4/29/2011
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)



If I were going to use a movie to describe today’s ride it would be a Clint Eastwood Movie, “The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.” As I got to the parking lot we got to start with the good.

The Good.

I found Dura-max, Ocelot and Blood Hound waiting for me as I pulled into the parking lot. Once everyone else arrived I presented our first ever arbitrary group awards. On Monday we had a great climbing ride to Bautista Canyon. During that ride there was a two man breakaway that managed to get close to a two mile lead on the rest of the group. Gambler, Rocket, D’Artagnon, Centaur and Wolf took off from a dead stop at the corner of Lake and Stetson and managed to catch and pass the breakaway shortly after they entered Bautista Canyon. Gambler went on to not only pass the breakaway but to pull away and make it to the top of Bautista in first place. For that pursuit and capture Gambler was given the first ever D V V impressive ride award.



On Wednesday we did our second climb for the week and we as a group decided on a ride over Juniper Flats. Centaur was riding a brand new Masi and was in the company of a rather strong A group as we took turns pulling at a steady pace all the way to Hansen and then up to the turn for the Climb of Juniper Flats. In a dead run with a group drafting him Centaur managed to pull ahead of the rest of the A group and get to the top of Juniper Flats first. For riding the group off of his wheel and getting to the top first Centaur received the second ever Group ride trophy.

Because it is totally arbitrary the two riders can keep the trophy till the last week of May. At that time they will pick the next deserving rider for whatever reason they choose. That reason can occur any day during the month and can be for any reason that impresses them. It is all up to them.

After the award ceremony we pulled out onto Gilmore and headed for Acacia before turning towards Kirby. We started out 12 strong.


We pulled up behind a car at the light on Kirby and wondered where the sun had gone. Wednesday was not only a nice day it was almost a hot day and I for one had applied sun screen on my nose and ears just because of the Wednesday ride. As we turned south on Kirby and headed to Cypress I would say it was a bit cool and even a bit windy. It wasn’t so bad we wanted to turn back but it was bad enough that we expressed just a bit of grumbling about the weather. Still I was happy to be out on my bike with my friends.

The Bad.

Once we were through the housing tract we turned onto Johnston and then again on Sanderson. We caught the light where we turn towards the airport and waited to see if it would turn green. Like most often happens we were not able to trip the light so we had to sit there and wait for all of the traffic to stop coming before we made our turn. We made the last turn to pass the airport and were riding on the far right to avoid the speed bumps when suddenly Centaur went down. It seems that they have cut the concrete just past Hanger 1 and his front wheel got caught in the cut.

The Ugly.

We waited to make sure Centaur was permanently damaged and one or two riders inspected his bike while one or two of us inspected him. He was a bit scraped and hurt but seemed to be recovering pretty well. We offered to take him back to his truck but he decided he wanted to get cleaned up before deciding to abandon the ride. One or two of us rode back to Hanger 1 to assist him. (He ended up getting 4 stitches and they said he should live.)



Centaur cleaned off the wounds and got rid of the small pieces of gravel and dirt and we applied some band-aids to help close the cut on his elbow and gave him a chance to rest before deciding if he wanted to continue or go home. Much to my surprise he decided to continue the ride. He must have been in some pain but he stayed right in the group as we headed down Stetson and made the turn onto California.

As we turned onto Stowe we formed a pace line and slowly picked up the pace to the point we were running flat out and started a sprint towards Winchester. I stayed with the group for one rotation and fell off just before the sprint started. While D’Artagnon looked to be pulling away as I fell back I was impressed to see Centaur right with the lead group.

The A group decided to pull away and run up to the Marina while the B group followed at a more moderate pace to State Street. Sea Lion, Highlander, Dura-max, Ocelot, T-3, Ruby Tuesday and I got to the Marina entrance road and continued on to State Street then quickly moved down to Chambers and worked our way over to Thornton where Rocket caught up with us. He left us on Stetson and headed for home and D’Artagnon, Gambler, Blood Hound and Centaur caught us at Columbia and stayed with us through Crest to Lake.


D’Artagnon, Centaur and Gambler left us at Lake and Stetson and Blood Hound pulled away from us and headed for Fairview. Sea Lion, Highlander and I regrouped with Dura-max, Ocelot and T-3 and discovered that Ruby Tuesday had gone home. Highlander and Sea Lion started a hard pull down Fairview and we rode all the way to the Ranger Station where Blood Hound was waiting. About a minute later Dura-max, Ocelot and T-3 joined us and we took a breather.


As always it was a fast run back down to Carl’s. Sea Lion, Highlander, Blood Hound and I pushed it a bit back down to Fairview and then stopped briefly at Casino before heading out onto Florida and back down to Carl’s. Blood Hound decided not to stop but there were still six of us in need of refreshments and conversation so we pulled in for about 30 minutes. We headed for home on Lincoln realizing that what had started out as a cool to cold day had become just about perfect.

After we dropped off Ocelot and Dura-max at Park, Highlander, T-3, Sea Lion and I headed for Columbia and then over to Devonshire. This is often the one of the best parts of our rides. There is no pressure to keep up and we are all ready to head for home. I broke off with T-3 at Lyon while Highlander and Sea Lion continued on to Burger King. T-3 and I split way at Lyon as she headed west and I headed east towards Palm. I got home with just over 40 miles on the computer and still felt great. As the story goes, a good time was had by all.