6/08/2012
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)
What a great looking morning today was when I looked outside and saw a beautiful clear blue sky and at least first thing in the morning there was no wind. It has been getting warmer and traditionally we have more riders. That hasn’t been the case so far this year but I was hopeful that today would be an improvement. I managed to get to the parking lot early and was a bit worried that is was going to light Friday. But no sooner had this thought crossed my mind when Nike and Highlander drove up. Von Richthofen and his son Levi, (501) rode up next followed by Ocelot and Dura Max. A car arrived with one of 501’s friends, Noah and the group started to look pretty good. Gambler and Barracuda pulled in and it was almost time to leave when to my surprise Rocket turned the corner. 11 riders pulled out of the parking lot and turned south towards Acacia.
As we turned the corner on Acacia and headed for Kirby Barracuda began to tease me about my new cassette that I added as a climbing wheel. I now have a low range of just over one to one and I was looking forward to trying it out on Goetz. Am getting to the age where being able to gear down for long hills feels more important that trying to catch the big dogs and I wanted to test my theory today on a longer ride. I was still thinking about this when the light turned green and we headed south on Kirby and rolled on towards the Railroad tracks.
As we crossed the railroad tracks I found myself talking to 501 and Noah as we made the turn onto Cypress. It is good to have to young riders coming out and we all hope they stay with cycling even more than most of us did. We cruised through housing tract and out onto Sanderson and started south towards Mustang and the High School. I started out front and slowly moved up the speed as we got closer to Domenigoni.
I started us west towards the saddle and planned on giving up the lead about halfway to Warren. As I looked behind me I noticed the group had split early and that Gambler, Rocket, Highlander, Barracuda and I were dropping the back half of the group. By the time we crossed over Warren I could see the back half of the group wasn’t getting any closer. They were slower but the gap was still the same so I stopped our group and waited for them. Once they past us we took a lot longer to catch them than I thought but by Winchester we were back in one big group. About that time Gambler started a run at the Saddle and for whatever strange reason I gave chase. I managed to stay on his wheel till the last light before the saddle but after catching it red I was just too tired to chase him up the saddle where we would all regroup.
Once we were back on the way we quickly past Lindenburger and watched Gambler and Highlander pull away heading towards the freeway. We got an extra red light or two and soon lost sight of them at Antelope. It took us another few minutes to pull into Carl’s and regroup before splitting into two groups with Dura Max taking six and heading down Murrieta and I took five and headed to Goetz. Gambler and Barracuda hit the hill pretty hard and I got a chance to try out my new gears. I will admit it was the easiest climb I have even made over Goetz. I have gone faster but not with less effort.
We topped the hill and rode down to meet Barracuda and Gambler at Ethanic and moving quickly to Paris and Paris Boulevard and heading north.
We stopped on Nuevo to get something to drink and then moved back east towards Menifee. We took turns pulling till Gambler took the lead and got us to Nuevo and Menifee at about 21 MPH. We headed back south and soon Gambler was off the front again and finally I caught his wheel and followed him up the rise and then dropped back as we started the downhill towards Mapes. Highlander, Barracuda and Nike closed with us just as we headed back east on Mapes towards Briggs.
We started thinking about the end of the ride as we crossed Florida and rode through the housing tract and down Briggs to the Dump road. Barracuda started a pace line as we were following pretty close until a big squirrel decided to try and run through the line. I hit it with one of my wheels and I think Highlander hit it as well. It was a bit disconcerting and I don’t think Barracuda even noticed as he headed for Winchester. But the time t rest of us caught him we were almost to Chris’s. Only Nike and I stopped and the other three headed for home. Nike and I followed about 20 minutes later and managed the blessing of a tail wind all the way down Stowe and again on Stetson before it changed to a side wind till we got back to Sanderson and headed north. I dropped Nike off at Burger King and headed home to finish with 50 miles on the computer. Not bad for a Friday.
As we turned the corner on Acacia and headed for Kirby Barracuda began to tease me about my new cassette that I added as a climbing wheel. I now have a low range of just over one to one and I was looking forward to trying it out on Goetz. Am getting to the age where being able to gear down for long hills feels more important that trying to catch the big dogs and I wanted to test my theory today on a longer ride. I was still thinking about this when the light turned green and we headed south on Kirby and rolled on towards the Railroad tracks.
As we crossed the railroad tracks I found myself talking to 501 and Noah as we made the turn onto Cypress. It is good to have to young riders coming out and we all hope they stay with cycling even more than most of us did. We cruised through housing tract and out onto Sanderson and started south towards Mustang and the High School. I started out front and slowly moved up the speed as we got closer to Domenigoni.
I started us west towards the saddle and planned on giving up the lead about halfway to Warren. As I looked behind me I noticed the group had split early and that Gambler, Rocket, Highlander, Barracuda and I were dropping the back half of the group. By the time we crossed over Warren I could see the back half of the group wasn’t getting any closer. They were slower but the gap was still the same so I stopped our group and waited for them. Once they past us we took a lot longer to catch them than I thought but by Winchester we were back in one big group. About that time Gambler started a run at the Saddle and for whatever strange reason I gave chase. I managed to stay on his wheel till the last light before the saddle but after catching it red I was just too tired to chase him up the saddle where we would all regroup.
Once we were back on the way we quickly past Lindenburger and watched Gambler and Highlander pull away heading towards the freeway. We got an extra red light or two and soon lost sight of them at Antelope. It took us another few minutes to pull into Carl’s and regroup before splitting into two groups with Dura Max taking six and heading down Murrieta and I took five and headed to Goetz. Gambler and Barracuda hit the hill pretty hard and I got a chance to try out my new gears. I will admit it was the easiest climb I have even made over Goetz. I have gone faster but not with less effort.
We topped the hill and rode down to meet Barracuda and Gambler at Ethanic and moving quickly to Paris and Paris Boulevard and heading north.
We stopped on Nuevo to get something to drink and then moved back east towards Menifee. We took turns pulling till Gambler took the lead and got us to Nuevo and Menifee at about 21 MPH. We headed back south and soon Gambler was off the front again and finally I caught his wheel and followed him up the rise and then dropped back as we started the downhill towards Mapes. Highlander, Barracuda and Nike closed with us just as we headed back east on Mapes towards Briggs.
We started thinking about the end of the ride as we crossed Florida and rode through the housing tract and down Briggs to the Dump road. Barracuda started a pace line as we were following pretty close until a big squirrel decided to try and run through the line. I hit it with one of my wheels and I think Highlander hit it as well. It was a bit disconcerting and I don’t think Barracuda even noticed as he headed for Winchester. But the time t rest of us caught him we were almost to Chris’s. Only Nike and I stopped and the other three headed for home. Nike and I followed about 20 minutes later and managed the blessing of a tail wind all the way down Stowe and again on Stetson before it changed to a side wind till we got back to Sanderson and headed north. I dropped Nike off at Burger King and headed home to finish with 50 miles on the computer. Not bad for a Friday.
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