10/28/2011
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


I knew it was fall when I got up this morning. Sure it wasn’t back east cold and there wasn’t any snow on the ground but for us it was cold. It was clear the night before and so it dropped to about 40 last night and it was only 41 when I took off for Burger King. Highlander was waiting for me as I got there. It started out looking pretty thin as far as riders ready to ride but by just after 8am we had 14 riders heading down Gilmore towards Acacia.


The ride was supposed to be a Friday easy ride but we all knew that often that was simply a code word for the A group to drop the hammer on the rest of us. Still they behaved themselves as we turned onto Kirby and I got a chance to chat with Full Throttle. There was some bad news however because Team Full Throttle would only be riding with us today and Monday and they wouldn’t be back till December when they might start riding with us on Fridays. They would be staying near the front for today’s ride just to remind us of how much they have improved this year. Both are A riders and they will be missed.

It was an easy ride west on Cypress as we passed through the quiet housing tract and turned onto Johnston. We caught the light just as it turned green on Sanderson and followed a few cars south towards Stetson. For the third straight time we managed to catch the light green on Stetson. At least some of us made the light while it was green while a few got stuck just as it turned red. Once they started on their way towards Domenigoni , Vortex, Sea Lion, Jack Rabbit, Huntress and I headed for the High School in front of the pack.

We made the left turn on Domenigoni and headed for State Street but just before we got there the A group headed for the boat ramp. The B group continued on to McSweeney with me trailing the pack. I am still fighting a head cold so climbing Seven Dollar hill was not even on my radar. I continued on with the B group till we hooked back up with the A group on State and Dominigoni heading north.

On the way to Stetson D’Artagnon got a phone call and I stopped to remove my jacket. We lost the rest of the group and D’Artagnon was kind enough to pull me over to Santa Fe and then to Stetson. The lead group was nowhere in sight so I tagged along all the way to Fairview where everyone was waiting for us. I was thankful that D’Artagnon did all the work to get me to Fairview in time for the traditional sprint. The effort didn’t drain my tank but it was close and I decided to cruise the rest of the ride. Still we didn’t lose the A group till we turned off of Washington and onto Soboba. We didn’t regroup till we got to State Street and headed back to Ramona.

Once we were heading back east on Ramona the A group dropped the hammer and ran like a dog was after them. Huntress, Highlander and I missed the jump and followed at a more reasonable pace all the way to Hemet Street where we picked up Sea Lion and formed our own pace line all the way to Carl’s. Coffee and Conversation is one of the main reasons we make these coffee stops and today was one of the better ones. We broke up into smaller groups and headed for home. Highlander, Huntress, Dura Max, Ocelot and I were in the last group to leave. We were moving along pretty well till Hintress flatted on Devonshire. Still with Dura Max there it is like having our own Woods Brother’s pit crew when it comes to changing tires.

We got back to Burger King and stayed to visit a few minutes and talk about next week. As we were talking Surgeon rode up and showed off one of his classic steel bikes. After a few minutes we parted our ways and Surgeon rode with me most of the way to my house. I got home with 41 miles on the computer and I wasn’t congested at all. I have to say it was a very good day.