3/16/2012

By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


My hope was that Friday would be like Wednesday. My hope was dashed as soon as I looked out of the window this morning. I looked pretty dark with all of the fog and overcast and I was worried it might even drizzle before I got to Burger King. At least that fear didn’t come true. However once I got to the parking lot it didn’t seem like we would have a very big group. By 8:50 it was clear only Highlander, Centaur, Chinook and I were brave enough to face the ride to Elsinore and back.


A quick ride down Gilmore and a turn onto Acacia and we were on our way. We got to the light at Kirby and caught the red. We somehow managed to trip the light and were back on our way in less than a minute and heading south. I felt pretty good but I was cold and my legs simply don’t function very well being cold. I did pull up to Cypress and made the turn towards Johnston and Sanderson. We were still in warm up mode at this point and it was easy to stay in the lead.

Once we made the turn onto Sanderson Highlander got in front and headed for Stetson. He took one look at the green light and he picked up the pace to the point where Centaur wondered just who was pulling this train. He did back off as we got to Wally World and let me pull us to Domenigoni and make the turn west towards the saddle. One good thing about a small group is it is easy to keep a pace-line. I turned over the lead to Highlander and we worked our way through the line all the way to Winchester. When Centaur got out on the point and made a heroic pull towards the saddle.

As we past Winchester I thought Centaur would drop off the front and fall back to the back where I happened to be. But he kept right on going and has us rolling along between 21 and 24 all the way to Leon. I thought Centaur was holding back as we got to the bottom of the climb but he wasn’t and Chinook jumped the hill first and I gave chase. I couldn’t close on him and we all stopped to regroup on top of the saddle before heading back down the backside towards Lindenburger.

I took over and pulled us down the hill and past Lindenburger to Menifee. After passing the light I rode side by side with Highlander and we worked our way towards Antelope. As we got close to the light it was still green and Highlander once again dropped the hammer to make the light. He was almost to the top of the overpass before I even started up the ramp. He was still moving away as we past the off ramp and stayed there till we caught him at the next light. All that was left was for us to ride to Carl’s for a quick stop and then ride on to Railroad Canyon.
Once we started up the canyon we spread out a bit as Centaur and Chinook jumped up the first rise. But soon we ran into construction work and Highlander passed us all riding out in the car lane. Once we got to the sign man we jumped out there as well and caught him on the last climb and then we stayed pretty much together all the way to Mickey-Ds for coffee and conversation before heading back the way we came and home.

Centaur was the first on the two climbs and they waited for Highlander and I before the downhill leading to Murrieta. We rolled past them parked on the side of the road but they caught us and we stayed together all the way back to Antelope. Shortly after that Centaur started pulling again and he even won the Saddle sprint before we formed another pace line back to Winchester. We took turns till Centaur was back in front and he pulled us all the way back to Sanderson. As we turned north I downshifted and started my easy spin for home and left them at Johnston. I got back home with 45 miles on my computer and a 17mph average for the whole ride. Easy Friday may be all in my mind. We said good-by to Chinook who will be heading for home in Canada Sunday. Hope to see him next year.