2/07/2011
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


I was looking forward to the ride today because we had a predicted warm sunny day and I had planned on taking the next few rides easy as we got ready for the big weekend century ride. When I got up and looked outside the weather didn’t disappoint me. I could only hope others were looking forward to today like I happened to be.

I wasn’t the first to the parking lot by a long shot. Ruby Tuesday and T-3 were already parked and waiting when I pulled up. Blood Hound, Wolf, Highlander, Tax man and Sea Lion were unloading their cars. Dura-Max, Rocket, D’Artagnon, and Gambler pulled in after me. Lastly Attack Cat, Raptor and Traveler made the group 15 ready to leave by 8:30. Traveler and Raptor were planning on their own C group ride and the rest of us were about to head off to Cactus Valley.


We headed towards Acacia and made the light just as it turned green at Kirby and headed south towards Cypress the group all looked eager and ready for whatever faced us today and they also looked ready to start shedding some layers of clothes even before we made the turn towards Johnston. Up until today we would have made it all the way out to Domenigoni before it warmed up to 50. Today we hit that mark way before we got to Sanderson.
Traveler and Raptor had left us somewhere before we turned on Cypress and I wasn’t sure where they planned to go but I was pretty sure they would meet up with us at Carl’s for coffee at the end of the ride. Dura-max, T-3 and Highlander were holding steady in the middle of the pack as we got close to Johnston and somehow that made me feel comfortable. I ended up following Blood Hound out onto Sanderson and then Rocket took over and started to pull us toward Domenigini. We didn’t get far because the police had the street blocked just passed the Wal-Mart parking lot and we had to take a detour around the houses back to Mustang before we could continue out to Domenigoni. It turned out there was a traffic accident just before Mustang and they had to clear it before they would open Sanderson.

Once back on Domenigoni and headed east Rocket, Attack Cat, D’Artagnon and Blood Hound took off and pulled away from those of us in the B group. Dura-max pulled up next to me and asked if I noticed the whole A group had missed the turn for the Marina and sure enough they did. So we adjusted and followed passed that turn ourselves and headed for State. As we rounded the corner and headed South on State Street we saw the whole group standing on the side of the road watching D’Artagnon fixing a flat. Tax man headed for Cactus Valley with the intention of meeting us on the way back and the rest of the B group followed.
Just as soon as the tire was fixed everyone took off and I ended up waiting for D’Artagnon while he put is tire levers and tube away. He ended up pulling me all the way to the hill at Cactus Valley and at times had us going 27 MPH even before we made the turn to the golf course. We had closed on the rest of the A group at the bottom of the hill and I ended up burning too many matches trying to close on them before they crested the hill. I didn’t make it but I saw Raptor and Traveler on the way. They turned back before getting to the end of the canyon while the rest of us continued on to regroup there.

We completely broke up on the way back down the hill towards State Street and once again the lead group missed the turn at McSweeny and we completely lost Attack Cat and Blood Hound. Rocket and D’Artagnon waited for us and most of the group made it to Stetson together and headed for Columbia. Highlander took Tax man in tow and went straight on Stetson as we turned on Columbia. We worked our way over to Thornton and then Crest and still didn’t catch sight of anyone as we headed east. Dura-max and I chatted as we moved towards the turn on Lake .

After we made it back to Stetson we caught sight of Tax Man and Highlander and D’Artagnon moved to the front to give me some relief as we headed for Fairview and Wilson Mesa. Once again D’Artagnon did most of the work as I ended up drafting him all the way to the Hill at Bautista and Fairview and we ended up riding around the houses together and regrouping with the rest of the group before heading back down Fairview to Florida.

We were soon in one long pace line and picking up speed as we approached Stetson. Ruby Tuesday and T-3 left us there so they could stop by and pickup some coffee on the way home leaving the rest of us to make the run to Florida. And quite a run it was as we kept picking up the pace till it finally ended up in a full sprint. A intersection full of traffic at Mayberry ended any chance of a full run to Florida but at least we didn’t have to wait long for the light and turned towards Carl’s as a group. We made it to Carl’s and had our coffee before splitting up to go to our separate homes. I rode back to Burger King with Double Time, Wolf, Blood Hound, Sea lion and traveler after Dura Max left us at Park.

It was not a long ride not one of the fastest ride we have had but it was well attended and we had a good time. It almost felt like spring and we had very little wind. What more can a cyclist ask for?