12/18/09
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)

Hemet, Ca



What a great day it was for a bicycle ride. Just a few wispy clouds in the sky and it seemed reasonably warm. At least it was nothing that a jersey and a light vest couldn’t handle. I felt pretty good this morning and I knew that traditionally we have a pretty easy ride on Fridays to prepare for the weekend. With all of these positive notes running through my head I was out the door and pedaling towards the meeting place to see my riding friends.

Even thought I left a bit early Deacon and Duramax beat me to the Burger King. Sometimes I suspect they get there the night before just to prove they get up earlier than I do. It didn’t take long before some of the other riders started showing up. Highlander showed up and brought a friend, Scott I believe. While the new rider unloaded his bicycle Highlander put in a bid for a ride west for the day. Once it was clear that Huntress wouldn’t be with us today and that T-3 was still under the weather the westward ride was agreed upon. Next to arrive is Hit Man and he also brought a friend, Gary, to join us. Bounty Hunter was able to be with us today so it looked like we would be starting out with seven riders heading towards Nuevo and deacon heading toward Domenigoni and Winchester.

Shortly after we pulled out of the parking lot we were joined by Raptor increasing our number to eight. With the rather easy pace we set as we cycled towards Cottonwood it was easy for people to ride together and get to know one another. I had time to reflect on the bright colors associated with cycling as well as the different kinds of bikes people had. Like jockeys with their racing colors we had bright blues, Greens, Yellows, Reds and Oranges mounted on their steeds with names like Trek, Lemond, Giant, Specialized and Lapierre. If you discounted the voices as we conversed you would simply heard the light sounds of tires on grit and cassettes and freewheels clicking. To my mind it was a very pleasing sound.
By the time we made the turn towards Warren road I could see that we have a very evenly matched group for the days ride. Highlander looked rested and strong and Scott seemed to be enjoying the pace. Bounty Hunter was riding easy just behind Gary and Hit Man was riding with Duramax a few paces off of the rear. Raptor was in front setting the pace and I was a bit behind him as we headed towards Warren Road
Raptor left us at Warren road to continue on one of his own rides while the rest of us rode through the housing tract before coming back out onto Warren Road. I had the chance to lead us down to Ramona Expressway where we all gathered at the light getting ready to make the run towards Nuevo. Once on the expressway we formed a pace line and held it quite well at about 21 or 22 MPH with each one taking their turn at the lead and letting me know that we had a well balanced group. We did break up a bit after Highlanders lead just before the light before Lakewood but that was as much because of a sudden gust of wind as anything else. We regrouped at the service station and after a short break continued on to Nuevo road and down to Menifee.
We started another pace line down Menifee and that held together pretty well all the way to Mapes where we made a turn. Highlander led about halfway up Mapes when Hit Man decided to stretch his legs a bit and he pulled out in front. As he started to pull away even farther Scott decided to give chase and it was all I could do to hand onto his wheel till we made the downhill heading for the high school on Florida. Thank goodness we caught the light at Florida so we could all regroup once again. We then continued on through the housing tract and towards the old dump road. It was about here I noticed how quickly Bounty Hunter seems to get his energy back. He pulled in front of me and pulled several of us all the way to the dump road and most of the way to Leon.
Just before we got to Leon Scott pulled in front and started a pull leading up the slight grade on Grand. I fell into third behind Bounty Hunter as we lined up for the run down to Winchester and Chris’s. After about 100 yards passed the crest of the ride on Grand I pulled out to attempt a sprint and only realized when I was about halfway passed the group that I had started out a bit early. A quick look behind me showed that Highlander was following behind me like and Amraam Missile and Scott followed behind him like the jet that fired it. I could only assume that Bounty Hunter was following Scott. All I could think of was that any moment Highlander was going to pull around me as I ran out of gas but for some reason they let me off the hook and we continued on to Winchester road in that order. As we were pulling into the parking lot at Chris’s I began to wonder if Highlander hadn’t slipped in a ringer on me so that he could run me into the ground. In fact on reflection they may have been planning it way back on Kirby. Still I had a great day and managed to get in 38 miles and a pretty good average speed. I hope Scott and Gary will join us again because I believe they would make a good addition to our group.