9/20/2010
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)



I have to admit I look forward to Monday morning rides. This is one of the best times of the year to live and ride where we live in southern California. The weather is mild and the winds are light and even traffic tends to be light. After the great ride we had Friday I could only hope for a repeat for today. My plan was to map out a ride that would be interesting for both an A and a B group and get us to Carl’s about the same time. Only trying it would let me know if I succeeded or not.


Eleven riders showed up to start our ride and by 8:03 we headed down Gilmore to Acacia and over to Kirby. I think the A group thought they would get a good lead going onto Sanderson and then pull away on Domenigoni before they had to make the run up to the marina while the B group continued on to McSweeney. Rocket and Sherpa were expected to make the run and then try to catch the B group on their way towards Fairview. To make it a bit easier for them Ansu, (Puma) was going with them and he looked like he could more than hold his own.

Whatever the A group had planned the 8 members of the B group were going to make it a challenge. The climb was going to come early in the ride so the B group did everything in their power to stay close to the A group all the way to Johnson and then up Sanderson. In fact the B group was sitting at the light on Sanderson with the A group waiting for the green light. Rocket took off as the light changed and I followed until Sherpa and Puma passed me when the B group fell in behind me and were only about 60 yards behind the A group as they made the turn for the marina.

We put in a reasonable pace to State Street and Duramax relieved me for the pull to McSweeney. We didn’t slow all that much except for teasing Sea Lion about wanting to stop by his house. Still we made short work of the housing track and were heading back towards the circle. Bunty Hunter, Highlander, Tax Man, T-3, Ocelot, Sea Lion, Duramax and I wanted to get back out to State Street as soon as we could to see how far ahead of the A group we were.

We were almost back to Domenigoni when we saw the A group turning towards McSweeney so we kicked it up a notch and headed for Chambers in a impromptu pace line. What we didn’t see was Sherpa had pulled a U turn and was gaining on us as we got passed the golf course and back out onto Stetson. He was gaining but not closing all that fast when he made a turn on San Jacinto and came out on Girard right in front of us and never saw us closing on him. He took the lower end of the parking lot while we took the top and Rocket and Puma caught us before we got back to Crest. We regrouped and rode to Fairview together then Duramax pulled us to Florida and east towards the Ranger station. Rocket, Puma and I hit it hard and got to the Ranger Station pretty quickly only to find Sherpa, Tax man and Highlander waiting for us. The rest of the group gathered only a few minutes later.
We only took a few minutes to catch our breath and rehydrate while we discussed the ride and the two climbs. This was the first time up Girard for some of us and it was a better climb than I expected. What impressed me the most is that the B group is riding about as well as the A group did a year ago. The A group is faster as well so the gap is still there be we have all learned from each other. We got a picture or two and then took off for Carl’s down Florida at a dead run.

Some of us made a right on Fairview to add a mile or two and some of us went straight to Carl’s. One or two even went home but we still had a good group for coffee and conversation. After about 15 or 20 minutes we split up and headed for home. I ended up going back with Puma, Sherpa and Sea Lion and got back to Burger King about 20 minutes later. I stopped by the LBS to thank Dillon forgetting my bike adjusted just right and went home for lunch. It may only have been 36 miles for me and maybe 40 for some of the A group but it was an interesting 35 miles and a lot of fun.