8/29/2011
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


When planning the ride for today I noticed we had at least one more day of double digit we kept the weather but at least the humidity was a lower than it had been Friday. Still it seemed like a good idea if we kept the ride short and simple and so a quick and easy ride to cactus valley seemed to be in order. I headed for Burger King looking forward to an easy recovery type of ride. I remained to be seen just how the ride would turn out.

Most of the regulars were there by 7:45 including Cossack riding his old bike and Bud joining us for his second ride. I don’t think it will be his last. With Blood Hound, Barracuda, Rocket, Centaur, D’Artagnon and Cossack riding I knew we would have a good sized A group. With Full throttle and Jack Rabbit joining them they would be a force to be reckoned with even if the B group had a pass on the marina. Tax man, Surgeon, T-3, Highlander, Dura max, Bud and I would be on our own. After riding down Gilmore and west on Acacia to Kirby the B group was well represented in the front.


Normally once we get on Kirby and turn onto Cypress we take it easy and warm up or legs. That didn’t happen today and we kept up a pretty good pace all the way to Johnston and then to Sanderson. While waiting at the light I wondered how fast the group would run down Sanderson. I kicked into a moderate pace line and I took over the pull as soon as we got to Stetson. As we moved past Walmart I noticed the B group was still in a good position to make a run on Domenigoni and head to Cactus valley before the A group could run the marina ramp and catch us.

The turn onto Domenigoni saw Rocket start to pull away but quickly Blood Hound gave chase and soon Full Throttle was chasing both of them. I managed to keep the B close and we past Searl just as the A group made the turn. We were on our way to State and would have a 2 mile head start to Cactus Valley. I finished my pull once we got to State Street and the rest of the group did quite well pulling us to the turn towards the Golf course. I stayed behind Tax Man and we slowly closed on Bud as he got ready to turn around and head for home. Tax Man and I followed the rest of the group to the end of the road. We took a short break before heading back to intercept the As.

On the way back we talked and rode easily back up to the top of the rise where we say some of the A group coming our way. Barracuda was leading with Blood hound, Rocket, Cossack, and D’Artagnon not far behind.

Centaur was still riding hard and looking strong as we watched him approach us ahead of Jack Rabbit and Full Throttle. They decided to turn around and join us one the way back so that we would all make it back to Domenigoni and State Street about the same time.

Blood Hound past me about 200 yards after we past Sage and Surgeon tagged onto him as they pulled away. Cossack past and helped me pull the B group till Barracude and Rocket went by and then he pulled away as well. We didn’t lose that much ground to them and past Domenigoni together. Somehow I lost Jack Rabbit and Full Throttle and decided to wait at Chambers till they caught up. But it turns out Jack Rabbit headed for home as did Cossack. But we still had Warden and it was good to see him back with us. We regrouped on Thornton and Buena Vista and got ready to head east together.

Rocket broke for home on Stetson as did Barracuda. We headed over to Crest and as we came back to Stetson we lost D’Artagnon at Lake. The rest of the group headed for Fairview and then on to Carl’s at New Chicago and Florida for coffee. We only stayed for a short break before heading for home on Lincoln heading back to Park.

After we made it to Park Dura Max stayed with us till we broke for Devonshire. Blood Hound left us at Columbia and the rest of us followed Highlander all the way to Santa Fe where we turned to Latham and started of final run back to Burger King.

We were still riding as a tight group as we got back to State and everyone seemed to have enjoyed the ride so far and I decided to ride down Lyon with T-3 before heading for home myself. I got home with just about 35 miles and feeling pretty good. It seems like a short ride was a good idea for such a hot day.