9/12/2011
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


We had several things going for us today and one or two things going against us. But it was Monday so it was pretty much par for course. I left the house and started down Palm when I noticed I forgot my sun glasses. Returned home and got back to find Surgeon waiting for me. For quite a few minutes we were the only ones. By 8am 10 of us rode down Gilmore, Turned on Acacia and then went south on Kirby to get started of a cool beautiful morning ride.


T-3 and Surgeon followed closely as I moved down Kirby and I rode more or less with Vortex and chatted away as we made the turn onto Cypress. I discovered that Vortex and Bud would be leaving early after we left the Saddle and Surgeon might have been going with them. Still we had a good group for the ride and quickly made it through the housing tract on Cypress and finally out onto Sanderson to run to Domenigoni.

Once we turned west on Domenigoni Vortex offered to pull as far as he could because he would be leaving at Lindenburger. Once we set a steady pace everyone stayed in line and we easily made it to Warren with very little effort and a lower heart rate than normal. The weather may have had a lot to do with it as well because it was dead calm and only in the 80s as we past Warren and the dry wash. As we got closer to Winchester I began looking over my shoulder expecting to see some of the A riders pull out of line but everyone seemed content with the pace and Vortex leading.

So far everything was going good and our average speed was just getting better as we moved about halfway to Leon past Winchester. Vortex had us running at about 21 when I noticed D’Artagnon coming along side of us with Full Throttle, Jack Rabbit and Rocket in tow. I decided to pull out of line and see if I could follow in their draft and just managed to pull into Rocket’s draft as they went by. I managed to hang on as we pulled away towards the foot of the saddle when D’Atagnon gave the lead to Full Throttle and the pace went up a notch. Full Throttle and Jack Rabbit hit the bottom of the hill first and I was behind Rocket as he hit the after burners and started up the grade. For the first time in a long time I was with the leaders as we crested the saddle and stopped to regroup.

We waited for a while and noticed we were missing Bud. Highlander went back to check on him and Rocket decided to head back as well. Within a few minutes it was determined the Bud had an equipment failure and had called his wife to SAG for him and said we should go on. We were down two and just starting the ride. We left the saddle and headed for the turn at Lindenburger with 8 riders and by the time we passed Simpson where Vortex turned off we lost T-3 and Surgeon as well. The group was down to half of the size we had when we started. It didn’t slow us down any because Full Throttle pushed us all the way to McCall and then to Florida and Menifee where we took turns pulling all the way to Nuevo and finally to Evans before heading north towards the Ramona expressway.

Looking at our average speed we were well ahead of schedule as we got to the small hills in front of Lake Parris. D’Artagnon and Jack Rabbit rode up the grades first and Full Throttle and Highlander followed with me chasing in the back almost all of the way back to Lakeview and the gas station. Once we were back on the road we know that whoever had to pull would have to pull a long time before someone could relieve him because of the rumble strips they carved into the bike lane on Ramona. I started and Full Throttle took over at the first road crossing.

We were moving along at a very nice pace when finally Full Throttle gave the lead to D’Artagnon who ended up pulling us all the way back to Sanderson well before 10:30am. We worked our way over to Lyon where D’Artagnon headed for home dropping us down to 4 as we headed south one last time. Full Throttle pulled most of the way home with me in the second spot and feeling pretty relaxed for having done more than 44 miles at that point. In fact everyone was still riding strong as I looked back at Highlander and Jack Rabbit.

Jack Rabbit and Full Throttle headed for home as Highlander and I turned into the Pep Boy’s driveway and only Highlander was left to have coffee and conversation. After we finished I headed for home and pulled up to my door with 49 miles at 18.3 MPH. Much better than my yearly average. But all the credit goes to having a good group to ride with and one that cooperates to bring everyone home at the same time.