12/16/2011
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)

The Fantastic Four

I don’t know that anyone knew a crime had been committed except the kind hearted shop keeper at Chris’s. It was his misfortune that the crime happened on a day when few brave cyclists would be out because of the weather. Who would the shop keeper tell his troubles to? His only hope was if some brave men from D V V would decide to brave the elements and just maybe stop by for coffee and relieve him of his concerns. By 8:35 this morning there were four such riders with Full Throttle, Highlander, Gambler, Bandit and I as record keeper of their mighty deeds.


We started out going south thinking we could fight the wind and cold on the way to Cypress then to Johnston and finally to Sanderson. Full Throttle was energetic as always and once on Sanderson he started to pick up the pace to see if he could ride the rest of us into the ground. The man believes anything worth doing if worth giving 100 percent effort to and he did pretty much just that as we turned onto Domenigoni. The wind slammed me in the face as I struggled to keep pace and finally I had to watch as Gambler, Bandit and Full Throttle forced their way past the head wind on off into the distance past Warren road and the dry wash. I had some luck when Highlander decided to pull me to the saddle to regroup with the other three.

We didn’t wait long till we were off down the back side of the saddle and heading for Lindenburger and then the Freeway. We got caught at the light and once again the tree A riders pulled away from us but for some reason we weren’t dropped and by Antelope Highlander had us on their back wheel. We lost two of them again fighting the wind and cold all the way to Murrieta. We didn’t catch then till we got to the park on LaLadera. We regrouped and headed north once more it seemed like we were directly into the wind.

Once we got a chance to turn east by the owl sanctuary it seemed like as last we had the wind to our back and we started to feel like we would accomplish our goal of getting to Chris’s and satisfy the pull we seemed to have to get there. Highlander was still helping me keep pace with some of the A group and we ended up chasing Full Throttle all the way to McCall.

It was here that life got difficult for me. I caught the light at Murrieta red just after the rest of the group went through. I had to work hard to catch Highlander by the next light and we caught Full Throttle, Gambler and Bandit at Bradley. The tree speedsters took off after Bradley and Highlander had to pull me up to Full Throttle at the light starting up the McCall hospital hill. Full Throttle was trying to temp me into attacking the hill and giving up on my plan to stay in the aerobic range for the whole ride. But I was determined I wouldn’t be tempted. I was made of stone until I caught the light green and decided to give chase. To paraphrase an old idiom darn the torpedoes full speed ahead. I attacked and closed on Full Throttle like a heat seeking missile but I had to expend enough energy to go well into the Anaerobic range so I knew he would make me pay later.

The payback I had feared came on Simpson as Full Throttle forced the pace all the way to Winchester. I held on behind Highlander well past Leon. In truth I was feeling almost like part of this fantastic group when Full Throttle indicated we needed a lead change and I attempted to move to the front. Gambler knew better and passed me before I could get to the front and the group broke apart shortly after we entered the trees. I think Gambler and Bandit were in a hurry to get to Chris’s and save the day. We stopped for coffee and conversation and heard the poor merchant’s problem of someone steeling his paper stand. Gambler and Bandit were so full of compassion they ordered a breakfast burrito just to make him feel better. Shortly after that they let me pull all the way to Stowe so I could pretend to be part of this fantastic group of heroes.


We stayed together talking all the way to California before Gambler, Bandit and Full Throttle decided to drop the hammer and leave me in the dust and they headed for Stetson. Highlander pulled me up to Full Throttle again and we drafted him all the way to Warren where he left us. I fell in behind Highlander once more as he pulled us to Gambler and Bandit and finally we stopped at Sanderson. I left the group there and headed for home and managed to get in a respectable 37 miles for the day. I felt good about being able to ride with the Fantastic Four and make a merchants life a bit easier. Good job men.