8/05/2011
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


We, more or less, switched rides between Wednesday and Friday. We made Friday the longer harder ride. It was pretty hot Wednesday and it was supposed to be cooler today so a new ride was plotted out and posted. There was no way to predict how many people would show up and by 7:45 am it was a little light people wise and Wolf teased me about posting too hard of a ride. However I was vindicated by 8am when we had 19 riders ready to go for a half century. Before we got started D’Artagnon awarded the rotating trophy for being an inspiration to him to get out and ride. I believe we all agreed. We hit the road and quickly made it down Gilmore then Acacia and through the light on Kirby to start the ride.


We did well heading down Kirby and Blood Hound moved forward in the pack as has become his habit. However he was followed closely by Surgeon, T-3, Highlander and Goliath. My thinking as we turned onto Cypress was that we would have a long strong pace line to Winchester where the A group would break out and head for the saddle. As I snapped out of my daydream we had turned onto Johnston and caught the light at Sanderson.

We moved out onto Sanderson and quickly past Stetson. The pack order stayed pretty much the same only Rocket was moving up towards the front and Gambler and D’Artagnon seemed to be holding back. Still we were moving well and I thought we were making good time.

We past Mustang and picked up the pace slightly. I pulled in front as we past the high school and turned the corner onto Domenigoni to try and set the pace for the run to Winchester. I no sooner gave up the lead when we heard that dreaded word, “flat” and Eryn was the first victim.

The tire was replaced quickly and we were off again even if the pace was starting to pick up. Daredevil and I were having a hard time in the back of the pack with a bit of slinky going on in front. By Winchester it was clear that D’Artagnon and Gambler were going to challenge the saddle and it was also clear I was in no position to do anything about it so I just drifted in the back and kept the back group as close as I could. We all regrouped on top of the Saddle.

While we caught our breath it was decided that we would regroup again at Carl’s just before Murrieta and refill any empty water bottles. We discussed regrouping again once we passed over Goetz and made it to Ethanac. Once we had all agreed on where to meet we pulled out onto Newport and headed west. We were down to 18 riders having lost Sea lion at Lindenberger. Still we stayed in pretty close formation all the way to Goetz and made the turn towards the hill together. Goliath was pushing to the front to put himself in position to climb with the A group.

Everyone hit the hill pretty hard and just as expected the A group moved towards the front and Goliath went with them. It was at this point we started to stretch out and develop gaps between groups. There was no plan to stop at the top on the climb as in the past so I turned back at the last hill and gathered the stragglers till we got over the hill and started down the back side. By the time I reached Ethanac more than half of the group was waiting for me. As soon as everyone was together we continued north on Goetz towards Paris and Nuevo Road. Wolf used some extra persuasion to hurry Ocelot along as we went.

We made the turn on Case and took it to A street were we ran into little of no traffic. Finally we made it to Nuevo and headed back east. We had altered our course a bit and were surprised when the street we had turned on was indeed Nuevo. We crossed over Paris Boulevard and were soon past any gas station or fast food restaurant so we started looking for any place we could pull over and refuel and hydrate. We found a small market and pulled over to take a break.

I noticed we were missing some riders after we turned onto Menifee and headed south. I went back and found Wolf and Dura Max flanking Ocelot about 150 yards behind me. We rode together all the way to Mapes and then Briggs before going through the housing tract on the other side of the high school. I hit a pot hole and flatted as we came back out onto Briggs and we stopped to change it. Ocelot was cooked by this point so we decided to back things down a bit till we got to Chris’s and met the rest of the group.

I was glad when we got back to Winchester and could see that everyone was still waiting for us. We made the turn off of the dump road and crossed the rail road tracks to the parking lot at Chris’s where people we laughing and talking like long lost family.

It was great to see T-3 having a good time talking with Spartacus, Daredevil, Highlander and Rocket. She has been an inspiration for those of us with odd aches and pains to just put on our big boy pants and come out for a ride when the group is riding.

It was also good to have Puma back and riding more like himself after a long absence. He has always been a strong ride and a great addition to the A group. Now all I need to do is work on getting as thin as he is and maybe someday I can ride with the A group as well.

After we had all rested, had coffee and in some cases some food we got ready to head for home. Some of us got stuck at the stop sign when everyone else headed for Stowe. While we could still see the main group heading down Stowe we couldn’t close on them so we didn’t see them again till we got back to Burger King. We made it to Sanderson together and then quickly headed for Lowes and cut through the parking lot to get to Acacia.

We pulled into the parking lot and said goodbye to Dura max and Ocelot and then stayed to talk to a few of our friends who were still there. It was here that I discovered that we had missed Daredevil performing one of his patented crashes. Be warned there is still a groove cut in the pavement next to the rain gutter by the airport. If you ride on the north side of the road to go around the speed bumps you too can expect to catch a wheel in one of these cuts if you don’t come back out onto the street at a more extreme angle. Daredevil seems all right but he did destroy another jersey.

After making sure everyone enjoyed the ride the rest of us said our goodbyes and headed our separate way home. I took my time riding back out to Lyon and headed south for home. I was pretty happy with my time and happy with the ride as well. From the comments I got most everyone had a good day and I got in 54 miles door to door. Not bad for a Friday.