11/10/2010
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


Monday was a bust because of the sketchy weather. So I was very pleased to see clear skies when I got up this morning. It was a bit cold and there was supposed to be a light wind but still I was looking forward to attacking Juniper Flats.

I got to Burger King early and it looked like I was the first one there. I did see Snow Goose leaving the lot as I got there and Wolf was unloading his bike from his car. I discovered the Raptor, Wart and Dura-Max had already left right at 8:30 so the B group and the fun group had an early start. By 9am everyone was ready to go so we took the whole group out onto Latham heading towards Lyon.


The turn onto Lyon started out pretty easy and we passed one street after another slowly building up speed as we warmed up. Highlander was next to me with T-3 not far behind. Puma, Rocket, D’Artagnon and Centaur were moving up from the back of the pack with Cossack, Cycobob and Wolf somewhere in the middle. It didn’t take long before Puma moved to the front and we were soon rolling along about 20mph. Just as we were getting our pace down pat we heard the dreaded shout, “flat” and watched as Centaur pulled over. We were soon back on our way because we have been getting a lot better fixing flats.

A few minutes later we were ready to turn west towards Sanderson and we quickly got up to speed on Ramona drive. I was pretty sure that once we got out onto the expressway things were going to pick up rather quickly. Huntress and T-3 had been riding strong the last few rides and Rocket, Cossack, Puma and Centaur were going to kick it up sooner or later. I wasn’t even sure I would be able to hold on but I was determined to give it a try.

Just as I expected the pace picked up as we hit the expressway things got quicker. Puma and D’Artagnon started to pull away and I hooked on to their back wheel. The problem was we accelerated a bit too quickly and had dropped the rest of the group. I fell back a bit and tried to pull the group back but didn’t have enough steam. Rocket and Centaur pulled around and closed and soon Cossack joined them. Huntress and Wolf went after them and T-3 and Cycobob soon passed me while I joined Highlander. We made it to Nuevo to regroup and Highlander turned back for home. The rest of the group took off for Juniper Flats as I stumbled along getting into my pedals. It took me almost all the way to the stop sign where we make the left turn to catch the back half of the group. As we got to the bottom of the Juniper climb where Puma passed me and made a run to catch the leaders. I managed to stay within sight of the lead group all the way to the top of the climb with Huntress breathing down my back all the way.

We got separated as I took pictures of the group cresting the hill and had to chase everyone else all the way to the High School on Brigs street. Huntress and Centaur continued on while the rest of the group waited for me. We formed a pace line and managed to pull within sight of Huntress and Centaur but even with our sprint we couldn’t catch them till we got to Winchester. T-3 had to go home but the rest of us stopped at Chris’s for a quick break before heading home.

As soon as we got back out onto Winchester I knew we were going to set a pretty pace heading for home. True to my expectations we made Stowe a lot quicker than normal and the pace didn’t lessen as we headed towards California Street. We turned into the wind as we headed towards Stetson and we were still moving as we split at the airport. I finished the ride with a few of the riders and by the time I ended up at home I had a good 41 miles in. Another great day with great friends.