12/23/2011
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)

Forgetting to turn on the heat


There is a rule that some riders must have forgotten today and that was the riders living the farthest east have to remember to to flip on the heat switch as the sun passes over their house. Today it seems as if Gambler and D’Artagnon were falling down on their job. I got up and it was 27 degrees downtown. I knew someone was going to ride west to catch the sun and flip the switch. So I got up, put on a medium base layer, long sleeve jersey, toe covers, and long finger gloves and headed for the Burger King parking lot. Every puddle I past had a thin layer of ice on it and I did my best to avoid any wet spots on the road. I got to the parking lot and I was all alone.

After getting a cup of coffee Barracuda walked up dressed like a lumber jack to see who would be foolish enough to ride today. As we talked Full Throttle and Hornet pulled up making a grand total of three riders ready to go turn the heat on and save our city. We left the parking about 8:35 heading for the Hemet Airport and the west side of our normal training rides. That is where the heat switch would be. We picked up Vortex before we got to the airport and quickly rode down Stetson to California. Vortex took us to Stowe and Full Throttle pulled us to Winchester.


I got out in front and started the pull down Winchester. It was still cold and in fact Vortex commented that it seemed to be getting colder. I have to admit I didn’t feel much like taking off my wind breaker and I sure wasn’t about to give up my gloves. I wasn’t ready to curse the name of Gambler for missing the heat switch but I wasn’t happy about it either. Still with the groups help maybe we could catch the trailing string the sun was dragging along behind it. What Gambler must have forgotten was the string to turn on the sun is a two part switch a bit like a ceiling fan. One pull turns on the light and a second pull turns on the fan. One pull turned on the light of the sun but someone forgot the second pull.

Once we got to McCall and headed for the hill Hornet jumped to the front and attacked. I followed a few yards behind and Vortex and Full Throttle were behind me. We topped the hill and quickly headed down the other side heading for Bradley. We had all regrouped by the light at Bradley and we paced ourselves up to Murrieta where I spotted the string dragging along McCall. I sprinted to the end of the road and pulled the switch just before we made the turn south towards Cherry Hill. The warming sun must have flipped a switch in Full Throttle because he seemed to get tired of the pace Hornet was setting and he took off on a hard run all the way to Newport. I hooked onto his wheel like a trailer and we made the turn towards Antelope and Jack in the Box. We stopped for coffee and conversation and to see if the switch worked.

We came out about 15 or 20 minutes later and it was already warming up. In fact Full Throttle had to remove his jacket. We pulled out onto Newport and headed for the saddle with Hornet in the lead. Before we got back to Lindenburger I noticed a lone rider making the turn and heading for the saddle himself. I pulled out of the pack and closed as quickly as I could and met a man named Alex who has been looking for a group to ride with and both Sherpa and Warden had mentioned our group. He decided to ride with us back down Domenigoni and we asked him t join our pace line. But by Winchester Hornet began to show signs of wear and tear and we decided to back down so he could stay with the group. We stayed pretty much together till we got to Sanderson.


Vortex, Hornet and I headed north while Full Throttle and Alex rode to State Street. It did feel warmer and we lost Hornet at Mustang when he turned for home. I followed Vortex to Stetson and then we went our separate was home at Johnston. When I got home it was 60 degrees and much warmer than when I left home. I just hope the riders living east of us do a better job of managing the heat next time. But if they don’t at least you will know who to blame.