3/2/2012

By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


Today was a lot more like the kind of days I look for when we have a Friday ride. It wasn’t too cold, it was clear and we would be heading west. My only worry was they were predicting wind and I wasn’t looking forward to fighting any wind today. I just wanted a easy laid back cruise of about 80 percent effort and something close to 40 miles. I headed out of the door at 8am with my hopes high and feeling pretty good.

I got to Burger King just as Highlander was unloading his bike and noticed Rick had his bike on the back of his pickup like the last time the fun group drove to Lake Paris. Blood Hound was already waiting by the window when Chinook pulled up with Barracuda. Next Rein arrived and Dura Max. Traveler, Raptor and Rick were heading for Lake Paris to ride around the area and we were going to ride to Nuevo and then to Chris’s.

After the Raptor group left we took off for Lyon and made the turn north towards Ramona. They have worked on Lyon so some of the road is pretty smooth and we made good time as a group all the way to Ramona.


I pulled everyone up Lyon and then west on Ramona and then to the corner of Sanderson and the Expressway. We made the turn west and set cruise control on about 20 mph. We knew we would have to watch for the dogs once we past Warren because they have chased us the last two times we have been out this way. But as we took turns pulling we managed to pass the dairy where the dogs normally gave chase without incident. The ride to Lakeview and the Valero station went smoothly from there. Blood Hound took off once we got to Lakeview and left us as we worked our way south to Nuevo. We turned down the street to ride over to Central and watched as Blood Hound found a small hill to climb

We turned towards Menifee and worked our way past some construction just before turning south towards Mapes. I pulled for about a mile as we got close to the nursery on the right after the slight rise.

I gave up the lead on Mapes and Barracuda took over to pull us all the way to Briggs before we turned south once more heading back towards Florida and Heritage High School. The great part about Briggs is the long downhill all the way to Florida and the dead flat ride to the housing track on the other side of the High School. Barracuda took the dirt road because he was on a cyclocross bike and Blood Hound decided to pick it up to get through the housing track as quickly as he could. Highlander took off after him while Chinook, Dura Max, Rein and I continued on at a more relaxed pace. We all regrouped at Chris’s for coffee.

A quick break with some story telling and joking and we were ready to hit the road again. Blood Hound headed for Domenigoni while the rest of us headed for Stowe. I took the pull north on Winchester and held it all the way to Stowe were we made another turn east and started to look for the dogs that have chased us the last two days we rode down Stowe.


Once again we were in luck and we were not accosted by any dogs as we continued on to California. I lead us to Stetson and then to Warren where Highlander took over and pulled us to the airport. As soon as he was on the airport road he must have felt the horse to the barn effect and started to pick up speed. He didn’t seem to notice when all of us stopped when Chinook dropped his camera and had to recover it. By the time we got started again Highlander was almost out of sight. We could just see him at the light as we made our last turn towards Sanderson.

When we got back to Lowes both Chinook and Rein left us and headed for home. Rain will be heading for home in Canada Monday of Tuesday so we won’t be seeing him for a year or two. Chinook will be here just a bit longer but he will be leaving soon as well. Barracuda, Dura Max and I rode around Lowes and over to Acacia and started back towards Kirby. We could no longer see Highlander so we rode back to Gilmore together and then to Burger King to see Highlander already had his bike loaded.

Barracuda and I sat and talked with Highlander for a while and then we both rode back to Lyon and south to Johnston before turning east. I left him on San Francisco and headed home myself. It was a good ride and a comfortable ride even if I didn’t get in 40 miles. Still I can’t complain compared to the weather in the south east it was a perfect day.