1/30/2012
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


It was supposed to be a pretty good day today so I put together a nice little warm up ride west to Sun City and back to Chris’s. I knew Highlander and Tax Man were going to be back but I wasn’t sure who else was interested in getting out on Monday. As I pulled into the parking lot Wolf and Centaur were at the north end of the parking lot talking. After a few minutes George pulled up and we talked as Torpedo pulled in with Gary and Luigi. When Torpedo shows we know the A group will be fired up and hard to hold back. To my surprise Raptor rode up almost right at 8:30 just as we were getting ready to leave. Not 30 seconds later Dura Max and Ocelot pulled up and just as the A and B group pulled out of the parking lot T-3 pulled in as well. It looked like they were planning a C group but they didn’t say so I can only assume they were going to ride with Raptor. I led the rest of the group out onto Gilmore and then to Acacia then to Kirby to get the ride started.


We warmed up on Kirby and made the turn onto Cypress to work our way over to Johnston and catch the light at Sanderson. So far the pace had been very reasonable but we hadn’t made it to Domenigni yet. I took the lead and pulled us past Stetson and Wally World with everyone in tow. We past Mustang and got in line for the turn on Domenigoni. I knew somewhere along the line the A group would take the lead and start pulling away the only thing I didn’t know was when.

After a brief time in the front I gave the lead to Highlander and the run was on. By the time Highlander gave up the lead Torpedo, Luigi, and Gary were trailing the pack but getting ready to make their run. Torpedo pulled up next to me and mentioned that he and his group were going to modify the ride and head for Clinton Kieth when we made the turn to Scott. About that time Centaur took the lead and we were hitting 25 by the time we dropped over the dry wash. By the time we were hitting 26 the group started to fragment and I noticed we were losing riders while Centaur, Wolf and Highlander pulled away. I dropped back to pick up a rider and we rejoined Wolf and Highlander about Winchester. Tax Man flatted and as we got back under way a rider pulled up next to me and to my surprise it was Backdraft. He and Gazelle were headed to IE for a bike repair on Gazelle’s bike but they at least joined us at the Saddle.

After leaving the saddle we rode past Lindenburger and made a left on Menifee to catch the little hill just past Holland. We decided we would regroup after the top on that little hill and as we did so Backdraft and Gazelle past us heading for Scott Road. We never did quite catch then as they were heading straight while we turned on Scott and worked our way over to Haun. We were about to start another quick run to Newport.

We didn’t bother stopping on Newport so we simply made our way to Bradley and then McCall to climb the Hospital Hill and then down the back side to Heritage before coming out onto Simpson. We made the turn and started a steady pace line towards Winchester. Shortly after passing Briggs Centaur took over the pull and took us all the way to the light. We made the left on Winchester and took a break at Chris’s for hydration and conversation. We only stayed for about 15 minutes before we were back out onto Winchester heading for Stowe.

The ride on Stowe to California was pretty much a continuation of what we did on Simpson and we stayed in a pace line till we turned onto California. Wolf and Highlander shared the lead as we rode back to Stetson and Highlander took over the pull as we headed back to Warren and then the airport road. I broke for home as the rest of the group turned to head back to Burger King and got home with 38 miles on the clock. The day turned out to be close to perfect with very little wind. Yes I would say it was just another good day to be from California.