11/18/2011
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)

The cold icy fingers of a fall/winter low pressure front had moved in overnight and I was cold when I moved out onto the street to go meet my friends for an easy Friday ride. I wasn’t all that interested in trying to keep up with the big dogs today I only wanted to get in a few easy miles before the weekend and then two days rest. The strange thing is no matter how the ride starts out it can end any way it wants to. We had a strong A group and a smaller B group and that normally means a quicker ride than posted. We headed out towards Acacia on Gilman knowing that no matter how easy the ride to Kirby was once we got to Domenigoni things would pick up.


The group held back a bit as we pulled up behind a school bus on Acacia and followed it south towards Cypress. Barracuda and Centaur kept close pace behind me as Blood Hound slowly worked his way forward. One thing was easy to notice and that was it was not getting any warmer. I had removed my wind breaker and wasn’t all that sure that had been a good idea. Still I was pretty sure if I pushed myself a bit today that would make it seem warmer even if it wasn’t. Trouble is when it is cold and humid you feel it all the way to your joints. At least at my age you feel it.

We turned off of Johnston onto Sanderson and more or less cruised past Stetson and then past Mustang as one solid group. I knew that the A group was going to attack the Marina hill and I had planned on taking the B group to Cactus Valley and waiting till they got there before we headed back north on State Street before turning east towards Fairview. I was surprised to see almost all of the B group follow the A group towards the Marina Hill. Only Vortex and I followed by Dura Max and Ocelot headed on to State Street after everyone else turned off. We took it rather easy and got to the end of Cactus Valley road about 5 minutes before the A group led by Gambler arrived. The real Bees made is leave a few minutes before we were ready. I tried attacking Bandit and Gambler on the State Street sprint but get past them and they pulled away as we rounded Chambers and then Thornton.

Things were still in push mode as we got back out onto Stetson and we lost Blood Hound when he broke for home. I had to push hard just to keep up with the group as we headed for Columbia and turned for Crest. That part of the ride is normally taken at an easier pace because of how nice the old neighborhood is. Most of that part of the ride was going as planned.

Things changed as we got past the first stop sign and I noticed D’Artagnon pulled over making a phone call. I turned around to see if everything was ok and after a few minutes we were on our way and chatting as we gave chase to the main group. Even while talking D’Artagnon is a powerful rider and he had us pushing all the way to Lake Street and back once again to Stetson. He saw the tail end of the main group heading for Fairview and the chase was on. D’Artagnon had me rolling me down Stetson at 20 and I don’t know that I have ever hit 20 in that part of Stetson before. He pulled away from me on Fairview when I made a nature call and we all regrouped on Wilson Mesa before running hard down Fairview back to Carl’s. Bandit and Gambler were still pushing the pace. We regrouped at Carl’s for coffee and Conversation before breaking up for home.

I was surprised how much energy the five remaining riders seemed to have as we moved west on Lincoln. Huntress was still riding as strong as she was at the beginning of the ride and I felt compelled to fall in on Sea Lions draft just to get back to Devonshire. At least once on Devonshire it was all downhill to Pep Boy’s. The wind was picking up and it seemed colder than when we left this morning. I got home with 37 miles on the computer and I have to say it turned out to be a good day for a ride.