3/9/2012

By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)


Finally they were predicting a warm spring type of day. They couldn’t make up their mind if it was going to be windy or not but I kept my fingers crossed and dressed like it was summer. It was the first day in months I left the house without arm and leg warmers and I didn’t take a jacket. I even planned for an easy ride and made the mistake of posting my intentions. To add to it I brought my backup bike thinking we would simply cruise the 40 miles and enjoy the day.


I got to Burger King before anyone else was unloaded but I did see Centaur getting out of his truck. By the time I put my bike against the wall Highlander pulled in and started to unload his bike. I was expecting a small group so I was surprised to see Cossack ride up to join us. Chinook pulled up about the same time as Ferret pulled into the parking lot. Blood Hound showed up just before Traveler and Rocky came around the corner. Then to our surprise Huntress was early. We even had Bounty Hunter join us and I haven’t seen him in months. Once Raptor pulled up to ride with Traveler we pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards Acacia. The sun felt good as we turned west to Kirby and I lead the way as we made the light and headed for Cypress.

My hope for a easy ride was still high as we moved down Kirby and I was able to stay in front without too much effort. But I had a suspicion the Huntress was eager to make a run on Domenigoni and I knew Cossack and Centaur always had the power to set a fast pace. The other consideration was Blood Hound and Ferret were both hard runners and Chinook was able to stay with the best of them. I turned onto Cypress running all of this through my mind and added to that it would be the longest ride on the Klein and I hadn’t dialed in the saddle or bars yet.

Just after we turned onto Johnston and headed for Sanderson the light turned green and I took the lead and pulled past Stetson and Wally World heading for Mustang. For some reason we were strung out quite a bit as we past the high school and turned onto Domenigoni. I gave up the lead about a quarter of a mile west of Sanderson but only got to drop back four riders because of how far we had strung out. Huntress pulled and Centaur pulled and Cossack pulled till only Blood Hound was in front of me. I got the lead about Leon and was a sitting duck heading for the saddle. I gave it up just before we started up the hill and dropped to the back just as everyone dropped the hammer. I had a long way to cover to Huntress and Blood Hound. I thought about shutting down but it was the saddle after all so I managed to catch Huntress and Blood Hound just before we regrouped at the top.

I have to admit this was a little faster than I had planned for a Friday ride but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves even if we were running hard up to this point. The whole group was averaging better than 18 MPH at this point. If I even slowed down just a bit people simply went around me like I was a rock in a fast moving stream. In fact Huntress hit the saddle so hard I didn’t catch her till she got to the chain link fence at the top of the saddle. If Blood Hound hadn’t blocked her in I might not have caught her then. It is only a matter of time before she starts dropping me on climbs.

We didn’t take much time on regrouping before we started back down the back side of the saddle and down to Lindenburger. Bounty Hunter had to get back so he turned at the next light and headed for home. The rest of us continued on to Menifee and made a left heading to Holland Street and the short 6 percent hill before Garboni. Normally we take it easy on this part of the ride but not today. I fell back to read a text message and Chinook had to pull me up to the Group at Holland where I just managed to hang with Huntress and Highlander for another regroup at the top of that little climb.

The group spread out a bit heading for Scott road and half made it through the light on Antelope and the rest of us caught it a few seconds later. We made it over the freeway and turned onto Hawn about 100 yards behind Cossack, Centaur and Ferret. I started a pull to try and close the gap and as I ran out of steam Chinook took over and closed some more. Rocky took over after that and I managed to sling shot past him just before Holland where we caught them and made the turn west towards a small hill and Murrieta. After the hill we turned on Murrieta and regrouped at the Am/Pm before heading to McCall and the run at the hospital Hill. We all regrouped at the top of Hospital Hill except Centaur and Ferret.

We started down the back side of McCall and met Centaur and Ferret. They joined us as we turned onto Heritage and headed as a group towards Lindenburger. Huntress started the pull and took us all the way to Lindenburger and Simpson.

She kept the lead till we got to Briggs where Blood Hound took over till Leon where Centaur took over and a bit later Rocky. Just before Winchester Chinook flew by and then Blood Hound. We all caught the light at Winchester together and for a change the turn light worked for us. We turned north and stopped at Chris’s for coffee. We were joined by Traveler who was coming back from Juniper Flats.

Once we finished telling stories and drinking coffee we got back on the road and headed north on Winchester. Highlander pulled us to Stowe and we turned east towards California hitting our first light wind.


Turning onto California I got back in front only to turn directly into a north wind till we got to Stetson. Chinook pulled us past Warren and to the airport road. For some reason Huntress, Rocky and Centaur were falling back and we didn’t know why till we got back to Burger King. Turns out she broke a spoke and didn’t realize her brake was rubbing. We talked briefly before going our separate ways and heading for home. I got there with 43 miles on the computer and a good feeling from being with friends.