7/06/2011
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)



Another clear day that was both hot and muggy. It didn’t matter much because it hasn’t been killer hot yet and the ride on the 4th was well attended so I was looking forward to a Wednesday ride. For the most part they are some of our best attended rides. I pulled up about 10 minutes early and two bikes were already leaning against the wall waiting for me. Turned out it was D’Artagnon and Daredevil and Wolf was just pulling into the parking lot. Now all that remained to be seen is how many would join us.

By 7:35 I noticed Highlander, Doug and Surgeon had pulled into the parking lot and Vortex was right behind them. Dura-max and Ocelot rode in together just ahead of Cossack. Rocket rolled in about the same time as Huntress drove up so I knew it was going to be a group. Gambler pulled up as Spartacus was unloading his bike. CycoBob came around the corner and I thought we were about ready to go. But people were still arriving as Full Throttle and his son Jack Rabbit pulled into the parking lot. Counting me we had 18 making it one of our bigger groups when Double Time turned up making the total riders 19. It was impressive when we all pulled out onto Gilmore to head for Acacia and the start of our 40 mile ride.


I decided to take the lead and pull us around on to Acacia for our first move west towards Kirby. I guess I am not used to getting half way to Kirby before everyone makes it around the corner. I don’t know about everyone else by I was feeling very good today, maybe even better than I had in a very long time so I had considered trying to stay with the big dogs and was daydreaming about that as we pulled up to the light on Kirby.

As I sat at the light Highlander pulled up next to me looking far too fresh and relaxed. I had a feeling he was going to pushing me all day along with Doug and Vortex. I started thinking about how strong our B group has been getting. In fact one of our younger riders, Jack Rabbit is about ready to move from the B group to the A and he has only been with us a month or two. Vortex and Wolf tend to spend about half of their time with the As and Surgeon gets up with them before. Whatever the case most of the riders were right behind me as we turned onto Cypress.

I found myself in the lead heading down Sanderson and still in the lead as we started down Domenigoni. Once I dropped off and started moving back I noticed a small break between the two groups and was worried that if I fell all the way to the back I would be too far back if the A group broke for a run after Warren Road. I was in luck however because Vortex and Huntress let me back in right at the break. I ended up about six riders back as we passed Warren. As people broke off Cossack ended up front and pulled for a long time before he attempted to break off. No one seemed to notice and so I moved forward to give him a draft till we closed in on Winchester. I fell back about 15 riders but caught a break after we had to stop at Winchester.

I decided to try to head for the front of the pack but didn’t know if I had the steam to get there and pull. By the Rocket, Gambler, D’Artagnon and Cossack were pushing the pace and once again I got lucky and Cossack let me in the lead group. I ended up hitting the bottom of the hill just behind D’Artagnon and was fortunate to be with the leaders as we regrouped at the top of the Saddle. We had picked up Bandit at the bottom of the hill so we were up to 20 riders. After a quick break we headed down the back side of the saddle towards Menifee.


Some of us made the light at Lindenburger and slow pedaled till everyone else got caught up. It was still impressive to see so many riders following me as we turned onto Menifee and headed towards Scott Road. I still felt pretty good but I don’t think I had recovered from the sprint up the saddle. I was thinking of attacking the hill at Holland but I had to rest my legs before we got there. We moved pretty quickly to the stop sign and then the fast guys took off.

I attempted to run down the lead group only to run out of legs all together about ¾ of the way up the hill. Once I started to downshift all I could do was watch as one rider after another past me. Highlander came flying past me like I had stopped and I was glad to just make it over the hill. At least the run to Scott is downhill part way before it get flat so I caught up to Highlander and some of the riders that past me.

About five of us regrouped on Hawn and cruised to Holland to make a right where we found several riders stopped while Vortex changed a tire. We took off again and climbed the little hill till we got to Murrieta and then made a run back to New Port. Huntress made a sprint for Newport and it was all I could do to catch her. A quick stop and we were on our way to McCall.

Wolf took off and got a pretty good lead before Huntress and Cossack decided to go after him. Surgeon joined them and not long after than Rocket went with them. It was finally a clean break between the A and B group and the A group faded into the distance. We didn’t see them again till we got to Chris’s.

Cossack left for home before we got to Winchester and Full Throttle took off with Jack Rabbit for home as we got to Winchester. Pulling into Chris’s there was a field of D V V jerseys. A quick time of coffee and conversation and we were heading back up Winchester to Stowe. After turning the corner on Stowe I looked back to see most of our rides still with me. Surgeon, Highlander, Rocket, Doug and Vortex were still close to the front and stayed there for a long time.


The whole group rode together all the way to California and stayed together all the way to Stetson. We broke up a bit at Warren and some left for home at the airport. As different riders headed off in different directions a smaller group of us caught the light at Sanderson after another group made it through. We finally made the turn and took off towards Lowes. Once we turned into the parking lot I looked back to see most everyone still smiling.

We pulled back onto Acacia and headed to Kirby where once again we caught the light red. Once past Kirby, Double Time must have smelled home because he pulled away from the rest of us and all but sprinted to Gilmore and took us up to Florida. We got back to Burger King we must not have had enough of each other because we stayed and talked for another 20 minutes. I was a bit dehydrated so CycoBob gave me a ride home where I downed two bottles of electrolytes and a recovery drink. I felt pretty good after that. I had a good pace going for 41 miles when I got home. I will say that this group seemed to have a very good ride.