11/23/2011
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


I had a bad morning today because I was wide awake at 4am. I tossed and turned for a little while but eventually I gave up and got out of bed. There is very little to do at 4am so I decided to read a little and have an early cup of coffee. It also made it easier to get ready for my ride today because I had plenty of time to get my Kit together and plenty of time to check my bike over before leaving the house. Everything was in working order and I had all of my spare tools and inner-tubes in my bag so I put on my jacket and headed for Burger King to see how many were up for a ride to Lake Parris. It turned out that we had 14 riders as we pulled out onto Latham and made our way over to Lyon for the run north.


Dura Max seemed to be riding strong because he normally doesn’t ride up front as we move down Lyon and today he chatted easily with me past one street after another. Highlander wasn’t far behind but that has become something I expect to see in my mirror. Today Highlander had his nephew Ivan with him and we were doing the Parris ride to get in some distance and to make it interesting for Highlander’s nephew. Ivan seemed like a strong rider and stayed with the leaders most of the day.

As we move down Lyon the group got closer and closer together and soon I found myself drifting back to make sure we weren’t dropping anyone. Somehow I had lost track of Dura Max and didn’t realize he was up with the leaders as I moved back in the pack. Once I got to the back I ended up falling off the draft and had to work with D’Artagnon to catch back up with the lead group. Thank goodness D’Artagnon is a strong rider but still I ended up losing the lead group and had to play catch up almost all the way to Ramona.

Once out onto Ramona Expressway twelve of the riders formed a pace line and ran hard west towards Nuevo. Dura Max and I followed well behind the main group and we were easily rolling along at 20 plus all the way to Lakeview and then started up the hill to the back road into Lake Parris and passed through the back gate. I stopped to take off my jacket and Dura Max and I took out time riding on the Lake Parris bike path on this clear beautiful morning.

It is hard to believe we are in the fall season and parts of our country are getting snow. In fact I have talked to people from some eastern states that are putting their bikes away for the winter. We are fortunate that with a few exceptions we get to ride almost all year long.

It was so nice riding around the lake and through the trees in a park like setting that we were almost disappointed that we had to take a break at the marina. However the store wasn’t open so we had to set and talk with only the snacks we brought with us before getting ready to head home. I knew the A group would stay with us all the way back to Ramona but I didn’t think they would stay with us once they started down towards Lakeview so I had to get a picture of them at rest before they disappeared into the distance.

It was good to see a new female rider to keep Huntress company even if she is more than capable of holding her own with most of the men in our group. I looked over to see here conferring with Wolf and Blood Hound and even Matt. I am always suspect of Huntress and her intentions.

We really didn’t stay long and managed to cut our conversation down a bit and hit the road for home. I knew I had to get a picture pretty quick because once we started down the hill to go out of the front gate thing were going to get hectic. Once we turned onto Ramona Expressway it was a bit like a rocket getting ready to launch. Vortex got out in front and started picking up the pace till the pack started to spread out. I got caught at the last stop light and had to watch as the lead group faded over the top of the hill before I even got rolling again. I fell back to ride with Wolf and Dura Max and we didn’t see the rest of the group till we got back to Lyon.

When we pulled into the parking lot Huntress, Highlander, Sue, Sea Lion and Vortex were loading their vehicles and getting ready to head for home. The five of us pulled up to the cars and spent some quality time discussing this ride and some future rides we want to do. I got home with 45 miles on the computer and a need for lunch. After a quick shower I ate lunch and took some time to rest before I went out for some last minute Christmas shopping. I had a great ride and can only hope others enjoyed it as well.