3/24/2010
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)

Hemet, Ca


I wasn’t feeling 100 percent when I got up this morning. I didn’t sleep all that well and was suffering with a bit of a headache but after a few Aspirin and a shower things seemed to be getting better. The day was starting to look pretty good and I didn’t want to miss a chance to ride with my friends so I put on my cycling clothes and had a cup of coffee while waiting to ride over to the Burger King.

When I arrived at the parking lot Parky and Duramax were waiting and to my surprise so was Wart. I hadn’t seen Wart for months and it was good to have him back with us after all this time. By the time we were ready to leave we had 13 riders plus the C group with 3.



We turned onto Acacia and then onto Kirby and it felt good to see so many coming out for a ride on what we call the little Pyrenees. I could almost feel myself drawing energy from the group as we turned off of Kirby on the short cut to Johnston. Rocket and Quicksticks were rolling along smoothly but you could see they were just a bit restrained and knowing the Toolman and Jeff were with us made me feel the run down Domenigoni might be quite a ride.


When we turned onto Domenigoni the pace line formed and pretty much as I expected the speed started to increase. Much as I expected Rocket, Jeff, Toolman, Ivan, Mark, Bounty Hunter, Nathan and Jessie formed the first group and I latched onto the back like I had a tractor beam. The pace only slowed slightly as we came to the light at Warren. As soon as we were moving again things started to get even more interesting as once again the pace was increased well beyond the normal B group cruising speed. As we got close the river overpass the pack was pulled by one after the other till it was my turn to put up or fall off so I managed to hold about 24 for about a minute and a half before I gave up the lead to Highlander and then Bounty Hunter. After taking their turn I lost track of them as we got close to Winchester Road. Quicksticks pulled off at the intersection and Shadow joined us as we once again took off at a pretty rapid pace.

It was here that I will continue with my space craft description we started losing riders like ice falling off of a rocket. I found myself behind Rocket, Jeff, Toolman, Shadow, Jesse and I had no idea who might be behind me because it was all I could do to hold on to the line. As we got to the bottom of the saddle I was closer to the group and to my surprise Jessie pulled over to let me not that I had a lot left to go by with. Ahead of me it was Jeff, Rocket and Toolman and I wasn’t closing on either of them when suddenly Toolman slowed down. I could tell he would easily make it to the top before me and I wasn’t foolish enough to believe he was cooked and that if I did close he wouldn’t simply put the hammer down and drop me. Rocket and Toolman pulled over as I got to the top and Shadow rolled by riding after Jeff. It only took a few minutes till everyone regrouped and headed off towards Sun City.

We lost Mark at Linderburger and Tollman, Jeff and Shadow turned back at the freeway while Nathan, Jesse, and Rocket waited for us just passed the freeway. The whole group made it to Goetz together and this time Rocket, Hitman, Jesse and Nathan took off and crested t hill in front of the rest of us.

The ride back to Macall was smooth and we all got to the bottom of Macall together. Once over the hill it was a pace line all the way to Simpson and then left on Leon before traditional sprint on 9th. Hitman was way out in front before we even got there and even flat out I couldn’t close to overtake him. Rocket caught me as we came to the rise before the Pentecostal Church and he pushed and dragged me all the way to Winchester.


We stopped at Chris’s and I got a picture of Traveler because this would be his last day riding with us before he headed back to Canada. We had coffee and talked for a while before it was time for us all to head back by the airport and home. During this whole ride T-3 had held her own on Domenigoni and over the little Pyrenees. She was still with us as we rode towards Hemet and she was still smiling. 43 miles at close to 17 MPH average and over hills and she was still smiling. I worry about the day she runs me down like the character in the Terminator movie. Still is good to have her with us.