3/09/2011
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


There is a reason they call where we live Sunny Southern California and today was proof of that reason. Looking outside of my front window I could see it was going to be a beautiful day. Clear blue skies and some warm sun with almost no wind sounds like a day made to order for a bicycle ride and that is just what we got.

When I got to the parking lot I could see Centaur and Wolf unloading their bikes and Blood Hound was right behind me. Rocket and D’Artagnon arrived just before Traveler and Highlander. Then came T-3 and Raptor followed by Sherpa. Just before we were ready to leave Cyco-bob pulled up but he was going to have to cut his ride short so he didn’t plan on riding with us. When we headed down Gilmore there was just seven of us with T-3, Sherpa, and Cyco-bob heading in another direction and Raptor, Wart and Traveler heading out as the C group.


We made the turn onto Kirby and quickly headed for Cypress to make to cut over to Sanderson and then jog over towards the airport. We thought we were in luck as we closed in on the light at Wentworth because there was a car already at the light that we figured would trip the light so we could make the turn as a group. It took two cycles before we made the left and headed towards the Hemet Ryan airport.

While we were waiting for the light at Wentworth we saw Raptor and Wart coming north on Sanderson to make the turn ahead of us. Both Raptor and Wart seem to know every shortcut in the city so all you have to do is tell them where you are going and when you will be there and they can arrive about the same time the A group does. Not that we were planning on running at A group pace but still we were a bit quicker than the average B group pace. They were halfway down the block before we made the turn and it took us a while to catch them.

Once we passed the airport and were out onto Stetson I took the lead and pulled us to California before turning towards Stowe. I was still in the lead at Stowe as we started towards Winchester and I stayed there for about the first third of the road. Soon I saw Rocket, D’Artagnon, Blood Hound and Wolf blast by in a sprint watch as they pulled away heading past the big barn and turning into the parking lot at Winchester and Stowe.

We took a quick breather before heading back out onto Winchester for the Dump road. Somehow we were still all together as we turned towards Leon and still the pace wasn’t slacking off much. Shortly after Leon Centaur put the hammer down a bit and took Rocket, D’Artagnon, Blood Hound and Wolf with him. Highlander and I followed along till we got to Briggs Street and gathered in Wolf and finally caught back up to the main group just before we got to Florida.

The run up Briggs to Mapes was pretty uneventful and we all made it back to Florida and Menifee to regroup and fix a flat on Blood Hounds bike. We scampered over the back side of McCall and ran down to the end of the street before cutting back to Cherry Hill, Bradley and Newport. We stopped at Jack in the Box for coffee and conversation before heading back to the Domenigoni Saddle.

I made a run at the saddle only to be caught at the top by Centaur and then passed by Rocket, D’Artagnon and Blood Hound only to watch them disappear into the distance as we got close to Leon. Highlander, Wolf and I did a pretty good job of staying together all the way back to Sanderson without falling apart and for one of the first times I can remember caught the left turn light onto Sanderson just as it turned green. Wolf pulled us to Lowes and I got us back to Burger King. All in all it couldn’t have been a much nicer day and it was a good 42 miles to add to my year to day mileage. As they say, a good time was had by all.