one of my 2 ziplocks of TJ’s Organic Wild Oats and Wild Grains with dates and honey added. It was delicious 😋 The ride back with this group seems to be more aggressive than their outbound leg of any given ride. Going north on PCH I tended to get passed on the rollers going uphill and catch and pass them over the other side back and forth for miles. As soon as the road somewhat flattened out Francis - a fairly strong tempo rider and climber took off and made a light just beforee it changed and we caught a lot more lights after that one so we never caught him. I eventually dropped the group as they didnt seem to have enough in their tanks to do a full blown pursuit. Still never caught sight of of him until I got back to ARTIC where they all parked their motor vehicles. Refilled inside and headed onwards. Temperatures kept rising so I topped off or refilled my bottles everywhere I could. Gas station attendant at the station near the top of Green River Climb by the 91 Freeway would not allow me to bring my bike inside for a moment so I could buy a bottle of cold water. “Company Policy” he squealed… I went next door to his competition no problem. I told I’m what his neighbor said. Told him no sane high level cyclist would leave their $11000 exotic bike outside such a places! He agreed and thought the guy was stupid. Forgot to mention I stopped at Yorba Regional Park and shared my 2nd ziplock of oats and seeds with my long time squirrel 🐿️ friend. She was very friendly and bold until some MAGA dumb ass brought his dog over and let it chase the squirrel up a nearby tree! I lit into him. Told I’m to back off and stop being a typical Pedo Worshipping Dick Head. He barked a couple of words then I told I’m that if he didn’t get his dog out of here I’d toss him into the Santa Ana River for animal abuse then call the cops. He barked a bit more then I stood up and he grabbed his dog and left. Hit ride the rest of the way home. Decided to use the rest of the ride as a recovery ride. Dropped my speed average from 22.5 to 14 something. I’ll take it… the recovery acceleration is more important than the average.