6/25/2010
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)



Even if it was Friday and even if traditionally I have planned some rather easy rides for Friday I was a bit concerned about today’s ride. Wednesday I had a suspicion that the women had made a pre-run of the ride and seeded the road with goat heads. Knowing the trap that was set they stayed home while the men suffered five flats. With that in mind I did the anti flat dance on the way out to get the paper this morning. I chanted the anti flat chant all the way back in to drink my coffee and read my paper. With this positive reinforcement I got ready to ride over to Burger King to see who would be joining me.

I got to the parking lot first but it wasn’t long before I was joined by Duramax, After Burner and Sherpa. Light Saber and Ocelot pulled up just minutes apart and Rocket was just in front of them. Gambler and Bandit Pulled up only minutes apart. Surgeon and Raptor were next to pull up and we thought we were about ready to leave. We were joined by Bob from Cycopath and we took off towards Latham and Lyon. Just as we got ready to turn on Lyon Brian joined us and told me he was planning on joining the splinter group that would be leaving us and heading to Oak Glen.



I spent a few minutes on Lyon trying to get my cycle computer to pick up the speed sensor and finally by Menlo everything seems to be working like it should. I looked north towards Ramona and saw nothing but clear blue sky. It seems like we had picked another beautiful day for a ride and I was looking forward to it. The plan was for the group to split at Sanderson with the regular riders heading for Nuevo and some of the A group heading up Lambs Canyon to start a climb to Oak Glen. The name of the ride was the Apple Hill ride and Sherpa, Rocket, Brian, After Burner and Bob were going to be the ones to give that a try. After making the turn off of Lyon onto Ramona Expressway I pulled the group to Sanderson where we split up.


Once we made it through the light at Sanderson we started a long steady pull towards Lakeview. I was very impressed with Light Saber and Ocelot because they held onto the lead group well passed Warren and even well passed Bridge Street. Surgeon and the lead group started pulling away from us about the time we got to the large soccer player cutouts on the side of the road. They made the light and the left turn off of Ramona about 150 yards ahead of us and we regrouped at the gas station on Lakeview. We made the decision to go to Kelly’s for coffee for our next stop and it became obvious that Bandit hadn’t done the anti flat dance before leaving home because he got a flat as soon as we turned onto Lakeview. Once the flat was fixed everyone took off and Duramax stayed with me as I followed Ocelot and Light Saber towards Nuevo and Menifee road.

We closed on the other group a bit as we got to Grand and somehow got ahead of them when they stopped at Chris’s by mistake. They caught us at Stowe and we continued on first to California and then to Stetson. Once again I was impressed with Ocelot and Light Saber as I noticed our average speed for the ride had been 16.4 and Light Saber’s brake had been dragging for about 1/3 of the ride. Ocelot even attacked me with a sprint once or twice showing she still had a lot of energy left even towards the end of the ride.


Once we got passed the airport it was long before we were at the light on Sanderson waiting to make the left turn and head for Kelly’s. Today we were in luck because there was a car at the light with us so we even got to make the turn on the first light change. It was a quick run to Kelly’s and something cold to drink before we headed for home. I ended up following Ocelot and Duramax most of the way back to my house before leaving them as I turned onto my housing tract. I only got in 37 miles today but I had a great time and enjoyed the time spent with my friends. I think we are going to have a good summer and hope for many more good rides before fall.