11/28/2011
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


It was time for another week to start and we still have pretty nice weather for this time of year. Friday’s ride had been pretty light and I didn’t know what to expect for today. So I was surprised to see Wolf as I pulled into the parking lot just a bit early this morning. We talked for a few minutes and I decided it was cold enough that I needed a second cup of coffee.

By 8am there were seven of us and we were ready to hit the road. We headed down Gilmore towards Acacia with Wolf, Blood Hound, Gambler, Tax man, Bandit, Highlander and me.


Traffic was heavier than normal on Acacia but we managed to pull up behind two cars waiting at the light on Kirby. We only had to wait for one cycle before we could turn left and head south towards Cypress and the beginning of our ride west. We crossed the rail road tracks and made the turn on Cypress to get over to Johnston.

Behind me I noticed Highlander and Tax Man. It turned out that those two riders would be with me all morning and we would be making up the B group. We made the turn onto Sanderson and started towards Dominigoni. I had no idea how hard the pull was going to be or if we would be running into a head wind but I did know I was still cold and I don’t run hard in the cold. I took the lead as we turned the corner but I had no intention of pulling very far.

We stayed together most of the way to Winchester where the A group took off and I fell back to pick up Highlander and Tax Man. Highlander was just getting over a cold and his oxygen intake was a bit limited. We caught up to Wolf and he helped pull us to the saddle for a regroup.

After a brief rest we were off to re-hydrate at Carl’s before heading to Goetz and the 3 mile climb. I don’t believe Tax Man had even been on this ride before and he was getting a bit suspicious when we started the climb. I settled into a easy cadence and we climbed as a group up the first of the three steps. Wolf pulled around to give chase to Gambler, Bandit and Blood Hound but we kept the same pace over the second climb. Highlander was feeling his cold by the third climb but he made it to the top and we raced down the back side of Goetz to regroup just past Ethernic.

I got in front and pulled the group to Case and then over to Paris Boulevard. I had enough energy to keep the pull till we got to Evans and Nuevo when I dropped to the back. We stayed together to Menifee and all the way up to Central when Bandit, Gambler, Blood Hound and Wolf took off. I followed as best as we could till we got to Mapes. I noticed the A group had waited for us and started east on Mapes just before we got there. Just as soon as we turned onto Mapes Tax Man had a blow out. It sounded like a shot and the tube split about 8 inches and blew part of the tire off of the rim. We fixed the flat and headed for Briggs and tried to meet up with the A group by the school but just as we pasted the stop sign Tax man got a second blowout that unseated the tire.

We decided to try another tube and only inflated the tire to 60 pounds and just try and ride easy to Chris’s. We made it through the housing track and onto the dump road with no problems. It took us a little longer than normal but we made Chris’s for coffee with no more flats. We didn’t stay long and soon were back on the road north on Winchester and then east on Stowe heading for California and home.

It was still a beautiful day and as we turned onto California heading down to Stetson we spotted a few white Egrets hanging out in the fields along side of the road. I am not a bird expert but that is what they looked like to me and I couldn’t get close enough to get a good picture of them but they looked majestic in flight.


It didn’t take us long to pass the airport and get back to Sanderson. Highlander seemed to get stronger the closer we got to home and I think even Tax Man started to pick up the pace and worry less about his tire. Whatever the reason we got back in short order and talked for just a few minutes before heading for home. I got just over 52 miles to add to my yearly average. It won’t be a record but I will have more than 6000 miles in before December.