10/27/2010
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)

Hemet Cycling Group Attacked Today!!!


We have been fighting the weather for the last two weeks and today was the first time the weather report gave us an open window to a good ride with little chance of interference from rain or fog. So as I got ready to leave the house I felt good about the ride I had planned for the group. It was a bit cool as I got ready to leave the house but nothing arm and leg warmers wouldn’t cover.

As we gathered in the parking lot everyone commented on what a nice day it was and by 9am we had 11 riders ready to head north towards Ramona expressway. As I looked behind me I noticed Surgeon and Wolf closing on me with Dura-max not far behind. They soon pulled even with me and we talked as we got ready to make the turn onto Lyon. I knew it wouldn’t be long before Rocket, Puma, Huntress, D’Artagnon, Cycobob, sea Lion and Wart would catch up with us so I felt good about the group being all together.


As we traveled north on Lyon we seemed to be gathering speed the farther we went. What we didn’t know was that our old enemy Mariah was waiting like a prehistoric cat for us at the foot of the hills on Gilman. And like a predator we didn’t have a clue she was going to ambush us or that she was even in the area. There was almost no wind as we passed Devonshire and still no hint at Menlo or even Cottonwood

The closer we got to Ramona the faster we seemed to be going and soon Wart, who hasn’t been riding with us for a while, fell off of the back of the train. I didn’t worry that much for two reasons, Wart knows every shortcut to every coffee shop in town and he is part of the fun group so he doesn’t always follow the same route the rest of us do anyway. The rest of stayed together till we made it to Ramona Expressway and started west towards Warren Road. Dura-max and I followed the main group of 8 by about one 150 yards. Even at that we were cruising along at about 20 to 21 MPH. It was about then I should have realized the Mariah was waiting to strike. There were signs she was hiding and ready to pounce and I mentioned it to Dura-max but it wasn’t till I turned onto Bridge Street that I knew for sure. Much like I have seen when Lions charge a heard of Antelopes Mariah hit the group in front of me in the side under the cover of dust. I couldn’t see the group because of the large dust cloud of windswept dirt and when it did clear I noticed the distance to the rest of the group was closing. As we rounded the corner on Bridge we flew straight into the teeth of a wind that had to be blowing 30 MPH with gusts.

The farther along on Bridge I rode the lower the gear selection I had to make. It turned onto a grind it out and lower your head ride fighting Mariah every inch of the way. She had more power and more weapons than simply the teeth of her force. She had dirt and sand to toss at us and Tumble weeds for us to dodge. Not all of them were bigger than we were but some were. Rest assured we knew how painful it would be if one of them managed to strike us of if we managed to run into one of them.
If we thought we were getting the upper hand on the wind by successfully getting to the end of Bridge and regrouping we were mistaken. When we started down Gilman we were riding right into the den of the dragon so to speak. Rocket took off like Saint George ready to slay that same dragon. I tried to give chase and closed a little but the ride turned into the wind wasn’t at all consistent so there was a lot of give and take in the effort. A quick look into my helmet mirror showed a sign of the other riders spread out behind me as much as ¾ of a mile back. Mariah was hitting us so hard and from several different point of the compass it was a struggle just to hold a straight-line let alone keep from falling over. It took quite a while for us to make it to Sanderson and regroup once more. We agreed to change the ride and head back to Starbucks in the mall and we then split into two groups before I watched Rocket, Puma, D’Artagnon, and Surgeon pull away leaving Huntress, Dura-max, Sea Lion, Cycobob, Wolf and I to follow back to Ramona.

Once we got back to Ramona Road it was as if we had escaped Mariah’s territory and she turned back to await the next group or riders foolish enough to try to ride along the face of the hillside on Gilman. It was hard to believe the contrast in riding conditions when we got back to Lyon. It was warm but not too warm and there was just the very lightest of breezes. It didn’t take long for us to get to Starbucks and meet up with the others that planned on stopping there. Some coffee and conversation than amounted to reliving the fight we had with the wind on Gilman and we parted and headed our separate way home promising to try again on Friday. The ride was shorted than I expected but we all made it safely and all in all we had a good time.