7/26/2010
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


I got up this morning at looked out at a clear blue sky and a cool morning and said to myself, “Self, this is a beautiful day for a ride.” I had my breakfast, got on my Kit and put the water bottles on the bike. Checked that I had all the gear I normally take, put on my helmet and gloves and out the door I went. It was my hope that several of my friends would feel the same way I did and show up for the ride. I even made it a bit shorter than normal just so the people that were going to ride Tuesday on the Bautista dash would get in a recovery ride early.

At least two riders were waiting for me at Burger King, Duramax and Sidewinder. After Burner pulled up next and I noticed Sherpa’s bike was leaning against the wall. Rocket, Ocelot, Phoenix, Surgeon, Hit Man, Tax man and Rick arrived next and just before we were ready to leave we had to change a flat. I was surprised how serious everyone looked as we first pulled out on Latham.


We turned onto Lyon and headed for Ramona Road and looking back I could see everyone was staying together pretty well. It was good to see Sherpa with us again. Part of the reason I am still riding is because of his early encouragement and pointers. Even if every time he gave me a pointer I swear at first it seemed like new parts of me hurt that never hurt before. But after a while I did get better using some of the techniques he told me to try.

As we rode down Lyon I started to think about what would happen as we got to Soboba and I was pretty sure that half of the group would be making a run of the little canyon. I also knew that whatever group took off it would include Rocket, After Burner, Cossack, Sidewinder, Sherpa, Rick, Hit Man and Surgeon. However as we got passed Ramona Road only Surgeon and After Burner were riding in the front. Once on State Street the line started to form up with Rocket, After Burner, Cossack and Surgeon moving to the front. Somehow we had lost Sherpa and Hit man so we stopped and regrouped. Once we were all back together we lost no time heading for Soboba.

Just before we made the turn After Burner made a break for it and took a bit of a lead. A group formed in front of me and I started to follow but decided to hold back and try to pull the second half of the group up the first and second hill. Tax man was right behind me as we crested the first hill. As we got ready to go up the second hill Sherpa pulled up next to me and I fell in behind him. However I noticed we were losing the second group so I backed off. I decided to fall back and make sure we all were accounted for by the time we got to then golf course and ended up riding in the back till we regrouped.
After we took off again we got separated by the light at Mountain. As the second group tried to catch up Ocelot managed to get our second flat. We lost the lead group at that point and by the time we were back on the road Rocket and Sidewinder had already stopped at Carl’s. We were having coffee when some of the other riders joined us after riding all the way to Cranston Station. By the time we were all ready to leave for home only Phoenix, Surgeon, Sidewinder, Tax Man, Hit Man and I were left to ride back towards Burger King.

We traveled down Lincoln and over to Park discussing what a great day this had been for a ride. It had been a while since Tax Man had stayed with us for the whole ride and it was a pleasure to get a chance to visit with him after so long. Usually I only get to talk to him before the ride.

We lost Hit man just before we made the turn onto Devonshire and Surgeon was pulling away from us slowly but surely. Sidewinder looked as fresh as he did when we started the ride. Not that it had been all the strenuous but still 17 year olds seem to have energy to spare and short rides don’t seem to even get them warmed up.

Because of the flats and shorter ride I didn’t have as many miles as I had planned and it wasn’t as fast as we have gone before. But the weather was close to perfect and the company was great. Much like last Friday it was just a fun ride with good friends. But I think I can take good rides with good friends anytime they are offered.