3/17/2010
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)

Hemet, Ca

One day I was walking down the road and I found a seat bag buried in the sand. I brushed it off and as I was doing so smoke and steam escaped and out came a genie. I was told that I could have three wishes but because this genie was a small genie and in a seat bag they had to be bike related. My first wish was for a carbon fiber bike. My second wish was for good friends to ride with. My third wish was for perfect weather to ride in. Poof just like that all three wishes were granted. Well Ok to be honest I just made that up but today all three of those things happened today. I was riding my new bike with good friends and a day with perfect weather.


Today we were going to ride Juniper Flats which typically isn’t one of my favorite rides because it is anything but flat. Still it is a favorite with many on the bike group and it always gives me a feeling of accomplishment when I make the ride. So after we all assembled at Burger King we agreed to meet the C group at Chris’s in Winchester and left the parking lot heading for Lyon Street and north towards Ramona Road. I always like the first five to ten miles of our ride because that is when some of the best conversations take place and we get a chance to catch up on what is going on in our friend’s lives. Everyone was commenting on what a beautiful day it was and how good we all felt which made me think we might have a pretty good climb. I looked back to see Huntress and T-3 following me and I began to wonder if they just might be planning on running over me as I struggled up the Flats.

Once we got out onto Ramona Expressway the pace picked up a bit but we all stayed together except for Attack Cat who was running ahead of us most of the way till we got to Warren where we fell onto his back wheel. As we took turns leading first Attack cat then I and then Highlander kept the pace at between 18 and 20 MPH. When Duramax got in front we picked it up to 21-23 MPH almost all the way to the turn on Hansen. After a brief stop to shed an extra vest or two Rocket slowly picked up the pace as we got closer to Contour and Juniper flats road. I was moving along pretty good till some kind of insect decided to fly into my helmet and into my left ear. I managed to shake him or her out without falling over in my wild flailing.

I was climbing the hill at a pretty good pace for me as I watch Rocket pulling away and suddenly Beowulf shot passed like he was going to give chase. I didn’t let it bother me till we got to one of the steeper sections and I decided to give a shot at trying to close with Beowulf. It turned out to be a bad idea as I had expended far too much energy for the amount of hill I had left and ended up having to down shift quite a few gears till I got my heart rate back to normal.


Rocket and Beowulf when back to check on Huntress and T-3 only to discover they were well escorted by Highlander and Duramax so they turned back to follow me to the top of the hill on Juniper. Attack Cat continued on as I waited for the rest of the group to get to the top of the hill before we raced down the back side towards Florida. Soon I watched as Duramax and then Huntress were riding up the last hill towards me. Considering how many times we have climbed this hill it surprises me how close we all were together. There wasn’t more than 1 ½ minutes between riders coming up the hill one after the other.


I was very impressed with the energy Huntress seems to have left as she topped the hill but what might have impressed me even more was how well T-3 took the hill today. I have watched her get stronger with just about every ride in the last few weeks and I can say it is good to have her in our group. I can remember the first time I say her ride up Juniper flats and how she struggled to make it. Today was a totally different T-3 this was one that knew she could beat the hill and was looking to do it even better than she had the last time. She started down the hill as the rest of the group waited to make sure everyone was collected for the fast run down the hill and the run down Florida to the High School on Florida.


The run over to Grand was pretty normal except that Attack Cat was pretty far out in front of us and he stayed that way most of the way to Leon. Rocket started to pick up the pace with Highlander and Huntress on his wheel and I was trailing the three of them. I didn’t notice that Beowulf was on my wheel as well. Huntress stayed with the pace line till we got to about 23 or 24 and we were closing with Attack cat pretty rapidly. I closed with Highlander and at about 25 of 26 he waved me by to lock on to Rocket. We caught Attack cat at the top of the rise where Grand turns into 9th and soon it was a 4 man pace line until it turned into an all out sprint. It was a great ride and a great sprint that left us all gasping for air but smiling none the less. Rocket soon regained the lead and the rest of us followed him to Chris’s where we met up with the C group and Casey Jones who had shown up late for the ride and never connected with us. By the time I got home it was another 39 mile day. Good friends, good weather equals a good day.