12/06/2010
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


There was a time when weather predictors used bear grease and a cricket in a match box to predict the weather. Today we have satellites and weather computers and radar but it seems as if they did better predicting weather in the old days. It was supposed to rain Sunday and taper off to a little rain Monday morning. When I went out to get the paper this morning the sky had a few light clouds in it and the street was damp but there was no sign of impending rain. It was cold because of the moisture in the air but it was relatively dry as I headed off to meet up with the crew for our Monday ride.

When I arrived at the parking lot I noticed that Dura-max was missing so I was afraid it might be raining on the east end of town. Still there were no clouds in that direction so I assumed he was just late. Sea Lion, Cossack and Wolf were in the parking lot before me and Rocket and D’Artagnon got there right after me and it looked like that was going to be the whole group. Raptor showed up just before 8:30 but there was no one to ride with his group so he decided to ride Bridge Street as we headed south towards Acacia.

With only six of us I was a bit concerned that I would be able to keep up. All of the other five riders are strong and I am still bothered with just a bit of soreness in my legs even though I seem to be getting better. The test would be when we got out onto Domenigoni and headed west. The pace was reasonable as we headed towards Warren road and I moved to the back of the pace line as we got to the rise over the river bed. Much to my surprise wolf pulled out of line and fell off the pace. It turns out he had a big ride Sunday and he was still a bit stiff and hadn’t warmed up so I stayed with Rocket, Cossack and D’Artagnon as we headed for Winchester. Soon Sea Lion was right behind me and we were getting close to Leon. D’Artagnon ended up with the lead and tried to push the pace from the front. With Cossack on his wheel I didn’t think it was going to work and soon the two of them were pulling away to make the sprint at the saddle. I pulled the hill a distant fourth.

Once over the top we headed down Newport towards LaLadera but in two groups with Rocket, Cossack and D’Artagnon in front and wolf, Sea Lion and I behind. I would guess we were falling off the lead pace by about 2 MPH but we were still moving along pretty well as we got close to Murrieta and the making the right at the light before taking to old road towards LaLadera. We regrouped before making the turn west and rounded the corner towards the little park together. We made the turn back east passed the old owl sanctuary still in one group of six.

As we turned towards McCall we spread out a bit but we were still pretty much back together as we got close to Murrieta again. Normally it is about here during the ride that you start thinking about the hill on McCall. D’Artagnon was thinking of challenging Cossack and Rocket by conserving his legs till after the last light but I guess they pushed the pace a bit too fast for any conservation. By the time Sea Lion, Wolf and I reached the last stop light both Wolf and Sea Lion passed me so I had to bear down just to keep up. But my spin was a bit better and I managed to get back passed them with Sea Lion nipping at my heels all the way to the top of the hill.

We got over the hill and started to work our way over to Simpson with the three musketeers pulling away from us again. Cossack and Rocket had to get home so they weren’t going to stop at Chris’s so we decided to head for Hanger 1 at the airport. We took turns pulling up to Stowe and then down to California and I will admit I was looking forward to stopping to rest my legs at the airport. We pulled into Hanger 1 to see D’Artagnon coming out to sit at one of the tables so we joined him for coffee and conversation. Soon we were headed for home in a group of four and chatted away like long lost relatives all the way back to Lowes.
I followed the pack back to Gilmore and broke off from Sea Lion and Wolf to follow D’Artagnon to the bike shop to see about getting him some new pedals. We spent a few minutes there before heading back towards home and splitting up at Palm as I turned for my house. I got home with just over 38 miles on the computer so 6000 miles are in the bank for the year so far. It is much easier getting out riding when you like the people you ride with and that is part of what keeps me going when it is cold.