3/01/2010
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)

Hemet, Ca


Once again we had a prediction of rain later in the week so Monday became an important ride day. When I got to the meeting place the weather was clear and reasonable warm. I talked with Deacon, Parky and Duramax as we waited for everyone to show up. By nine there were ten of us plus three in the C group. I had shared the plan for riding out to Soboba road and up to the ranger station so everyone knew where we were going and where we were meeting afterward. A few regulars were missing but we took off right at 9 am and headed east on Latham towards Lyon. The plan was to ride up to Ramona road and over to state where the group would more than likely break up into two groups.


For most of the early part of the ride we paced ourselves at a pace that allowed everyone to stay together. After we turned onto State Street things started to pick up a bit. It had been strange to see Rocket and Bounty Hunter riding towards the back of the pack as we made the turn. But as we got closer to Soboba both of them passed me and I knew once the turn was made that the pace would pick up again.

After we turned onto Soboba the groups started to sort themselves out and Rocket started to push the pace a bit with Hit man following close on his back wheel. We were still ten strong and I figured the lead group would number about 4 leaving 6 of us to work our way up the road and to the hill at the golf course. It didn’t take long before I realized I had calculated incorrectly. The group that took off on a break included Rocket, Hit man, Attack cat, Bounty Hunter, Duramax and Highlander. The group I was with include Shadow, Tax man, Gerry, (GT40) and I.

After the first hill I could see the lead group had broken up and Rocket, Hit man and Attack cat were pulling away. I started to pull the trailing group forward thinking there was a chance that we could catch the middle group of Highlander, Bounty Hunter and Duramax. As I started to close the gap we came to the second hill and I decided to attack a little harder but when I looked over my shoulder all I could see behind me was GT40 coming hard. He passed me just before we caught the second group and proceeded to chase the tail of the lead group. I stayed with the second group all the way to the golf course hill that we quickly climbed so we could regroup before crossing over the river and heading towards Ramona Expressway and Florida.

We split again after turning east towards Florida and once again I found myself with Tax man, GT40 and Shadow. We lost Tax Man at Soboba and Florida as he decided to turn towards Carl’s and we followed the main group east on Florida. We could see a rider in front of us and I was pulling hard to catch up when I threw a chain and we had to stop and put in back on the chainring. We got to the Ranger station shortly after the rest of the group did. We also had gained another rider as Casey Jones joined us at the Ranger Station parking lot.

The ride back turned into a drag race shortly after we started back down Florida heading to Carl’s. Rocket was in the lead followed by Bounty Hunter and I slotted in between them and Highlander. The next thing I saw was Casey Jones rolling down the road like his name sake in a freight train. I managed to grab a back wheel and chased him till we got to the slight rise just as you enter the trees on Florida. I could feel Rocket accelerate as we hit the rise and he went around me and I followed him to the lead. We ended up with a small breakaway of Rocket, Bounty Hunter, Highlander and me. It stayed pretty much that way all the way to Carl’s.

At Carl’s Rocket and Bounty Hunter left us and as the rest of us went inside for coffee and conversation Casey Jones and Attack Cat left to get in a few more miles by going back on Soboba. I understand Casey Jones went down hard on Lyon and Matthew on the way back. I hope he wasn’t hurt bad and can join us soon.