5/04/2012 By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It was supposed to be a sunny day today but looking outside first thing this morning I wasn’t so sure. It was more overcast than I thought it should be but it wasn’t all that cold. No arm or leg warmers today or at least I thought I would be OK without them today. I got to Burger King to see Surgeon parked waiting in his car. If he had his cycling shoes on I knew it would be warmer than 64 degrees. Highlander pulled in next and for a while it looked like we were going to be the only three. Then Gambler drove up followed by Ferret then Ocelot and Dura Max. We got a chance to visit with Red Rabbit for a few minutes when Barracuda arrived and the group was ready to hit the road. Gilmore then Acacia and we were on our way up Kirby.

I managed to get in front on Kirby and took us to Cypress and through the housing tract. Highlander and I chatted as we rode towards Johnston thinking that we were pretty lucky to have such a good group to ride with and such a great area to ride in. The whole group was pretty close together as we rounded the corner onto Johnston and caught the light on Sanderson. As soon as the light changed to green I took the lead again to pull us through the light at Stetson and past Wally World. We weren’t in any great rush but we were still moving along pretty well.

All we needed to do now was ride past the High School and onto Domenigoni west towards the Saddle. I held the first pull till we got to the rise and then fell to the back as we headed towards Warren. We rolled past Warren and over the dry wash at a constant but easy pace but somewhere before Winchester Ocelot and Dura Max pulled back slightly and I decided to stay with them as the rest of the pack headed for the saddle. I was feeling pretty comfortable now that I have the Tarmac dialed in and decided to pull all the way past Leon and to regroup with everyone else on the Saddle.

After an energy bar and about half of a bottle of electrolytes I asked if everyone was ready to go and we headed down the back side of the saddle towards Lindenburger. As we got ready to roll through the green light I noticed Bandit was sitting at the corner waiting for us. As the group past he joined us and I was pretty sure that sooner or later the pace would picked up. I looked behind me and noticed the A group was forming up and figured it wouldn’t be long before our nice easy passed ride turned into a drag race.

Bandit pulled up next to me and told me a Strava segment was coming up and Gambler was going to be leading the lead out but no sooner did that register than Gambler rolled by with Bandit and Ferret on his wheel. I held on as best as I could but I was out of the draft and working way too hard to close the gap and attack the hill, one or the other but not both. I dropped off by Holland but still did pretty well on the hill. I stopped and waited for Highlander, Surgeon, Dura Max and Ocelot. We restarted and rode up to Scott together. We turned east and Highlander pulled up next to me and offered to pull for a while. On the downhill we started to coast and I pulled around Highlander to take the lead before Leon. Somehow my camera fell off of my bike and in a fit of anger for being past Highlander rode right over it. (Really I don’t believe he did it intentionally but it makes a better story this way.) However I wasn’t fazed and simply went back to retrieve my smashed camera. However that would be the end of the pictures for the day. Ocelot faded a bit as we approached Winchester but recovered on the Washington downhill. Still Highlander, Surgeon and I pulled away to East Benton and then headed back to Winchester to meet up with the rest of the group at the gas station. Shortly after leaving on Winchester we turned towards Leon and then once again split into two groups. Things stayed that way all the way back to Scott then Menifee and finally out onto Newport/Domenigoni heading for home. We more or less cruised over the Saddle and repast Leon and Winchester. The A group was well out of range before we even got close to Warren and we spread out just a bit heading for Sanderson. A friend of Ocelot joined us and rode with us to Sanderson where I turned and they went straight towards State. I met up with Highlander and Surgeon and stayed with them to Johnston where I headed for home. I got home with 49 miles on the computer. After lunch I went to exchange my broken camera only to discover my replacement policy expired seven days ago. I replaced it anyway so once I am able to ride again, after jury duty, we will still have pictures.