4/14/2010
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)

Hemet, Ca

Once again we had to wait an extra day for our ride because of the weather so people seemed eager and ready when they arrived at the parking lot. I had a short challenging ride planned up Batista Canyon and I knew we would have some new riders with us as well. The eagerness was easy to see because well before it was time to leave we had 17 riders ready to go. By 9 am people were already rolling towards the driveway just to get started.


It didn’t take long for us to travel South down Lyon and across Johnson and Stetson. Tool Man and Shadow had already gone east towards Mountain Center and Idyllwild but we still had 15 riders as we headed east. Everyone seemed content with our rather easy pace as we neared State Street and continued on towards the Golf course to meet up with Bandit. Gambler had made a call as we left Burger King to give Bandit our route and he arrived just before we got there.

Most of the way down Thornton and even as we moved over to Stetson we stayed together as one big group. One of our new riders, Jose was out for the first time on his new Road bike, a Giant Defy and he was doing well keeping up with most of us. Huntress and T-3 rode easily with Hit Man, Cossack, Wart, Bounty Hunter and Duramax. There was another group with Highlander, Sidewinder, Gambler, Bandit, Rocket, Red Rabbit, Whippet and I.

Once we turned off of Stetson onto Columbia we were still pretty much in one big group. It was almost as if everyone was saving their energy for the run up Batista Canyon. Normally by the far into the ride the A and B group would have separated and the A group would be pulling away but this time with the exception of Red Rabbit running out front every now and then we were more like a pack of hunting Dog searching for prey. This was one of those times where I really didn’t know just who was riding with us and just where everyone was. The lead of the group changed so many times it was hard to tell who was going to push us up to Stetson and over to Fairview.

As we turned onto Batista the paces changed all together. Rocket, Bounty Hunter, Cossack, Hit man, Sidewinder, Huntress, Gambler, and Bandit took off and started to stretch out a lead. T-3, Highlander, Duramax and I had to stop to remove some jackets before we started up the hill while Red Rabbit and Whippet passed us to give chase to the bigger A group. Once we got started up the road everyone else was pretty much out of sight. I have no clue as to how the lead group did riding to the end of the road but by the time we got there they had picked up two more riders because Beowulf and Socrates were there with them.

The ride back down the canyon was shaping up to be a good one. Once we managed to navigate our way around a snake sunning itself on the road the pace slowly but surely stared to pick up. It wasn’t long before Sidewinder couldn’t resist himself and he tried to break away. At first Rocket, Highlander, Whippet and I decided not to let him go. After a few turns we were joined by Bounty Hunter and the pace was pretty fast with the lead changing several times. About halfway down the road I pulled up a bit and the two lead groups separated by about ¼ of a mile and it stayed that way all the way back to Fairview. Whippet and Red Rabbit continued on and Rocket and Cossack went home. I waited for the rest of the group at the junction between Fairview and Batista and ended up riding to Florida with Jose and Wart. Beowulf and Socrates decided to ride back up Batista and T-3 had to get home so the rest of us continued on to Carl’s.

Once we got back to Carl’s we discovered Sidewinder had a flat that we would repair after coffee and visiting. When we got inside we were happy to see Raptor after such a long time. When it was time to go home we repaired Sidewinder’s flat and rode home with Wart. It was only 36 miles but it was exciting and the weather was perfect.