4/15/2011
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


With a big ride coming up Saturday was looking forward to an easy ride today just to keep my blood pumping and the heart rate up a bit. The day looked great for just such a ride. There weren’t many of us but everyone looked relaxed and willing to just cruise along to work some of the Lactic Acid out of our legs. Still I had three of our speed demons with us and they were going to be like hounds wanting to run.


We headed down Latham to Lyon and turned north at about 8:35 with the warm sun falling on our skin to make the ride even better. It has been a rather cold spring so far so it felt good to have just a hint of heat as we moved towards Menlo talking like a group of long lost relatives.

We cruised to the end of Lyon and “zig-zagged” over to Ramona with the group still in tack. Up to this point the ride was going just as I had planned for it to go. We were spinning easy gears and keeping our pace well within ourselves so as to not tire out and legs that might be riding the Hemet Century Saturday. Nothing much changed as we turned north on State Street and headed past the College but I was pretty sure it would be different when we turned onto Soboba and got ready to ride through the Canyon.

For the young guns like D’Artagnon, Gambler and Bandit turning into the canyon is like pulling into a big empty field and opening the tailgate on your truck so your hounds can get out for a run. They came around Highlander, Sea Lion, Quick-sticks and I and pulled away into the distance with only the hope we would regroup when we got to the golf course. But regroup we did and then discussed our next move. The three speedsters had decided not to ride Saturday so they would take off for a speed run up Bautista while Sea Lion, Highlander, Quick-Sticks and I headed for the Bagel Station for a coffee break. Highlander decided to head back to his car while the remaining three of us stopped for coffee. We met up with Traveler and Raptor at the coffee shop.

With its alfresco seating the Bagel Station almost makes you feel like you are riding in Europe or California’s northern coast. They bring your coffee and Bagels to you as you sit by a fountain and relive your ride. It will be the last ride before Traveler heads for home in Calgary and well wish him a safe journey and a speedy return next year. It may have only been 20 miles today but it was a great day and we had a great time.