2/1/2012
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


When I looked outside this morning it was one of those slightly over cast mornings with wispy pink clouds colored by the rising sun. I looked to see if the wind vane out front was moving and much to my delight it was calm. Being the first Wednesday of the month I didn’t have to worry about what jersey to wear so I got out the club jersey, black bibs with leg and arm warmers and finished off some mint tea before hitting the front door and heading for Burger King. When I got to the parking lot Blood Hound was waiting and several other riders were unloading their cars. As I waited for everyone to come over to the big window meeting area I noticed I forgot my phone. Well at least I wouldn’t need my blue tooth. Huntress was running late so we waited an extra few minutes and watched as the C group arrived for a shorter ride. Once Huntress was ready we took off down Gilmore and onto Acacia heading for Kirby.


Looking back at Highlander, Blood Hound, Torpedo, Gambler and Wolf I felt a bit like a rabbit with a pack of dogs after me. Things didn’t look any more comforting with D’Artagnon, George, (Chinook), Huntress, Centaur and Vortex following them. Every one is a strong rider and I knew I might have to push myself just to keep up. Kirby wasn’t long enough to relax so we pushed up to Cypress to head west towards Sanderson.

Once we made the turn onto Sanderson and across Stetson I made sure I wasn’t leading as we past Wally World and ended up somewhere towards the back of the pack. I came around the corner onto Domenigoni behind Huntress and Chinook and we fell into a steady pace line heading for Warren. Somehow three or four of us lost the draft and ended up chasing the rest of the group all the way to Warren where we stayed with all the way over the dry wash. Before I knew how it happened we were rolling along at 26 mph with me at the back of the group. Way off in the distance we could see a lone rider heading for Winchester. As soon as the big dogs saw they were closing the group started to fragment as one after the other dropped back when the pace hit 29. Soon Highlander pulled off of the front and fell back to where I was hanging on for dear life but slipped out of the draft as I passed and soon was falling back. I pulled up to pull him back to the pack as the big dogs caught and passed the lone rider who turned out to be Attack Cat. The B group regrouped at the top of the saddle when the A group continued on to Lindenburger.

We came down off of the saddle and past the A group waiting for Bandit on Lindenburger. We kept the pace up as best as we could past Simpson and then onto Heritage where the A group caught us. As they past Huntress grabbed a back wheel and went with them. Chinook, Highlander and I were riding at the back when we turned onto Menifee and soon Chinook pulled around to close with the main group before we took a break at the Am/Pm. After a quick break we were back on our way and riding hard for Mapes where the group broke into three parts with your truly in the back once more

Once we topped the little rise past Mapes I started to dig down and make a closing run at the second group. Highlander and I worked hard to close the gap and it looked like we would catch them by the time the past Central. We did lose a bit of ground at the stop sign just before Central but I was spinning a pretty tall gear after that and we were gaining quickly. I couldn’t see clearly as we came up on the group at Central but I noticed a bike flying through the air. It seems as if a quick slow down was necessary because a car didn’t look like it wanted to stop for the group and Vortex went down. Highlander and I was only a bit over a pickup truck length behind and stopped to see if everyone was ok before taking off for Nuevo.

We headed west on Nuevo and took turns pulling all the way to Evans. We spread out a bit on Evans but Highlander, Chinook and I were moving along quite well and Chinook moved forward to pull us up to Wolf, Vortex, Centaur and Huntress. Just about the time we were back in rhythm when we could see the A group pulled to the side of the road. It seems D’Artagnon flatted and they had stopped to assist him. We made sure he had everything under control before we left to get a head start on the Lake Paris Marina hill.

We managed to get under the gate to a closed state park, seems as if they think they are saving money. On the other side we headed for the boat check area and started up the hill. I started to attack the hill but soon had reached my covered heart rate and was notified by the group that I should back off. As soon as I downshifter Torpedo came flying by followed by Gambler, D’Artagnon, Bandit and Blood Hound. It didn’t matter because they went straight at the first gate on the right and I made the turn so I managed to beat them to the boat marina and our midway break. Huntress and Chinook got there right after me.

Once we had refueled and refreshed we got back on the road and hit the bike path around the lake to start our run for home. There were squirrels everywhere today and we more or less the only people in the park. The sky was clear and very little wind and it was getting warmer as we headed back towards the east end of the lake. I was a bit surprised that the A group was willing to lay back and let the B group set the pace as we rode into the picnic area but we were doing a pretty good job going through the trees on that end of the lake because it was a bit downhill.

As we got to the east end of the lake the pace started to pick up and soon the A group started to move through the pack. We did come across another cyclist about three quarters of the way around the lake and not long after than the A group started to make a quick run to get back out of the park and down to Ramona. When we got down past the gate on Burnisconi we dropped down the hill to Ramona where Torpedo got across the road and heading east well before the rest of us. While we were moving pretty good when we got out onto the Expressway at first we weren’t closing on Torpedo and Bandit left us at Lakeview. Finally almost back to Bridge we goy on Torpedo’s back wheel and he pulled us all the way to Sanderson. A quick right and a quick left on Ramona Road and we were on the final leg home.

We lost Gambler and D’Artagnon at Lyon and started moving south towards Latham and Burger King. I got ready to down shift and start my easy spin to works the lactic acid out of my legs and we past Cottonwood and esplanade in short order. However; when we got to Menlo we noticed we would need different bikes to stay on Lyon. The street was torn up and didn’t look road bike friendly. So we took Menlo to Kirby and then back down to Devonshire and back to Gilmore and the parking lot. For me it had been 51 miles in 2 hours and 58 minutes. Not bad for an easy half century.