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


With the high winds we had on Thursday I didn’t know what to expect when I got up and went out to get the paper this morning. But once outside I realized that as long as things didn’t change much it looked like it was going to be a good day. I would need leg and arm warmers but it looked like it would warm up soon enough. So after my morning coffee I put on my kit and headed out the door ready to ride to Burger King.

I got to the parking lot shortly after Rocket, Dura-max and Sea Lion. While we were talking Cossack, Double Time, Centaur and D’Artagnon pulled up Followed by Beowulf, Gambler, Ruby Tuesday and T-3. We were ready to go when Gambler discovered he had a flat and we waited while he changed it before heading out onto Latham and turning north on Lyon.


It didn’t take much warming up before we started to roll along at a pretty good clip for cruising. We were doing 20+ mph before we passed Cottonwood. I looked back to see how everyone was doing and it was clear that no one was even thinking of falling off this early in the ride. We finally turned onto Ramona heading for State with Rocket in the lead and I was three back following Ruby Tuesday.

It didn’t take us long to make it to State Street and as we moved north towards Soboba the pace picked up0 once more. Everyone knew that once we started east on the rollers of Soboba the group would spread out and I had no reason to expect that today would be different. What I also knew was that Gambler and D’Artagnon would be with the lead group and they would make holding on even more difficult. Still I was looking forward to the run to the golf course and was going to give it a good try.

We stayed together pretty well for the first and smallest of the rollers and started up the second one in line. Suddenly Rocket launched for the front and I went with him. We got a reasonable gap cresting the hill when Rocket started pulling away from me and Cossack caught and passed me on the way to tagging up on Rocket. Centaur was the next one to get buy and D’Artagnon caught me well before the beginning of the golf course. We all re-grouped at the top of the hill next to the golf course and then took off for Mountain and Main. Another sprint occurred as we got to the bridge and we lost Rocket and Cossack before we got to Hemet Street. D’Artagnon and Gambler and Centaur took off and pulled away towards Florida and the rest of us followed quite a ways behind till we once again re-grouped at the Ranger Station.

The great thing about our group is how much fun we seem to have talking and laughing when we re-group before heading for the last part of the ride. It is fun to watch everyone grow and get stronger week by week. We have been together long enough now that we almost know what the other riders are going to do before the do it. Still there is something more than makes our group different than almost any other group I have belonged to and that is how social we are. We are willing to help each other get better even if we know that the person we are helping will soon be faster and stronger than we are. While I was thinking about this Ruby Tuesday and T-3 decided to leave and head out on their own while the rest of us took off for Carl’s, except for Gambler who stayed to fix another flat.

It was a flat out drag race back down to Carl’s with Double Time pulling out of the pack and making a break for it about a mile and three quarters before we got to Carl’s. It took a while but he was chased down before he got to Fairview and we all pulled into Carl’s about the same time. We got coffee or soft drinks and had a good time talking about the ride and the possibility of riding as a group in Palm Springs this February. Once rested and refreshed we headed for home.

It wasn’t the longest ride we have had or even the fastest but it was a good ride with just over 32 miles from door to door for me. For a week spent dodging wind and rain it at least ended on a great note and a good day. When you think about it we are pretty lucky to be living where we are and having the friends we have.