6/17/2011
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)



Sometimes the ride we do is the challenge and sometimes it is the group itself that makes its own challenge. Today was the latter. It was just a bit overcast as I rode towards Burger King and for some it might have seemed a bit cool. But I knew that is it was anything like Thursday it would burn off and be nice pretty early so I dispensed with arm warmers and leg warmers and decided to wait for it to warm up as everyone arrived for the ride. I got there just a bit early because Shadow was going to stop by and see me before we left.


I will admit I was a bit surprised to see the turn out for the ride today. By eight fifteen we had at least twelve riders and they were still pulling up. Wolf, Dura-max, Blood Hound and Ocelot and I were chatting away as Rocket and Gambler pulled up making it fourteen and once Full Throttle and his two sons arrived we had seventeen riders ready for an easy flat Friday. A few minutes later we were out on Gilmore heading for Acacia.

T-3 pulled up next to me at the light on Kirby and mentioned she was perfectly happy with the pace we had been setting so far. To tell the truth I was pretty happy with it myself and thought it was going to be a rather easy day. My plan was to let the A group run as fast as they wanted to and I would just kick back with the B group till we got to the ranger station after we turned back east. As we turned west on Cypress that is just how the day was starting out.

We worked our way through the houses and up to Johnston before turning west to Sanderson and the north to the first light where we would be turning towards the airport. We lucked out and Sanderson was almost empty as we rode north and crossed the railroad tracks. Favor shined its face on us some more as we got to the stop light with two vehicles in the turn lane making a left. We hardly ever trip that light if there are no cars.

The whole group made it through the light and Blood Hound pulled away so he could make a quick stop at Hanger 1. We passed him and headed for Stetson where I started to pull us towards Warren. I must have been doing a good job because everyone was more than happy to allow me to pull all the way to California and then to Stowe. I knew pretty quickly I wouldn’t have any steam left if the sprint to Winchester started and just as I was thinking this Highlander pulled around me lighting the fuse for the A group. The first to jump was Wolf but soon the whole pack went after him. I filed into the parking lot on Winchester towards the back of the pack and looked back to see Blood Hound had almost caught us and there was a speck of a rider following him. By the time I got a picture we were up to eighteen riders.

Soon we headed down Winchester towards Domenigoni and I was pulling again with seventeen riders in tow. The plan at this point was t let the faster riders take off and head for the Marina Boat ramp and the rest of the group would follow and the A group would catch us before we got to the Ranger station. Eight riders took off in one group and ten of us followed as best we could. All ten of us made it to the marina turn off where we picked up Blood Hound and continued on to State Street. I took off down State at a pretty good clip only to have Wolf all over my back wheel like he was chasing a rabbit. Once the rest of our group caught up we worked our way over to Stetson and headed east.

Slowly but surely Blood Hound started to pull away from the group and he was almost out of sight by the time we worked our way through Crest, Thornton, and Lake before coming back onto Stetson. Highlander, T-3 and Ruby Tuesday went straight to Fairview. I waited till we were all back in line before noticing Casey Jones as he flew by the group. We regrouped again on Fairview and once again I was tormented by Wolf making the run to Florida. This time he pulled into the draft and pulled past me. The man was feeling his oats for sure. We picked up Gambler and Centaur coming down from Mayberry and we all headed for the ranger station to regroup again before heading to Carl’s.

After twenty-eight miles everyone was looking rather fresh and happy even with several sprints and short climbs under our belts. Dura-max had been riding strong even on a test bike he was riding this week. Sea Lion had been a great help pulling when one of us got tired and even with some minor chain problems Ocelot was right there with us as we pulled into the Cranston Station Parking lot.

The other great part of the ride was having Full Throttle and his sons with us. Even with the youngest being 15 he is more than able to keep up. It will be nice to see them join us even more during the week this summer. They are all proving to be a great addition to our club.

We soon took off back down Florida and headed for Carl’s for coffee and conversation. I was looking forward to a relaxed ride but Highlander and Wolf were more than happy to push me every chance they got. As we rolled along towards Fairview Centaur had a second flat and Gambler stopped to assist him. Turns out that we later found out he had to stop at casino to get a spare tube because he ended up with three flats.

We watched as Full Throttle and his boys headed for home and after having our refreshments we packed up and headed for home ourselves. All by Dura-max and Ocelot who decided to return to the ranger station for a second time and a few more miles.


As we headed down Lincoln we didn’t realize that Centaur was in hot pursuit. We were rolling along at a reasonable clip and still no one looked like they were tired. Highlander, wolf and Surgeon took turns leading us back to State Street where it turns out we made the light and Centaur didn’t. Highlander kept pushing the pace till at Lyon he went into a full sprint all the way back to the Pep Boys parking lot. It was that last sprint that kept Centaur for catching us before we got back to the cars. He did pull up just as we were about to call and make sure he didn’t need a ride. After exchanging pleasantries I headed for home and ended up with just over forty miles. Good weather, good friends make for a good day.