12/23/09
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)

Hemet, Ca

Sometimes my imagination just runs away with me and this morning was one of those times. It was cold and clear and just a bit breezy as I stood in front of my window looking out at the day. I sipped my coffee and waited for my breakfast to finish turning in the microwave. Once I had my breakfast I started getting ready for the day. Like any other sport there is a uniform for cycling and that uniform changes a bit depending on the weather. I could imagine the very same thing happening in the other riders households as well.

By the time I got to the meeting place I could see my imagination was pretty closed to right on. Deacon, Parky and Duramax were all dressed pretty much as I had described. Power Surge joined us after a few ride absence and he looked like he might be just as comfortable in a Snow Mobile as a bicycle. Tool man was there but he was waiting for Quicksticks and another rider to ride up the mountain to Idyllwild. When Huntress showed up early we were all surprised and she was dressed pretty much as I described earlier. Raptor pulled up with heavy gloves and a jacket and Cossack was the last to arrive and he was the only one with fingerless gloves. But the time we were ready to leave Quicksticks was sitting with Tool Man waiting for the last rider in their group so we pulled out of the parking lot and headed over to Lyon and then north towards Ramona.


Parky and deacon had left a bit before the rest of us and were going to do a modified route ending up at Carl’s on the east end of town. The rest of the group were planning on going down Lyon to Ramona and then over to Soboba. As we moved down Lyon we could see way in the distance the small flags on the back of Deacon’s “Bent/ Cat Trike”. It took a while to catch him and when we did we could see Parky way out in front of him motoring along at what looked like 15 MPH.

I felt a bit of pressure to pick the pace up a bit because it seemed as if Huntress was straining at the bit and just might roll over me if I didn’t.
As we continued on passed Deacon we continued to gain on Parky even if it was taking a bit longer to catch him. Huntress had already passed me as had Cossack but they weren’t sure of where the turn was so Duramax pulled in front. It gave me time to get a picture of deacon as we passed.


I was surprised at how long it was taking to catch up to Parky and noticed we were running along pretty close to 18 MPH and the gap wasn’t falling all that quickly still we were gaining. A few blocks before we reached Ramona we caught Parky and for a while he decided to stay with us before he broke off to turn on a route he and Deacon had picked earlier. From that point on we tightened up as a group a bit and then took turns pulling a pace line up to Ramona and then over to State Street.

When we turned onto Soboba I took the lead and we stayed together all the way over the first two rollers and I surrendered the lead to Cossack. Once3 we were in sight of the golf course Cossack started to stretch the lead a bit and Power Surge started to pull in behind him. Duramax was close behind followed by Huntress and me. Once we saw the last hill at the golf course Huntress put the hammer down and closed half of the distance between us and Cossack. It was one of her better runs up that little hill. We regrouped and made the right turn heading for Washington and once again Huntress attacked the Soboba overpass with impressive results. When we made the left turn onto Washington/Ramona we got back in line and slowed the pace down a bit as we headed towards Florida.

As we rode through the quiet neighborhoods I was glad to see that Duramax seemed to be feeling better even if he told us he was still recovering for the flu that had knocked him out of riding several weeks ago. It seems as if this time of year a lot of people have been hit by some kind of bug. That hasn’t been the case with Power Surge it is simply that he has been working so much lately he hasn’t been able to join us as often as he would like. While he has complained that he isn’t ready for a full ride with us he stayed with us very well all the way back to Florida and Fairview where he split off from the group and headed for home.

The rest of the group made the ride to the Ranger station on the east end of town in pretty quick time. As we came even with the tree dividing the roadway we noticed Quicksticks heading back down the hill. I guess the other riders with him must have continued on to Idyllwild because we didn’t see them coming back. We stopped for a few minuted at the Ranger Station and watch a controlled burn they were conducting before heading back down Florida towards Carl’s. It was a great run back to the coffee shop and a great ride for 32 miles on a rather cool morning. I rode back home with Cossack and Huntress and thought to myself that I was lucky to have such good friends to enjoy an activity that has become so important to me.