9/24/2010
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


It takes more than a good looking day to make for a good Friday Bike ride. The wind has to be light and the temperature has to be just on the mild side and the group has to be made up of the right people. All of those things seemed to come together as we got ready to leave the parking lot at Burger King. There were ten of us counting Parky by the time we were ready to pull out onto Gilmore and we had decided to ride as one group rather than splitting into two. Parky took a few minutes head start to see if he could get to Bautista ahead of us because he had decided to climb it as well.


After we moved over to Lyon and down towards Stetson I began to think about the ride up Bautista. It was pretty clear that we would take it pretty easy down Thornton and maybe even down the first part of Stetson but I wasn’t sure how fast the pace might get as we got closer to Fairview. I didn’t know how hard I would push the climb on Bautista but it was my hope to keep the leaders in sight most of the way to the top. If I were to handicap the run up the hill I would put Hit man, Rocket, Long Iron and Bounty Hunter as the favorites to get to the top first.

As we worked our way east on Crest Hit man started to move towards the front and he pulled me part of the way down Stetson after we turned off of Lake. It looked like the group was starting to string out a bit so I fell back to see what was going on. I got passed by Rocket, Double Time, Bounty Hunter and Long Iron. As we turned onto Fairview I was in the back waiting for Highlander when Duramax informed me that Highlander wasn’t going to make the climb. I was a long way back from the front of the group and I wasn’t sure how much energy I would have for the climb itself. After catching Double Time and Sea Lion I started to try and see how long I could spin making the climb. About 200 yards up the road I caught Parky and his trike but I was still a long way behind Hit man, Rocket, Long Iron and Bounty hunter.

I was rather surprised at how well I was spinning when I saw Hit man heading back down. I knew he would break off early because he needed to be somewhere in Riverside but I didn’t realize he wasn’t heading for the top of the canyon. I still had Bounty Hunter, Rocket and Long Iron in front of me and Duramax, Double Time, Sea Lion and Parky behind me with Highlander and Hit man heading for home.

Somewhere about the small hill by the Dam I caught Bounty Hunter and it perked me right up. The last time we rode together he out climbed me on the Ramona Bowl hill and I fully expected him to pull away from me on this one. Considering my dislike for long hills I was moving at a pretty good pace as I crossed the river crossing and headed passed the white fence. I looked up the road and could just make out Long Iron and Rocket in the distance and for some reason it looked like they were waiting for me. As luck would have it Long Iron flatted and Rocket stopped to help him. When I asked if they needed any help they declined and so I continued on looking back to see if Duramax was closing on me. He didn’t and I managed to get to the top before Rocket and Long Iron could fix the flat and catch me. My day had been made.

The ride back to Carl’s was fast with a slight tail wind most of the way and I noticed that I had just had the best climb times wise I have ever had for an up and back on Bautista. One more quick regroup at the bottom of Bautista and we split up with some of us heading for Carl’s and some heading home. Parky, Duramax, Sea Lion and I met Raptor at Carl’s and spent 20 to 30 minutes conversing and recovering for the ride home. I ended up riding back to Lyon with Sea Lion and Duramax and Raptor left us at Park. All in all it was a great day for a 37 mile ride for me. Not bad for a Fall day. But still sharing the day with friends makes it even better.