6/20/2011
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)



Finally the weather seems to be changing and looking outside this morning it was clear and warm even at 6:45 am. I made sure I had two water bottles filled with electrolytes, dressed for warm weather and headed out the door for the ride to Burger King. The plan was for a easy ride to Elsinore and back.

I was short a few riders that I expected but still I had ten riders ready to go by 8:30am. There was plenty of energy in these ten riders and I had to wonder if the ride was going to be as easy as I had wanted. We moved out onto Gilmore and headed down to Acacia before turning towards Kirby. As I turned the corner onto Acacia I could feel pressure from behind me even if I wasn’t looking back. In fact if you have ever seen the movie Jaws I could also almost hear the music they played just before you say the Shark make an attack. I looked back and for an instant I saw the shark. In this case it was Rocket.


We caught the light at Kirby and I managed to get clipped in and headed for Cypress first. I chatted a bit with Rocket and Gary as we traveled south and after only a minute or two we were crossing the rail road tracks and heading west on Cypress through the housing track working our way to Johnston. However I noticed we were moving at a pretty good clip on a street we usually just crawl down. There simply was no way anyone was going to fall back today. I already knew Gary was going to be in the A group because he is a monster mountain bike rider and he has the stamina for it.

Just before we got to Johnston I noticed Casey Jones coming down the street in the opposite direction as soon as we past him he spun a turn and joined us to make the group eleven. A quick turn onto Johnston and then another onto Sanderson and we were on our way to a great ride. I still didn’t know who the A group was going to be but I had already decided to stick with the B group to make sure any of our first time group rides made it to Elsinore and back.

Looking back as we got close to Mustang I wasn’t so sure I wouldn’t be the only one in the B group. Wolf had been all over me on our last ride and was just as likely to run with the A group as anyone. Rocket may have been under the weather for a while but he was almost always running flat out. Highlander has been running strong and Dura-max was on his new bike and we always know a new bike will make you faster.


Once we started west on Domenigoni Gary pulled up next to me and asked if we would be splitting into two groups. I assured him we would and shortly after I dropped out of the lead the group split in two. For the longest time Highlander, Tax Man and I cruised at about 20 mph slowly slipping behind the A group. By Winchester the A group was out of sight except for Wolf who fell back to join us till we past Leon and road as a group to the top of the saddle. Once at the top we regrouped. The A group left first and the B group followed expecting to regroup once again at Carl’s on Marietta.

As we expected everyone pulled into the Carl’s parking lot and we took another head count to make sure everyone was there. Dura-Max had an appointment so he had to leave us and head for home. The rest of us headed west on Newport towards Railroad Canyon. Once we started up the hill the whole group spread out. I started to push up the hill but thought better of it as I caught Vortex and decided to stay with Wolf and Highlander. They soon pulled ahead of me and I rode with Tax man all the way to Micky D’s.

Once we had our coffee and conversation the A group got antsy and got ready to leave. We were evenly divided with five riders in each group and the B group still had coffee to drink so we waited. About five or ten minutes later we pulled out onto the street and headed over to Rail Road Canyon and started for home. My expectations for an easy cruise home we dashed by two rides today. Wolf was still nipping at my heels every time I tried to kick back and Vortex was pushing me on each and every hill. This continued all the way to Newport and Antelope where Wolf broke off and headed for home.

I crossed over the saddle one last time with Vortex right behind me. We slowed down and waited till all four of us were back in a pace line and headed for Winchester. We passed Leon and Vortex pulled us all the way to Winchester.


This was Tax Man’s first ride to Elsinore and he did very well as we got back to Sanderson. We pulled up to the light and waited for a long time before we were able to make a left to head north. It didn’t take long for us to cross Stetson and not much longer till we turned into the Lowes parking lot to take a short cut to Acacia.

We pulled around behind Lowes and turned out onto Acacia to go east. I managed to pull us back to Kirby where, just like this morning, we caught the light red. Once it had changed we moved on to Gilmore and started back towards Florida. Highlander noticed the light was green and we had to sprint about 50 yards to catch it. We all pulled into the parking lot and stopped to talk for a few minutes before going our separate way. When I got home I was tired but felt good about the ride. I had 47 miles on the computer and was looking forward to a light lunch and a dip in the pool. Good day, good ride, good friends.