Peg’s Posts: Hometown heroes ride off into the sunset.

Throughout the Q&A session, Garmin associates and a few guests grilled the guys on everything from what they ate to what they did for cross training. When Steven Cozza threw out fishing and archery as fine cross training options, we weren’t sure whether to laugh or join a local scouting troop. Must work for these guys. Finally, it was time to cut the chat and get to the agenda item the fans were waiting for most — a short but sweet ride.

A pack of some 120 cyclists gathered around the team bus, ready to roll. A megaphoned Jake set us off with a nod to the pros and a “Team Garmin, are you ready?” Then addressed the rest of the crowd with “Lowercase team Garmin, are you ready?” And we were off with the fits and starts it takes to get that many cyclists of all sizes, bike types and experience levels out on the open road. I can’t think of a better way to end a Monday. It was a fabulous ride — see it here in Garmin Connect.

I teamed up with my friends Cheryl and Tina, both of whom served on the Tour of Missouri organizing committee. They’re not just big fans of Team Garmin; they are big fans of Garmin products. Cheryl, who does speed workouts with me once week and is training for a half marathon (she has several marathons to her credit, include a Boston), wants an FR60. Tina is a proud new owner of the Forerunner 310XT and will be putting it through the paces this weekend at her first half Ironman — Redman in Oklahoma. Though the only argyle I saw from my vantage point on Monday’s ride was worn by cyclists in their own Team Garmin jerseys, I guess I can say “I rode with the pros.” Still, I had to find out what it was like in the lead pack, so I checked in with David, one of the engineers who works on the Edge and other fitness products. He said he ended up in a 6-man breakaway that he claimed was led by Tom, another engineer on the fitness team. Tom, who does some road and cyclocross racing for a local team, said he didn’t “officially” start it. Something about Steven Cozza goofing around and doing a fly by, which apparently was answered by Kevin (team bus driver). Then Tom, a couple of his teammates and David all joined in. Check out David and Tom's ride data in Garmin Connect. They both ride with ANT+ compatible power meters that send power data to their Edge 705. Think these cyclists compare power stats? You can bet they let me know who cranked out the highest average power … and who was focused on "strategic riding."

Once the group ride was done, our Team Garmin heroes boarded their bus and literally rode off into the sunset. See our Flickr page for more pics of the team during their visit and the Tour of Missouri.

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