4/23/2010
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)

Hemet, Ca

I just can’t help myself I like Friday rides. I like the idea of just going out for a ride and enjoying the company of a few good friends and, in the case of this Friday, clear blue skies. When I go to the Burger King parking lot Duramax was just pulling up. Sidewaider, Tool Man, Raptor and Connie were not far behind. Red Rabbit and Jeff arrived followed by T-3 and Connie


Lastly Dudley arrived with Shadow showing up in his car. By 9am it looked like we were all ready so I started to explain where we were going in case the racers decided to take off. I was assured they would be taking it easy because they have a race tomorrow so we set out for one of our easy Friday rides.
As usual Red Rabbit got an early start but we caught him on Kirby riding his 29er. Raptor was in the lead as we came up Sanderson to Domenigoni and made the turn west. Soon we were in a pace line and the speed was slowly picking up. Once we hit about 20 MPH we settled into steady pace and cruised all the way to Winchester. Red Rabbit fell back a bit and we changed leads as we came up to Leon. Sidewinder decided he felt like attacking the Domenigoni Saddle and he pulled out of my draft running hard. I had already downshifted into my small sprocket and was in full spin as he passed but I tried to kick it up a notch to see if I could pass but even at full spin I couldn’t get around however Dudley had no such problem being in the better gear. We reached the top of the saddle and regrouped even waiting for Red Rabbit.

Once we were all collected and ready to go Red Rabbit informed me that he would be leaving us at Lindenburger and heading for home. We started down the hill and everyone by Red Rabbit made it through the light at Lindeburger. Sidewinder pulled up next to me looking full of energy and happy to be out on such a good looking day. Raptor managed to get through the light at Menifee and for one of the first time ever we all got the light together. As we approached the hill on Menifee Sidewinder decided to make another run at it. He got a pretty good jump before once again Dudley took off after him to see how far he could let him go before he could catch him. It looked like he pulled up next to him right at the top of the hill. It wouldn’t be the last hill Sidewinder decided to attack for the day.

I pulled till we got to Hawn and Jeff pulled us all the way to Holland where we made a left turn and make a quick run to Murrieta. We regrouped once more before heading back to Newport and then east back towards Hemet. It was not about time for a bit of socializing so we talked and rode easily passed the freeway heading back to Menifee. As we rolled up to the back side of the saddle one again Sidewinder took off and this time Dudley didn’t give chase till he was almost at the top of the hill. I don’t think he caught sidewinder till he crested the saddle but shortly after the rest of us started down the back side we saw two of them riding together. Jeff took off after them and Duramax, T-3, Tool Man and I followed behind. Soon we caught up to them and noticed Sidewinder had tossed a crank arm, something I had experienced shortly after rebuilding my Jamis, so we stopped and helped him put it back on. Jeff must have missed us because he continued on heading for home. Thank goodness Duramax had his expanded took kit in his bag because none of us had an 8 mm wrench.

After we were all back on the road we discovered Jeff was nowhere to be seen. I am not sure but he may have had an appointment. We moved quickly passed Winchester and onto Warren where once again Dudley and Sidewinder jumped out to a lead. We pulled up to them at the light and continued on towards Sanderson. Dudley pulled me along at close to 29 MPH almost all the way to Sanderson where we turned and headed for coffee at Kelley’s. As we pulled in I noticed Raptor was back with us. It was a new stop for us but the coffee was good and there were good seats to sit on. Once we had a chance to visit and relive the ride people started drifting off to their homes. I ended up with about 40 good miles in great weather. I also had a good time with good friends. As someone said, that is why we live here.