11/17/2010
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)



They predicted a nice day and for a change they were correct. I went outside and noticed a pretty clear blue sky and a slight coolness in the air. The day looked just perfect for a ride east with three little climbs in it. I got dressed, read the paper, had my coffee and was on the road by 8am.

There were a few people waiting as I pulled up and we all stood around as other arrived. I wasn’t sure who was going to be in what group but it looked like we would be starting with 17 riders as we left the parking lot and headed down Gilmore to Acacia.


The whole group stayed together as we turned toward Kirby and Raptor must have already been warmed up as the lead us all the way to Cypress before we made the turn towards Johnson. The housing track was pretty quiet this morning with very few cars and only one lady standing outside asking if we had seen her lost dog.

Raptor kept the lead and we followed him all the way to Sanderson and then onto Wentworth and finally back onto Stetson heading towards California Street. Once passed warren road the pace picked up slightly and Surgeon and I took turn leading till we made the turn South on California. Surgeon got us started on Stowe and we started to create a slight gap between the A and B group. When Centaur, Rocket and Gambler start to line up behind you sooner or later someone will drop the hammer and today was no different.

As the pace line developed I found myself at the back of the line behind Centaur, Rocket, Gambler, Surgeon, Attack cat and. D’Artagnon, Jennifer, Wolf and Puma were right behind me. Dura-max had Sea Lion, Beowulf, T-3, Raptor and Ocelot with him about 30 yards back with Snow Goose trailing the whole group. It would be Snow Goose’s last ride with us for a while because she was heading back east for home the next day.

We did a quick regroup on the corner of Stowe and Winchester before heading south on Winchester to get to Domenigoni. As we moved down Winchester the two groups started to separate even more. Ten of us took off on Domenigoni heading east to get ready to attack the Marina hill. Everyone rotated through the line at least twice before we got back to Sanderson and Domenigoni. Puma took the last pull and got us all to the turn at the marina entrance. I was tired and a bit congested but I wanted to attack the hill. I was doing pretty good till I hit that first hard 180 left and I started sucking air like a clogged vacuum cleaner. I geared down and just tried to spin the rest of the way to the top. On the way back down I met Huntress who got a late start and had to catch us by taking the reverse course from the east end of town. We regrouped at the bottom of the hill and discovered that we were now 11 strong. Dura-max, Ocelot, T-3, Beowulf and Sea Lion were still on the hill as Raptor went by us on the way back to Domenigoni. We decided to give chase and followed after him.

We were moving in a pace line once again as we headed down State Street and made short work of that portion of the ride. Once back onto Stetson Attack cat pulled in front but he seemed to be in a bit of a hurry and missed the turn on Girard as we headed up towards Ramona Bowl. Once up that deceptive hill I noticed we were missing Jennifer but others told me she had broken off for home or work so I didn’t worry about her. We lost Rocket on Crest; I believe Gambler left us at lake. Surgeon broke off at Florida and Fairview and those of us that were left rode up to Cranston Station for one last break before heading back to Carl’s.

The ride back down to Carl’s was smooth and pretty quick. We took turns pulling and everyone seemed comfortable with the pace as we got back to Fairview. Huntress pulled us back to Ramona where we got into one last Sprint. I got a reasonable jump but not enough to hold off anyone in the draft when I notice Attack cat pulling out to go around me. I thought I could hold of some of the riders behind me but it didn’t look like I would hold off everyone. Still what I didn’t expect was that Puma would fire the after burners and blast past everyone to get to Carl’s first. We took a break and waited for Dura-max and his group. Sea Lion, Beowulf and Ocelot pulled up and told us that T-3 decided to do Bautista. Raptor didn’t stop and must have gone home so we talked a bit and headed for home with 8 riders.

I will admit I was tired after today’s ride. My lungs seemed congested and my legs were sore but it still felt like a great ride. With just over 44 miles on the computer I knew it was a good workout but what made the ride great was the people I rode with. Yes I know we are more of a social group than a hard core group but that just may be why I like the people I ride with. We care about riding but we also care about the people we ride with.