5/23/2011
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


I can understand the terms we have for Monday when we have to get up every week and go to work. Blue Monday indicates a state of mind that seems a bit depressing. For a cyclist heavy cloud cover can cause the same feeling of depression. Looking outside this morning it was grey and overcast, in other words a blue Monday. Still to my surprise we had 14 riders as we pulled out onto Gilmore Street.


We made it through the light on Kirby on the first try and headed south into a slight wind towards Cypress. For some reason cold wind just seems stronger than a warm one and at least for me it requires more effort. Still everyone seemed determined as we turned onto Cypress and headed for Johnston.

The ride today was going to be a bit trickier logistically because we would be breaking into three groups with three slight variations on the ride. Highlander and Tax man were breaking off on Sanderson making it a 25 mile ride. The A group of Gambler, Blood Hound, Rocket and Centaur would be doing the marina making it a 40 mile ride and the rest of us would be following the route making it a 38 mile ride.


After the turn at Sanderson the rest of the group worked its way past the airport and past Warren Road on Stetson. The wind seemed to be blowing right in our face and was keeping our speed down quite a bit. Well before we made it to California Blood Hound started to pick up the pace. It didn’t take long before the rest of the A group had moved to the front and started to give chase. By the time they had turned onto Stowe they were in full pursuit mode. Like a giant slinky we turned into three parts and followed the A group lead all the way to Winchester where we regrouped and talked about the A group challenge. It was decided the A group would make a run for the Marina and the B group would try to see how far we got before they caught the B group.

Things started out pretty much as planned as we moved down Winchester towards Domenigoni. Then Wolf hit a pot hole and his drop bars rotated down so part of the group stopped while he made his repairs and the A group took off to attack the Marina. Once the B group was reformed we headed for State Street into what once again seemed like a head wind. It may have been a cross wind but it wasn’t helping our progress at all.

We did get to State Street before the A group got off of the Marina ramp but Bounty Hunter and I had stopped on the corner of State and Domenigoni while everyone else took off down State towards Stetson. As Bounty Hunter and I crossed Domenigoni and State at the light we noticed the A group pulling into the turning lane. We could just barely see the B group fading into the distance and were waiting to see when the A group made the turn. Before they could make the turn we noticed a lone rider coming up behind as at a rapidly closing pace. It turned out to be Casey Jones who must have joined the group out by the marina and was planning on staying with us at least part of the way to the ranger station. He ended up taking off after Blood Hound and we didn’t see him again till we got to Florida and we headed up to Cranston Station.


After a short regroup we headed back down Florida towards Carl’s for coffee. It was still cold and now the wind was right in our face again. It doesn’t seem possible but it seemed like the wind had been in our face all day. I for one was looking forward to some coffee and conversation and a chance to get in out of the cold. The coffee was hot and the conversation was good and we took at least a 30 minute break before heading for home.

We cruised west down Lincoln till Dura-max and Ocelot broke off at Park and Blood Hound broke off before we got back to Devonshire. Double Time, Sea Lion, Wolf and I continued on to Santa Fe where we made the jog at the High School and the turned west once more on Latham. We made it past the Library and I broke for home at Palm. I got just shy of 40 miles door to door when I pulled up to my house. I enjoyed the ride even in the cold and wind because we have a great group of people to ride with. I am looking forward to Wednesday and a sunny day. At least so far that is the prediction.