2/22/2012

By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


Finally we had a pretty good chance at a nice warm day for a ride and it looked like a perfect day to head for Bautista. I had posted the ride the afternoon of the 21st and was looking forward to a good ride that was well attended. I dressed, had breakfast and headed out to meet with the rest of the group to head east.

There were about ten of us as we pulled out of the parking lot and headed over to Lyon to turn south and head towards Johnston. Rocket pulled ahead of us and sprinted for home to get his phone and meet us as we past his street while the rest of us caught the light at Stetson. It only took a few minutes till we were at Thornton and heading east towards Santa Fe.


We worked our way past State Street and over to Santa Fe and turned north to Stetson. Within about a block we picked Rocket back up and started for Columbia. The whole group was back together as we rode down to Thornton and back on Crest heading towards Lake Street.

As we moved east I thought of the surprise I was planning for the A group and the better climbers in our group. Once we turned north on Lake I told everyone we would be regrouping at Stetson and once we pulled over I introduced my surprise plan on everyone. Gambler, Rocket, Centaur, Wolf and Chinook would ride down Lake to Mulberry and the rest of us would make the turn on Stetson and run straight to Fairview. While I was explaining the plan to everyone I told Dura Max and Ocelot to take off first and the rest of us would follow. Ocelot was off in a flash and Dura Max had to wait for a truck before giving chase. We never saw Ocelot again. We did catch Dura Max about halfway up Fairview to Bautista and were only a little ahead of him as we started the climb.

I stayed with Al and Huntress for the first two or three miles until we dropped Highlander and Rein. In dropped back to pull up Rain but decided to go back for Highlander. By the time I got to him, or should I say he got up to me Gambler and Centaur was coming on fast. Only a few feet behind them was Chinook and I could only hope that Huntress and Al had a big enough lead. Turns out they didn’t and Gambler got to the top first. Wolf pulled Dura Max up to Highlander and me and we followed them to the top ourselves. I ended up last. We rested a few minutes and met a new rider that joined up for the ride back down.


What a drag race the ride down turned out to be. Just about everyone took a turn pulling at full speed on the rind back down the Canyon. Huntress got us up to speed shortly after the big off camber turn and Gambler took over right after her. The new rider pulled for a while and finally Wolf caught us and took his turn at the front just as we past the white fence. As we headed for the short rise I found myself in third with Wolf in the lead. For me this was pure gravy as I took off and hammered the sprint over the hill. However that split the group and I fell back again to see where everyone went. Everyone else went down Fairview without stopping and I went back to get Highlander and Dura Max. We just caught Wolf and Centaur at Florida. We all rode together to Carl’s for coffee and conversation. Highlander had to leave early but the rest of us headed up to Lincoln to start the ride home.

We worked our way down Lincoln towards Park and Dura Max decided hang with us till we got back to the turn to Devonshire. We made the turn onto Park and past the property where they keep the Zebras and other animals and made it to the short turn onto Devonshire as a group. Dura Max left us at the turn and headed for home. Everyone kept saying what a great day and a great ride it had been as we started the final run for home.

After we pulled back into the parking lot from the Pep Boys driveway we stopped and chatted for a few minutes before every headed for their own homes. I moved back over to Lyon and headed for home myself. I got back with just shy of 39 miles and was hardly ever tired. Absolutely the kind of day I like.