2/15/2010
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)

Hemet, Ca


When the alarm went off this morning I literally had to roll out of bed. My legs felt tight and I was still tired but I wanted to get in a ride with my friends and I knew I would feel better after breakfast. As I staggered into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee I looked out of the front window at a beautiful day. I thought it would be a perfect day for a recovery ride.

It was a warm morning and the sun felt good on my legs as I rode over to Burger King. I was running a few minutes late for me so by the time I got there most or the riders were already there. Connie, Rick, Deacon, and Parky were there for group C and Rocket and Hit man and Attack Cat would make a good A group. That left Duramax, Von Richthofen, Tax man and me to make up a B group. That was the plan anyway but plans don’t always work out.


As we moved onto Sanderson true to form Rocket blasted off to a lead followed by Attack Cat with me a few yards behind and Tax man on my back wheel. Much to my surprise I still had some energy left after the Century I did Saturday. While Rocket, Tax Man, Attack cat and Von Richthofen were making all the lights green Duramax and Hit man were catching them red. Once we made the turn onto Domenigoni Rocket, Tax Man, Von Richthofen and Attack started to pull away and I decided to wait for Duramax and Hit man. It wasn’t long before Von Richthofen decided to wait for us as well and soon we were following the lead guys. Tax Man was cruising along pretty well considering he has just returned to the group after being sick for a few weeks. He stayed with the lead guys almost all the way to Winchester.

After we passed Winchester Road the pace picked up a bit as we took turns pulling. Duramax pulled strong till we got passed Leon and we were rolling along at a pretty good clip as we approached the Domenigoni Saddle. When Rocket and Hit man made the charge up the hill I stayed with them and was very surprised at how well my legs were holding up. I was watching my heart rate monitor and once again was surprised that it was doing pretty well also. As we reached the top of the saddle we were all together separated by not more than one bike length.

As we regrouped on top of the saddle Tax Man decided to turn back at Lindenburger and the rest of us headed off towards Newport and the Freeway. I realized that this simply wasn’t going to be a recovery ride as the pace was one of the best ones I have done in a very long time. Shortly after we crossed over the freeway Rocket and Hit man started to pull away again leaving Duramax, Von Richthofen, Attack cat and I to catch up. Rocket slowed down a bit and we more or less regrouped at Murrieta and headed on to LaLandra. As we turned towards the park Hit man decided to leave us because he had an appointment. That left Rocket, Von Richthofen, Duramax , Attack and I to head for Macall

The run up Macall isn’t one of Von Richthofen’s favorite runs and he almost always lets us know it. Still he tends to do just fine on the climb. Once we got started up the hill Rocket took the lead followed by Von Richthofen, Attack Cat, Duramax and me. Von Richthofen made the last light before the Hospital and Attack cat slipped by it when it was pink while Duramax and I got caught at the light. Duramax and I had to work to catch Attack and Von Richthofen before they got to the top of Macall. We all made it down the hill together and worked over to Simpson and the pace was kicked up again. Once Rocket started down Simpson I clued myself to his back wheel like I had a tractor beam and stayed with him all the way back to Leon. We regrouped on Grand/9th street and discovered Parky and Rick heading for Chris’s. We caught Parky at the top of the rise on 9th just as Rocket opened it up a bit to stretch his legs. I went with him as best as I could only notice that Parky wasn’t falling behind nearly as quickly as I had expected. Still we all pulled into Chris’s about the same time. A quick cup of coffee and some toast for me and we were on our way home. I ended up with a quick 39 miles on a beautiful morning with good friends. Rides don’t get much better than this.