Sac-Cronin FT3 Spotting CX Adventure

I was going to put this in the Wed. RR Hidden comment field, but since a quorum of FT3 riders were involved I felt it was worthy of it's own special post. When the call of duty to ride comes, there are always FT3 riders who are game. As ridiculous as some adventures may sound, there is always an FT3 rider or two who are down. Yesterday was one of those days. I floated a concept to ride from a meeting Sac to Salmon Falls to Cronin and Xteric and NoCar made the push to get involved. I departed downtown Sac just after 4:00pm, made a quick call to XTeric and NoCar who were planning the meet-up. Since they were already in route to Cronin via automobile, and I was in downtown Sac on a bike, I had some work to do to ensure my bro's weren't sitting around waiting on me, or worse riding the road to meet me on their MTBikes. Fortunately or unfortunately, I met up with 'David,' who was training for the Race Across America and 'humbly' offered that he was going to do 'about 20' (mph...clearly he has not read the rules) to Folsom. Of course, in spite of the fact that I was riding a CX bike, wearing baggies and toting a mighty bag, I was not to be dropped by 'humble David.' He had no mercy on me and I think we did about 28 mph for about 5 miles of the approximate 20 mile jaunt to Folsom. Right around Hazel, coming in the other direction, who could it be, but Rock God out secret training on his brand new power meter equipped full-carbon BMC. Yes, he really does have another brand new bike. Clearly he needed a bike with a power meter, I mean, who doesn't? He made the quick turnaround, boosted the watts, and bridged up to David and I. A bit later David bailed to ride with a real friend and RG and I continued our journey to Folsom. RG had to bail out for a yoga session and I had friends to meet to knock down some dirt trail! Once I made it to Green Valley Road I endured mental torture and anguish as I rode during rush hour alongside a roadway with one of the highest ADT's in the County (average daily traffic). At 6:00pm I dropped Salmon Falls Road, made a quick call to my bro's and they were making an excursion up the Salmon Falls trail. I then boosted my own watts yet again to make the meet up. At 6:30pm I met the FT3 kitted bros at the Salmon Falls Bridge. I busted out the super caffienated Italian coffee soda that B had given me, shared it with NoCar and we busted up the trail in route to Cronin. The new trail section is totally awesome, especially this time of year. Xteric was nice enough to take my heavy pack about a quarter of the way in and the ride become much more enjoyable (for me) from there. We rode straight out to the Pedro Hill lot where XTeric was parked and I wisely opted for the automobile ride home. Parking lot arrival time, 7:34pm. A nice commute indeed. Thanks to FT3 for helping make it epic.