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It happens every day at 12 o'clock.
It doesn't matter if it's raining, snowing, sleeting, earthquakes, tidal waves-
It happens every day. The company shuts down and people go out and ride their bikes.
I don't know when it started, seems like it's always been there. But it is legendary.
The Friday ride is definitely the world championships. That's the hammer day.
Everybody's out to win and go fast.
It's really fast, it's really a fast ride.
And even sometimes when the pros come they think: "Oh, I'm just relaxing, today."
They go on that ride and they're like...
Just a few weeks ago we had Alberto Contador do our Lunch Ride,
so I took it easy on him and let him win.
I don't want to brag too much but I feel like I'm the Lunch Ride king.
I've been with the company almost 25 years, so I've won the Lunch Ride over 1500 times.
Now there's a lot of younger, faster riders, so I have to cheat a lot more.
I'm never able to win that ride. Well, you know what, one time on my birthday
they let me win. It was kind of pathetic.
You want to go long before you get dropped,
because getting dropped is kind of an inevitability.
But you just want to challenge yourself and go as far as you can
and then wave goodbye and ride by yourself for awhile.
People know this one because it's the most visible,
but there's a lot of other rides at lunch.
Most of the time I go out with other groups and just kind of ride and talk.
Yeah, we're not so concerned with the Lunch Ride. - What you guys don't do it?
Well, that's the funny part is, I'm the only one that does it.
I just do it to hold it down for the mountain bike team.
Now I don't understand, you're almost outcasted if you don't go ride,
but if you don't do something at lunch, if you don't get out of your desk
for that hour, it's like everybody kind of collectively
pushes you out the door to do something.
But you know what, hey, it's not just who's the fastest, right?
There's something about going out and riding, you know,
that really re-charges yourself.
It's a complete split up on the day. It keeps you focused.
You're thinking more clearly, you're thinking about the bike.
Lunch Ride is crucial.
I think it's totally unique. It's something that we've been doing forever.
It's just a fun way to really mix up the day, and be who we are,
which is a bunch of cyclists.