2/3/2012
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


I almost always plan on an easy Friday ride and my desire was to accomplish just that today. During the winter the group tends to be a bit small and with a race or two this weekend I more than expected it to be a small group as well. I met Highlander, Wolf and Chinook as I pulled into the parking lot and got a call from D’Artagnon saying he was running late. Barracuda pulled up about the time Gambler drove up and we stood around talking and waiting for D’Artagnon. Gambler wasn’t riding today but he stopped by to chat. We were still talking when Raptor, Dura Max and Ocelot pulled up for a C ride. Just as soon as D’Artagnon arrived we took off down Gilmore heading for Acacia. A quick turn and then another on Kirby and we were on our way.


After getting a quick picture on Kirby I settled into a slow steady spin towards Cypress. I had told myself that I would stay in the Aerobic range all day and was determined to follow through on that no matter what. By being out front I figured I could control the pace for a while and that worked as we crossed the railroad tracks and turned onto Cypress and headed for Johnston and Sanderson.

Once we turned to pass the airport Wolf decided to pick it up a bit as he turned onto Stetson. D’Artagnon and Barracuda took off after him and Chinook, Highlander and I cruised a few yards behind. We crossed Warren together and split again at California. Highlander and I pulled to Stowe and Chinook took over and caught us up to the other three just before we got to Winchester. We pulled into the Country Market parking lot and regrouped and hydrated before getting back o0n Winchester and heading for Grand.

I got out onto Winchester and took the group all the way to Grand and then to Leon but I was careful to hold it to a 6.5 hour century pace. Once on Leon we quickly made it to Simpson and Highlander took over and pulled us to Lindenburger. D’Artagnon pulled us to Domenigoni. And no I didn’t attack the Saddle but everyone waited for me on the downhill side and D’Artagnon took the lead at Leon and pulled us at a very good clip most of the way to Winchester where I had to drop back and follow the rest of the group. Barracuda joined D’Artagnon and pulled away into the distance while Wolf, Highlander, Chinook and I took turns pulling back towards Warren.

By working together we past Warren with hardly any effort and zeroed in on Sanderson in our path to State Street. Highlander was pulling as we got back to the marina road and I pulled up to take a turn but Wolf took over for me and pulled us the rest of the way to State. I did get a chance to pull from Domenigoni to Chambers where we turned to Buena Vista and then Thornton past the old golf course.

Once back onto Stetson we set our sights on getting to Fairview. The sun was out and it was beginning to warm up as we past Lake and rolled past all the orange trees to Fairview. Highlander took over to lead us to Florida. He was well ahead of everyone crossing over the bridge at the water channel and stayed there all the way to the light on Florida where we made our turn to Carl’s for coffee and conversation. After a short break we left to head back to the parking lot and home. We took Lincoln to Park and then onto Devonshire where we headed west to Santa Fe. We had to drop down to Florida because we didn’t want to try and ride over the road work on Lyon and I pulled till we got close to Palm where I would break for home. As I turned it looked like we had picked up Surgeon on one of his town rides. The rest of the group continued on and I got home with 39 miles on the computer. Not bad for a easy day.