5/27/2011
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)



I have said before that you can never tell up front how a Friday ride will go. At least it was relatively warm as I headed for Palm and then turned towards Florida as I moved in the direction of Burger King. I was a bit surprised that no one seemed to be waiting when I got there but it turns out they were all at the north side of the parking lot talking to Highlander, Phoenix and Centaur. Once everyone arrived we were 13 strong and ready to head for Dominigoni and west.


We had no problem quickly moving down Kirby and through the housing tract on Cypress. We were still warming up but cruising easily onto Johnston and then waiting at the light on Sanderson. I was thinking we would make one long pace line on Domenigoni but that never really happened and we moved all the way to the saddle in about four separate groups. Ruby Tuesday and I rode together followed by Highlander and T-3 followed by Dura-max, Ocelot and Barracuda. By Winchester Ruby Tuesday and I pulled over only to get passed by Dura-max and few yards later Highlander, T-3, Ocelot and Barracuda. We all regrouped at the top of the saddle and then took off for Menifee to head south towards Scott Road.

We attacked the little hill on Menifee and quickly moved onto Scott before heading west to Hawn and then back north to Newport. Gambler, D’Artagnon, Shock wave, Centaur and Casey Jones made the turn onto Newport heading to Bradley way ahead of the rest of us but Centaur and Shock Wave waited for the rest of the group just after the turn so that we could all ride together to McCall where we regrouped with the lead group. Next it was over the top of McCall and down the back side to work our way over to Simpson.

We quickly rode past Leon and came up on Winchester and decided to go up a block or two before heading up to Stowe. The A group was way ahead of the B group so I could only hope they were planning on waiting for us at Hanger 1. Once out onto Stowe we started to form a pace line and head to California.

There is a problem when Centaur and I try to ride together and I believe it could be that our two bikes speak two different foreign languages. Centaur would say not so fast and his bike would say “Non così velocemente”. I hear what sounds like don’t coast add velocity so I go faster. I say not so fast and my bike says “Pas aussi rapidement”, and he thinks I am talking about passing his rear posterior rapidly. Sometimes it makes for a long hard sprint.

None the less we made it back to Hanger 1 and some of us stopped for coffee and conversation. Some decided to head for home but the coffee was calling and I pulled up to the restaurant to see D’Artagnon, Barracuda and Gambler kicking back and enjoying the warm weather sitting outside on the deck facing the airplanes.

After T-3, Highlander, Ruby Tuesday and I got our coffee we moved outside to soak up some of the warm sun and catch our breath. Both T-3 and Highlander had been running strong all morning and Phoenix hadn’t been out with us in a while. It was good to know that she was going to be able to start joining us on Fridays.

After about 30 minutes of coffee and conversation we started to wrap things up and got back on the road. Gambler, Barracuda and D’Artagnon took off first and Ruby Tuesday, T-3, Highlander, Phoenix, Centaur and I headed towards Sanderson where T-3 and Ruby Tuesday left us. We moved down Sanderson to Acacia and then back to Burger King before heading to our separate homes. Just over 40 miles and perfect weather makes up glad to be a group and glad to be living in California.