10/21/09
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)

Hemet, Ca

The group gathering for the Wednesday bicycle ride couldn’t have asked for a much better day. The sky was a beautiful shade of blue and there was very little wind plus the temperature was close to ideal. About the only thing in question was how many would show up for a ride and where would we go.

We started out with just 3 or 4 riders abut we expected at least 6 when we had at least 10 minutes before we were scheduled to leave. By 9 am we had 13 cyclists assembled and ready for a ride. With such a nice day and everyone feeling good it was decided to for a half Century ride some of us call the Tour of Lake Parris. While some of the riders may not have expected one of our longer rides for today everyone agreed it seemed like a good idea so we had to stop the visiting and conversations and head out. Because Parky and Deacon don’t normally ride the longer rides that decided on a different route and the last we saw of them was as we were leaving the parking lot.

Most of us had agreed to make this a social ride and we held the group together at a reasonable pace heading south and west of town and out passed the Hemet Airport and towards Winchester. We did have one breakaway and that was the Red Rabbit. He took off on his own before we got to Winchester and we didn’t catch him again till we were on the old dump road and headed for the housing tract by the High School on Florida. Huntress moved towards the front of the Peloton along with Tool Man and Hit man and they re-passed the Red Rabbit putting him back in the pack. Just as we turned into the housing tract we could see Raptor and The Red Rabbit continue straight on the dirt road in front of the tract.

Most of us got caught at the light by the High School and Florida and we watched as Rabbit and Raptor faded into the distance and the turn on Mapes. By the time the rest of us got to Mapes we were split into three groups. The Rabbit and Raptor then Rocket, Whippet, Quicksticks, von Richthofen, Tool Man and Hit Man followed by Huntress, Highlander, Duramax and me. Somewhere Raptor left us but the Red Rabbit was caught by the next group and Tool Man turned off on Nuevo heading back home. Once on Evans our trailing group caught the rest of the pack and we all turned onto the Marina Road together.

Red Rabbit hooked onto Rocket’s rear wheel intending to follow him up the Marina hill only to be passed by Hit Man and von Richthofen followed closely by Huntress, Whippet, myself Quicksticks, Highlander. I managed to get passed Huntress, von Richthofen, and Highlander shortly after catching Red Rabbit. Whippet passed me only to pull off to the side when his bike refused to make a shift. Still I was too far back to close with Hit Man or Rocket but all in all I still made a decent climb.

We all had a good time at the marina talking, refueling and resting before starting out around the lake on the bike path.

Once again Red Rabbit took off like a scalded dog but we managed to run him down before he got to Nuevo and I pulled off to say good bye to Quick sticks as he waited for his wife to pick him up for an appointment.

The run down Ramona was once again split into groups and Rocket, Whippet, and Highlander were in the front one. I did manage to catch Red Rabbit again but was never able to close with the lead group. It was a great day for a half Century and a great day to ride with friends.