12/05/2011
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


All the weather stations were telling us we would be seeing wind all day Monday and most of Tuesday. Still we love to ride so we rolled the dice as they say and put together one of our favorite rides down towards Temecula and back. I got up about the same time as I always did and looked out at a cold clear morning. In fact it was close to freezing when I got up. But the good part was there was very little wind. Even though we had changed the start time to 8:30 I had to be at the parking lot early to make sure everyone got the message. For a change I was the first one to arrive but I was only a few minutes faster than D’Artagnon. By 8:30 there were 8 of us ready to try our luck on a 48 mile journey into the bite of cold and a hope we would be back before the wind


The weather was not co-operating and my face felt the sting of the cold. I was still nursing a bit of a cold and my neck was still a bit sore but it was still good to be out with friends and on my bike. We took off down Kirby towards the railroad tracks and the right turn that would take us to Sanderson and then south to Domenigoni.

Blood Hound and Donovan more than likely would be the jack rabbits of the group today unless D’Artagnon decided to drop the hammer on his now TT bike and fly off and leave us. Still if I could ever warm up I was looking forward to the ride west on Domenigoni. However shortly after I gave up the lead pulling towards Warren the pace picked up and I simply couldn’t get the energy to push my cold legs up over 20. I dropped off of the back and would be content to follow at a distance but Tax Man noticed me and fell back to pick me up. We took turns pulling till we reached the saddle to regroup. I was feeling a bit more energetic but still not willing to push it much.

We took off down the back side of the saddle and made the turn onto Menifee heading for Scott Road. We past the school and played a little climbing the hill past Holland. Some of us regrouped at the top of the climb but Donovan and Blood Hound continued on. Vortex and Highlander pulled us to Leon and a few minutes later D’Artagnon pulled around us and started to pull away. We saw him on the other side of the light and most of us stopped when he didn’t take off after the light changed. Turns out he had a business call. Once he was finished we were on our way.

We made quick work of Washington and soon were turning west on Benton and heading back towards Winchester. We realize the wind has come to visit as we move west. For the first time all morning there was a breeze in our face and it was cold. It felt colder than when we started. I didn’t matter because I never removed my jacket today. Mt Jersey even has a built in Balaclava. Soon we were near the gas station on Benton and Winchester and regrouped with Vortex, Blood Hound and Donovan.

I got us back to the turn that would take us to Leon and back home. We managed to catch the light red and had to wait out turn to head over to Leon. One road I doubt I would attempt a left turn without a green arrow on has to be Winchester. The cars almost fly down the road in both directions. Still we made the turn and made it to Leon and north heading back to Scott.

It wasn’t till I got back to Scott that I started to feel energized or should I say my legs felt warmed up. Highlander took over the pull as we headed up Leon with the wind in our face and stayed in the lead as we turned on Scott and headed for Menifee. The group split with Donovan, Blood Hound and Vortex making a run for Domenigoni and Highlander, Tax man, Spartacus, D’Artagnon and I following at a relaxed pace. Once over the saddle D’Artagnon took us on a fast run back to Winchester and we split once more with Vortex, D’Artagnon and I heading to Chris’s and Highlander, Spartacus and Tax Man heading back to Sanderson and home. After coffee and conversation we headed for home ourselves going up Winchester to Stowe and then to California.


We rode together back to Sanderson where D’Artagnon Stayed on Stetson and Vortex and I went down to Johnston and stayed together till we got to Kirby and I stayed on Johnston while he turned to head back to his truck at Burger King and I headed for home. I was warming up slightly but still nothing to write home about and I pulled up to my house with 49 new miles on my computer. Not a bad day even if I felt rather sluggish most of it.