5/7/2010
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)

Hemet, Ca.

Friday is supposed to be an easy ride and my hope was that this Friday would be just that. Looking out of the front window this morning I was pretty sure the weather was going to co-operate. I rolled out onto the street right at 7:30 and headed for the Burger King.

It wasn’t long after I pulled into the Burger King Parking lot that people started to arrive. I don’t know if I was a bit late or if everyone was eager to go but we were all there by 7:50 am. One disturbing note was when Wart pulled up with his son and we say the condition of his bike and his body. He was bruised and battered and his bike was bent because he had been hit by a car while riding to the meeting place on Monday. He seemed OK even if sore but he wanted to stop by to show us that his helmet saved his head. The side was ground down in the back several inches. If that hadn’t been his helmet it could have been his head. Wart says, “Helmets can and do work”. He is living proof.
Considering the size of the group over the last few days we were a bit smaller than I expected but still after a head count was taken we had nine riders. Duramax, Gambler, Bandit, T-3, Red Rabbit, Hit man, Surgeon, Connie and I made up the group and that is how it was as we pulled out of the parking lot.


We all made it down Acacia to Kirby and through the light as a group. So far it looked like my plan for an easy recovery ride was not only possible but was going to take place. I was thinking about that when Red Rabbit pulled up next to me on his brand new Giant Defy Advanced. It was a nice looking blue and he seemed to be enjoying it quite a bit. Even if he was telling me he didn’t think the saddle was set quite right he looked very comfortable on it. Even I felt quite comfortable as we turned towards Johnson and discussed the weather with Connie.

It wasn’t long before we made it to Johnson and turned towards Sanderson for the right turn and then the left towards the air port. We caught the light where we make the left and sat there quite a while waiting for it to turn green. Finally a large truck pulled up behind us and we got a clearing to make the turn. Connie and Red Rabbit were still with us as we finally turned passed the air port and headed onto Stetson. Connie commented on the blimp flying over the air port and I just caught a quick view of it as we got out onto Stetson. As we headed towards Warren I looked back to see Connie leading the pace line with a big smile on her face

We passed Warren and headed for California Street. Slowly the pace began to pick up and we were soon running along in a long string. Gambler and Bandit soon took off to stretch their legs and started to pull away from the rest of us. I watched as they comfortably slid around the corner on Stowe and started to shrink into the distance heading towards Winchester. Still there was no sense of urgency as the rest of us took our time and followed them to the parking lot in front of the market on Winchester and Stowe. The two young Turks looked rested by the time we got there and I looked down t see that our average speed was close to 17 MPH up to this point, pretty quick for a simply recovery ride.

We lost Connie at Winchester and Red Rabbit at Chris’s but the rest of us continued on to Domenigoni. We turned West towards Leon and kept the pace up as we watched Raptor heading back the other way on Domenigoni. We broke up a bit at the U turn before Leon but regrouped before Winchester Road. Shortly after that however we split into two groups and stayed that way till we got to State Street where we regrouped once again and headed towards McSweeney. As I turned into the housing tract at McSweeney I noticed we had been joined by Tool Man out on one of his morning workouts. He stayed with us till we were back out on State Street and passed Domenigoni where he left us to ride with Steve going the other way.

We made a brief stop at the golf course and continued on towards Stetson and finally right on Columbia to Crest. I ended up riding with Surgeon was we traveled through the old Hemet neighborhood and commented how nice and peaceful it seemed. Somehow this part of any ride east seems less rushed and more relaxing than any other part. I was also impressed with the smooth effortless style Surgeon has when he rides. We talked as we got close to Lake Street and turned towards Stetson one again. We stayed together all the way to Fairview where Gambler and Bandit had to leave for home.

We regrouped for the run down to Florida and made very good time all the way passed Mulberry and our average was still close to 16.5. I was still surprised because I didn’t feel like we had been working all that hard and I wasn’t all that tired yet. At Florida we lost Surgeon and just four of us continued on to the ranger station. Once we got there we collected ourselves for the quick run back down to Carl’s. I was very impressed with T-3 as she made the spring all the way from Ramona to the Carl’s driveway pushing all the way.
After coffee we had a leisurely ride back towards Burger King with just Hit man, Duramax, T-3 and I. We lost Hit man at the end of Lincoln as he went back to get his sun glasses and we watched Duramax head for home as we got back to Columbia and Park. I had a great time riding with and talking to T-3 all the way back to Lyon. It was a great 46 miles and a great day for a ride. But like I have said before, good friends and good weather makes life better.