7/08/2011
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


I thought it would be pretty hard to beat the ride we had Wednesday. 19 riders to start and 20 by the time we hit the saddle seemed like some kind of record. Today was just a bit cooler and the ride was going to be a bit flatter but I had no idea who was going to show up. To my surprise we had 20 riders before we even left the parking lot and 21 before we turned west on Johnston.


Once we made it through the light on Florida and Gilmore I looked back and it looked like a hunting pack of wolves getting ready to chase down a deer. Everyone seemed eager and we moved quickly down Gilmore to Acacia with Blood Hound in the lead. I followed him all the way to Kirby where we caught the light red. We all made turn onto Kirby right after a car tripped the turn signal and headed for Cypress.

T-3 and Surgeon looked like they were making plans and Highlander looked determined and Gambler and Bandit just looked dangerous. Bandit’s friends Jeff and Jake just looked young and fast. Rocket is always running hard and Vortex seems to be getting stronger every ride. Sea Lion was back and going strong and Spartacus looked full of energy. Full Throttle brought his two sprinters, Jack Rabbit and Keagan, (Dart) but they were too far back for me to see. We made the turn onto Cypress and headed for Johnston with Blood Hound in the lead followed by Casey Jones who we had picked up on the way.

We lost a few riders at the light on Sanderson where we had to turn towards the airport. As we got back to Stetson we all can to a stop while T-3 had to change a tire. Blood Hound and Casey were long gone by the time we were back on the road. I fell in line as we headed towards Warren Road and the group started to form up as if getting ready for the sprint that normally takes place on Stowe.

Somehow I managed to get in line as the A group started the pull towards Winchester. Before we had gone three hundred yards we had a double pace line going and the inside line started to pull away. I got a draft behind Full throttle and we were moving at a pretty good clip before I decided to try and pull around and make a run for the front. Just as I got next to Full throttle he flatted. I pulled around and stayed with him till we got the tire changed. Our next stop was the regroup at Winchester. Once regrouped we rode down to the dump road and the group split again. I was in the following group and we just missed catching the lead group as they turned onto Domenigoni. We settled into a steady pace and gave chase over the back side of the saddle.

We splintered again and I fell back to ride with Full Throttle and Jack Rabbit. We finally fell into a steady pace and started to close on one of the smaller groups but didn’t catch a trailing rider till we say a group changing a flat on Vortex’s bike at the Marina ramp. While the tire was being fixed the whole group caught up and Full Throttle, Jack Rabbit and Dart headed for home. Once the tire was fixed we took off for State and then Stetson to head east towards Fairview.

We lost several people before we got to Fairview because they decided to cut the ride short. But that is one of the great things about our group in that how you ride and how far is up to you. There were only half of us left as we headed north on Fairview. Shortly after the little bridge I took off for Mulberry only to have T-3 try to out sprint me. She has gotten a lot stronger in the last few months. We were all just a bit out of breath as we pulled up to the light on Florida before heading to Carl’s for coffee and conversation. About 8 of us headed for home on Lincoln.

Vortex kept us moving as we rode back past Columbia and finally made the turn at Santa Fe. It was hardly the restful ride home I have been used to. Once on Latham we past Buena Vista and caught the light at State Street that only held us up a few moments. It didn’t take long before we were back to Palm and then T-3 and I broke off at Lyon and headed for home. We split up before I got to Johnston and I managed to finish my third bottle of water after I turned back towards Palm and home. It turned out to a good ride of 41 miles for me. And it was the best attended ride to date.