7/15/2011
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


It was another cool day at the end of the week and I was looking forward to a relaxing Friday ride. I always look forward to a relaxing Friday ride but sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way. All I could do is hope for the best as I left the house and headed for Burger King this morning. When I got to the parking lot several rides were waiting for me. By 8am we had a group of 14 or 15 riders ready to go.


The ride was a slight variation of one of our normal Friday rides but everyone seemed more than ready to give it a try. So we took off down Gilmore and then west on Acacia with T-3 and Ruby Tuesday leading us to the light on Kirby. Once we were all grouped in the turn lane the light changed and we started south towards Cypress and the housing tract that takes us to Johnston.

It was a smooth quick trip to Johnston and then out onto Sanderson before we made the turn towards the airport. We seem to always catch the light at Wentworth and today was no different. But finally we headed west again till we turned to ride past Hanger 1 with everyone tightly bunched.

Soon we were out on Stetson and heading towards Warren Road. Up to this point the pace was a reasonable 17 or 18 MPH and while I was in the lead I knew that I was working far too hard to be a challenger in the sprint we expected to take place on Stowe. Still I pulled all the way to California and then stayed in the lead as we headed south once more towards Stowe. Once we turned west on Stowe I looked back and decided the group was looking far too relaxed for me to start a lead out pull so I fell back in the pack and waited to see what everyone else had in mind.

I fell back in the pack and was surprised to see the A riders spread out quite a bit. Surgeon pulled for a little while and no one made a break as if to start a sprint. As Rocket and Centaur started to move forward in the pack so did I but with Barracuda and Sea Lion in front the pace was fast but not as fast as I have seen in the past. Then almost before anyone could react Cossack put the hammer down and Barracuda took off with him. I made a jump way too late but I was still able to catch Sea Lions back wheel and let him pull me most of the way to Winchester and our regroup spot.

While I spent most of my time just catching my breath most of the rest of the group looked rested and were smiling while I was sucking air. It took a minute or two but we were ready to go again and took off as a group down Winchester to the dump road. I had already decided that if any of the A group decided to pull away I was just going to let them go. Sure enough a group pulled past me and started to fade into the distance.

The group stretched out over at least a half of a miles but the great equalizer was the light at Brigg and Florida. We all caught up waiting for the light to change and headed for Mapes together once again. Somehow we were all in one group as we turned on Mapes and made the run to Menifee.

Once over the small rise on Mapes we got into a coasting race most of the way to Menifee and once again spread out just a bit. Because I had pulled ahead to take a picture I ended up once again in the lead and pulled the group all the way back to the AM/PM on Menifee and Florida. We regrouped and rehydrated before pulling back out onto Menifee. While we were waiting for everyone to get ready to leave the AM/PM Cossack had to leave and head for home. Once the rest of us were ready to go and pulled out onto Menifee we quickly moved on to McCall. As we rode past McCall on Menifee we picked up Bandit. He stayed with us and we all were still together till we reached Lindenburger.

We broke into about three or four groups as we headed east on Domenigoni towards State Street. I expected Barracuda, Bandit, Rocket, Vortex and Centaur were going to drop the rest of us but I was surprised to see Highlander, Full Throttle, dart, Ruby Tuesday, and T-3 pulling away as I got to Leon and to be almost out of sight by the time we got to Winchester. We regrouped more or less at Warren Road and then lost Vortex and Surgeon at Sanderson.

Bandit left us at State Street, Rocket left us by San Jacinto, RCMP and Barracuda left us before we got to Lake on Stetson. The rest of us made it to Fairview where Highlander and Full Throttle managed to jump me and pass me in a sprint at the little bridge before Mulberry. Our next stop was Carl’s and we still had 8 riders.


After coffee and conversation at Carl’s we all took off for home with Dura-max and Ocelot heading south while Highlander, Centaur, Sea Lion, Ruby Tuesday, T-3 and I went north towards Lincoln. Highlander was still riding strong and we moved on to Lincoln and headed for home.

Multiple sprints, long runs to close a gap and 48 miles made for a good ride and one where my legs were about as tired as they have even been. But more importantly I had a great ride and I believe most of the other group members did as well. It was a lot more than just another Friday ride.