4/26/2010
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)

Hemet, Ca

Sometimes Monday should be an easy day. After hearing how hard the race some of our riders did on Saturday I thought this would be one of those easy Monday rides. It was a clear warm morning and I for one was looking forward to getting together with my friends and making a cruise east. I still hadn’t found a new camera yet but I had narrowed down what I wanted so at least I knew what I was looking for. But today I would have to make do with just my cell phone.

I got to the Burger King to find that Tool Man was already waiting for me. I didn’t have a clue as to how many riders would be here but I could tell right up front it was going to be a beautiful day. Before I knew it we had 17 riders eager and ready to go. The last rider to arrive was Attack cat and Raptor left while he was still unloading his car. As soon as he was ready we started out of the parking lot and headed for Devonshire and I chatted with Red Rabbit. We quickly made it over to Lyon and by the time we were passing Menlo the whole group was right behind me. Looking back everyone seemed to be coming out of the shadows as if riders were just materializing behind me.


I fell back after a block or two to get a head count and it was then that I realized we had so many riders. For this early in the season 17 riders is a very good number. In fact 17 is a good number for any time in the season and I was impressed. I fell back to try and make sure I had the count correct and to see if everyone was doing ok. During that time Attack cat and Surgeon moved forward as did Tax man. I moved forward to make sure no one tried to go the wrong way on Ramona and headed for the light at Ramona Expressway. It turned out to be a quick green and only half of us made it through. Attack cat continued on while the rest of us waited to regroup and head for Sanderson. Attack cat pulled over just as we got to Sanderson but seemed to want to rush the pace a bit and once again left us heading for Gilman.

With the exception of Attack cat we were all in one long line down Gilman. It stayed that way till we got ready to turn onto Soboba. I was pulling most of the way and was getting just a bit tired as we turned towards the first little hill on Soboba and watched as Attack cat slowly pulled away from our more moderate pace. It wasn’t long before rocket decided to test his tired legs. I was surprised to see him pull up next to Attack cat as we neared the golf course. But what may have surprised me even more was the run that Hit man made from about ¼ mile back. He managed to catch and pass everyone to make it to the top of the last hill in front of everyone. When I pulled up next to him as we regrouped he simply said he needed to visit the man tree first. We laughed and got ready to continue the rest of the ride. It was right about here the group split up into three pieces. One group continued on to Carl’s right after making the light.

One group ran down to Florida on Ramona and one group turned and made it over to Florida on Fairview. Some of us went all the way to the Ranger station and some stopped for coffee. The last group managed to get to Carl’s before everyone had left and we sat and joked and drank coffee for a few minutes before heading for home. I only had 34 miles on the clock when I got home but I felt good and had a good time.

After I got home I started to down load my cell pictures and decided I would have to go shopping for a new camera before the next ride. The good news is I found a simple point and shoot that should work just fine.