9/23/2011
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


There was every reason to expect that today would be a great day for a ride. The sky was clear and the temperature was in the low 70s by 8am. There was no predicted wind and we had a simple ride planned for the day. The only question I had as I headed for Burger King was how many people we would have and how many new riders. I only saw Ocelot and Highlander as I turned into the parking lot so I wondered how small the group might be. Still by 8am we had about 10 riders and were supposed to pick up two on the way.


The A group looked strong and I told them we would be splitting into two group after the saddle. With Gambler, Barracuda, D’Artagnon, Jack Rabbit, Shadow and Blood Hound in the A group I knew they would get antsy if they had to stay with the Bs all the way to Chris’s. Still with the exception of Blood Hound they held back as we turned onto Kirby and got ready to turn west towards Sanderson.

T-3 and Highlander quickly flanked me on Cypress and we chatted as we came up to Johnston and made a left to catch the light on Sanderson. The light allowed us all to regroup and make the turn together onto Sanderson and head for Stetson. Every time we get to Stetson we catch the light red. I can’t remember even one time rolling up to or through that light as it turned green. Today was no different it was red and we had to stop. We continued on towards Domenigoni and Blood Hound took the lead as we got close to Mustang with T-3, Jack Rabbit, Barracuda and Highlander moving to the front getting ready for the run to the saddle.

Blood Hound kicked it up a bit and stated to pull away in the front and I held the group back trying not to drop anyone. As we got close to Warren I saw Vortex and he pulled out behind Blood Hound and headed for the dry wash. At this point I decided to let the A group go and fell back to form up the B group. SR-71s friend developed a problem with his cleats and fell off the pace well before we got to Winchester. SR-71 stayed with him while I sent Sea Lion on to the Saddle with T-3 and Ocelot to wait for the regroup.

We had a little wait while the whole B group arrived so I let the A group in on their special challenge. While the B group headed straight for LaLadera the A group would turn South on Menifee and head for Scott road. Once there they would ride to Murrieta and head back to Newport. Then they would head to LaLadera and give chase to our slower group. They smiled but I think they knew they had a workout ahead of them.

The two groups split at Menifee and the chase was on. The great thing about this kind of ride is it invigorates the B group and challenges the A group all at the same time. The Bs have been chased down several times during these challenges and under normal conditions there was a very good chance we would be chased down again. However there was one difference with the B group today, we decided to form one pace line with the strongest riders doing most of the direct pulling. We didn’t stop at Carl’s for water and headed straight for LaLadera with the strongest riders doing most of the pulling. We turned north on LaLadera and formed a two line box, once Sea Lion pulled up next to me, and decided not to stop at the park.

Now all we had to do was stay together till we got to McCall and make a run for McCall hill. We held together all the way to McCall and once we crossed Murrieta we were stopped by someone asking about our group. We may have a new rider joining us because this man had been looking for a group to ride with. Back on our way we quickly made our way to McCall hill and I worked with Ocelot and T-3 getting them to the top as quickly as possible. T-3 must have thought of me like the rowers did of the drummer on a Trireme or old oared warship as I yelled for her to keep going over and over again. Whatever she thought we pulled up just as the other three riders stopped at the top of McCall. So far we were ahead of the A group but I could almost feel them getting close to McCall.

All we had to do was keep a reasonable pace going and we should get to Chris’s first and while that might not seem like much to some it means a lot to us because of the respect we have for the A group and their ability to catch us. We regrouped at Lindenburger and Simpson and I started a pull towards Winchester. So far we hadn’t seen anyone behind us and I felt that I could get the majority of the group to Leon before the A group could make the turn onto Simpson. We were doing pretty good till two riders fell off the back and I had to turn the group over to Highlander to get to Chris’s and I returned to make sure our last riders made the right turn and sat down with us for coffee and conversation. We made it and everyone grabbed a seat to talk about the ride.

SR-71 and his friend Rich were talking about the cleat repair and detour with Vortex while at the same time Highlander, T-3, Sea Lion and Ocelot were talking about the smooth climb of McCall.

About 6 minutes after we sat down the A group arrived. Bandit had been with them till they got over McCall but had decided to go home before he got to Chris’s. Their last man was Shadow and had they not stopped for water on the way would have been right on our wheel by the time we rounded Winchester. Still for today at least we were the Super Bees and felt good about it

For all practical purposes the ride was over at this point. Shortly after getting to Stowe we would break up and head our separate way for home but still we left Chris’s about the same time. As we turned east we broke into smaller groups and wished each other a good weekend and looked forward to our next ride. Sea Lion, Ocelot and T-3 turned right on Sanderson while Highlander, Vortex, SR-71, Rich and I turned left and headed for Lowes. Vortex rode home on Sanderson as the rest of us rode through the parking lot and then on to Acacia and back to Burger King. After some more conversation I headed for home and finished the ride with just shy of 40 miles. It was a great ride for a Friday and a lot of laughs between the two groups. Like I thought it was a great day for a ride.