3/30/2012

By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


It looked like it might be a nice day today and I had an easy ride planned but like we all know you can never predict how easy or how hard any ride was going to be. The backwards Soboba ride is a Friday favorite and I had blown the ride a few weeks ago so I was looking forward to doing it correctly this week. The Klein was clean and ready to go and the sky was far less overcast than I expected as I headed towards Burger King to join my friends for a good day.

I was a bit surprised at how small the group was today but I do believe some people were racing this weekend. Still Wolf and Highlander where there when I got there and Rocket and Huntress both got there early. We pulled out onto Gilmore and got caught at the stop light. Once it turned green we were off to Acacia and the start of our ride.


We headed towards Kirby and I knew I was going to have to replace my helmet mirror. I simply can’t get used to not seeing who or what is behind me and it is hard to wait for someone to yell “car back” or clear before I move into the left turn lane. Still we made it to Kirby without any problems and quickly spun our way to Cypress and then west towards Sanderson. Cypress was as calm as ever and we quickly rolled through the neighborhood and out towards Sanderson with Highlander looking pretty strong early in the ride.

As we hurried through the green light on Sanderson and Johnston we managed to get to Stetson before the light turned red and made our way past Wally world and up to Mustang. As we past the High School I had to rely on everyone else to tell me it was clear to move to the left turn lane and pull up to the light at Domenigoni. Somewhere between Johnston and Domenigoni Ferret caught up with us and was there as we turned east towards State Street. I pulled all the way to State and Highlander took us to McSweeney and through that housing tract.

It is always a time of rest as we make the McSweeney loop. Not so much because it is hard but because everyone knows once we get back out onto State Street the pace north will pick up and we need to save our energy in case a sprint starts. By the time we were coming back out of McSweeney the weather was looking just about perfect and there was very little if any wind.

State went better than I expected and we stayed as a group in a pace line all the way back to Doemigoni and once again we got the light red. When we were off again I got the pull and every stayed in line all the way to Chambers and over to Buena Vista. It looked like someone was working on the old golf course or at least they were working on cleaning it up. We made a turn onto Thornton to work our way to Santa Fe and then Stetson.

Once on Stetson the pace picked up again for some reason and we were coming up to Columbia a lot faster than I am used to. Highlander stayed on Stetson and the rest of us hot footed it over to crest and then worked our way over to Lake and back to Stetson. Not being able to shift with my right hand has a draw back in that I tend to lose out on any hill because I can’t get low enough to spin and I was last up the hill on Lake chasing Huntress. Nothing much changed till Rocket left us at Lake and Stetson. Wolf saw Highlander way up in front of us and dropped the hammer but we didn’t catch him anyway. We regrouped at Fairview and started working together almost like a machine as we worked our way out to Ramona and then cut over to Soboba.

Once out on Soboba Ferret took the lead and kept a steady 22 to 23 all the way back to State before turning left and taking us back to Ramona and heading back to Carl’s on New Chicago. Wolf pulled most of the way till I got the lead at a light and managed to somehow drop most of the group at Hemet Blvd. I waited a block or two up the road and we rode to Carl’s together.

After some coffee and conversation we headed for home and once again Highlander took off like a rocket was tied to the back of his bike. Ferret stayed with him but Wolf, Huntress and I were several block behind him as we got back to Burger King and teased him about his fast recovery. I headed for home and got there with just over 40 miles on my computer. It was a good ride and the Klein is working pretty well for me. Good t have friends to ride with.