Everyone knows it's windy

5/25/2012 By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) We had a big weekend planned but I didn’t want to skimp on the rest of the group for the Friday ride so I put in a bit more distance for a Friday. I was a bit worried about the wind today but I knew we could change the ride if it was too bad so off I went with high hopes and both arm and leg warmers. I got there first and for a while I was worried I would be alone. But by 8:30 Highlander, Dura Max, Ocelot, Torpedo and Barracuda were ready to ride with me. We started out slowly down Gilmore to acacia.

Knowing I had a big ride coming up Saturday and another longer Ride Monday I simply wanted to pace myself and keep from getting too tired for the 40 mile round trip I had planned. Everyone seemed content with the reduced pace as we moved west on Acacia to Kirby and they were pushing me from Kirby to Cypress. As we moved west through the housing tract it was clear we would be join by the wind. It didn’t seem too bad on Cypress and was still pretty light as we neared Johnston.

I still had the lead as we turned left onto Sanderson and started towards Domenigoni after passing Stetson. I ended up taking all the way to Domenigoni and made the turn towards Warren. After about a half of a mile I gave up the lead when I noticed the wind was having an effect on some of our riders. We cut the pace down a bit till everyone was back in line and Torpedo decided to drop the hammer right into the teeth of the wind. Barracuda and Highlander pulled ahead as well and I stayed with Ocelot and Dura Max all the way to the saddle. I assured Ocelot that once we made the turn onto Lindenburger things would be better.

We started down the saddle and made our way to Lindenburger. True to my word the ride north to McCall was a lot easier. Our pace picked up on Lindenburger and rolled up onto Simpson almost effortlessly. We crossed the street and turned onto Heritage and it was almost as easy as we moved to McCall and then to Menifee. I was back in front as we started towards the AM/Pm on Florida.

After a short break we started north on Menifee and slowly picked up the pace again and by Mapes we were cruising along at about 20 mph without breathing hard. I had high hopes that we wouldn’t be fighting the wind anymore today. Barracuda lead us most of the way to Nuevo and I took over after the turn to Lakeview and heading towards the gas station on Lakeview and Ramona Expressway. I was not impressed as I got close to the elementary school and noticed the flag was not blowing east. To me that meant it was quite possible the wind wouldn’t be with us on the run back to Sanderson once we got back out on Ramona.

I got a chance to see for myself as we pulled out on to Ramona and I got the lead again. It felt like a slight push to me so I pushed it up a bit and pulled hard towards the Dairy farms. I looked back and noticed the pace line was breaking up. I fell off of the front and Barracuda took over as I fell back to help pull the group back together. It didn’t work but Highlander and Barracuda were waiting for us at Warren so we regrouped. Dura Max and Ocelot weren’t going to follow us back to Burger King so I picked it up a bit and dragged us to Sanderson at times staying in the drops just to get out of the wind. I got us to Ramona road and heading towards Lyon. Barracuda was way out in front of Highlander and me but he waited for us at Cottonwood. We rode back to Latham together and finished at Burger King.

Barracuda and I followed Highlander back to his van where we talked for a few minutes before each of us headed for home. I worked my way over to Lyon again and down to Johnston before heading for home. I wanted the few extra blocks to give me an even 40 miles for the day and that is just what I got. I can’t say the wind is my friend but today we managed to hold our own against it and I still felt pretty good after fighting it most of the day.