As the peloton drops into a Southern California canyon, picking up speed through corkscrew bends, I sense another rider hovering just over my right shoulder, waiting to pass. Could it be George Hincapie, Lance Armstrong's longtime lieutenant, whom I'd spotted a moment ago on the climb? Or am I holding up the great Paolo Savoldelli, the fearless descender known as "Il Falco," who won the 2005 Giro d'Italia?

I ease over and the mystery rider shoots past. To my surprise, it's an unknown named Michael Patterson, a man more than two decades older than me. Tall and hawkish, with a sharp, patrician profile, Patterson looks like he ought to be enjoying a round of golf back at the Ojai Valley Inn and Spa, the posh retreat where we're all staying. But here he is, wind jacket flapping, white socks peeking out of ancient Carnacs, leaning his handmade steel bike into the curves at 30 miles per hour.

It's the last weekend in January, and the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team is hosting its annual invitation-only Sponsor Ride in Ojai, a gemlike mountain town two hours north of Los Angeles. When we left the inn this morning, our 100-strong pack displayed the full range of cycling abilities, from wobbly Discovery Channel execs all the way up to Armstrong himself. Most years, the 50-mile ride is "social" for the first hour, after which Lance and the Discovery boys crank the throttle, mercilessly shedding the suits...