2/6/2012
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


I got up this morning looking forward to an easy week before the TDPS century. I had put together one of my favorite rides west to McCall and over the hill to Menifee and Murrieta. I got up and looked outside to a sky that had just a little overcast and it was just cool enough that I decided I needed to wear a jacket. I headed for Burger King at 8am.

I pulled into the parking lot and noticed Wolf was already unloading his bike and Torpedo was just pulling into the lot. I stopped to talk with them and Highlander pulled up with Tax Man. Chinook rolled in as did D’Artagnon and a new rider from Canada, Rick walked up and wanted to join us for the day. He was in luck because Raptor, Traveler and Dura Max were pulling in about that time to do a C group ride and Ricks touring bike would fit right in. We introduced the new rider and headed out onto Gilmore to start the ride west.

It was still rather cool but at least there was no wind as we got and I was feeling pretty good. But then early in the ride I almost always feel pretty good. The hard part this time of year is I don’t do well in the cold weather, I normally have to work off Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners and I don’t do well on a diet. When I am losing weight I may be getting in better shape but I tire out a lot faster than in the summer when I can eat the same amount of calories I burn. That is what I was thinking about as we turned onto Kirby and turned onto Cypress.

As we moved through the housing tract to Johnston D’Artagnon and Torpedo pulled ahead talking casually and leading the way onto Johnston and then onto Sanderson and north towards the turn to the Airport. We got behind a car at the light and were able to make the left turn without any problem. It was a quick run to the end of the street and then a left and a right to pass in front on Hanger One before coming back onto Stetson.

I pulled to Warren and then Torpedo and D’Artagnon started to pull away towards California. I was determined to stay in the aerobic zone and keep my heart rate down. It is a lot easier to do when you are eating a lot calorie diet because you just don’t have the steam to drop the hammer for any long period of time. Highlander pulled us down California and we worked our way up to Stowe where we turned west way behind Torpedo and D’Artagnon.

After about a quarter of a mile I dropped back and first Highlander pulled us down Stowe. So far the morning was still cool but at lest it seemed to be warming up. Still not warm enough to take my jacket off but better than when we pulled out of the parking lot. Highlander gave up the lead to Wolf who pulled us all the way to Winchester and the Country Store Parking lot for a regroup.

I got back out in front and took us down to Grand and headed west again. I gave up the lead again and the group split in two with Torpedo, D’Artagnon, Wolf and Chinook out front and Highlander, Tax Man and I following. We followed then all the way to Briggs and then to Mapes and Menifee. As we got back to Florida then lead group had stopped at the AM/PM so we pulled over for some more hydration before starting again and riding to McCall and the climb over the hill to the hospital. We regrouped just past Bradley and then rode together to the end of McCall and over to Cherry Hill to head back to Bradley.

We quickly got over to Bradley and then headed south to Newport were we were going to turn back east again. We managed to get the light on Newport and we were on our way to Jack in the Box. We were lucky and caught all the lights green and made it to the Jack in just a few minutes. It was time for our coffee and conversation time and today we seemed a bit more animated than normal. It most likely was because Chinook is new and hasn’t heard all of our stories, or maybe because Chinook is new and we haven’t heard all of his stories. Whatever the case we had a good time visiting before heading for home. Torpedo and D’Artagnon took off by themselves and the rest of us took turns pulling back to the saddle. After topping the saddle Wolf back to and Chinook more or less pulled us all the way back to Sanderson. I left them at Johnston and got home with 40 miles on the computer. All in all a good day.