4/18/2011
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)



The difference between Saturday and Monday is astounding. Saturday was clear, sunny, and even hot. Today it was cloudy, cool and even just a bit of drizzle. None the less I changed my wheels on my bike and headed out of my door about 8am to meet with whoever might be willing to take a slow, short, recovery ride. That group turned out to be Wolf, Blood Hound, Highlander, Tax man, Quick-Sticks and me.


We rode down Gilmore to Acacia then to Kirby with the threat of drizzle hanging in the air. It was easy to keep the pace down because it was cold and my legs were still just a bit tight from the ride on Saturday. As we got to Cypress and turned through the housing tract I chatted with Wolf and explained my intention of just cruising down Domenigoni to Menifee and do the loop around the RV Park and past the dairy and chicken ranch before going back to Hanger 1 for coffee. I looked to the rest of the group to help pull and keep the pace down. Quick-sticks passed and pulled with Blood Hound out to Johnston and Sanderson.

I got back in front and pulled to Domenigoni and started the pull to Warren. I gave the lead to Highlander who pulled to Warren and just over the dry wash. Blood Hound and Wolf took turns till we got to Winchester and Quick-Sticks pulled us to the base of the Saddle. Blood Hound took the lead back only to have Highlander attack the hill and drag the rest of us up after him. It was obvious he had recovered pretty well from his century ride on Saturday. We regrouped at the top of the saddle and then dropped down the back side and made the turn on Menifee.

It didn’t take long for us to get to Holland and then to Briggs before we passed the RV Park and had a chance to smell the clean fresh air of a country dairy farm and chicken ranch. We came back out onto Domenigoni and they turned onto Lindenburger before getting to Simpson and heading back towards Winchester. Blood Hound was out in front of us as we made our way back to Leon and Highlander and Tax man stayed close on my wheel as we headed for home.

We turned onto Winchester and headed for Stowe after making a quick nature stop at Chris’s. Quick-Sticks pulled us to Stowe and we more or less regrouped after the turn. It wasn’t long before once again Blood Hound was way in the lead with Quick-Sticks not far behind. Wolf started to close on the two leaders and I fell back with Highlander and Tax Man.

We were all a lot closer together as we got back to Warren Road and soon found ourselves pulling onto the airport frontage road. The stop at Hanger 1 is always an adventure because we never know if there will be fresh baked pastries, pies, or cakes when we get there. To our delight Bambi was just turning over a fresh backed Pineapple Upside down cake as we walked in. There is no reason to think we were going to pass on some of that cake but just in case we wanted to she also had fresh baked Pumpkin pie from her own pumpkins. The answer you are waiting for is yes we had cake or pie with our coffee.

It was one of those relaxing rides that just helps get the cobwebs out and refreshes rather than wears out your legs. Sometimes it is good to just ride with friends and talk rather than push yourselves. Today was such a day and even though it was only 30 miles it was a great ride and we had a great time.