6/20/2012
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)
The last few days have been pretty good for cycling. The group size has been pretty good and the weather has co-operated so I had no reason to expect today would be any different. It was cooler than Monday and the ride was going to shorter but there were three or four riders waiting for me when I got to the parking lot at 8am. People trickled in right up to 8:30 when we decided to head out to Latham and rode over to Lyon to start the ride.
Vortex has been absent from the group for a while but at least he was with us today. Nike had a friend with her named Dave, Surgeon and Dura Max followed them and Gambler was in the back talking to Centaur. Once we were on Lyon we covered the distance between blocks pretty quickly. We weren’t pushing but it was just one of those mornings when the ride seemed easy. I was planning on making this a easy ride and early on it seemed like everyone was on the same page.
Somehow Surgeon must have gained some extra energy and started to pull us along a bit quicker. I didn’t mind one bit because I found I like riding in the middle of the pack and so I sat back with the rest of the group and chatted away as we worked our way to Ramona for the turn West to get over to Sanderson.
Vortex pulled up front and started us along at an easy 20mph. In only a few minutes we were turning onto Sanderson and waiting at the light to start the run on the Expressway to Bridge. Vortex pulled most of the way to Warren and I took a turn for a short distance before I fell to the back to ride with Dura Max. The group turned north on Bridge street and watched as Gambler spread out the group on a run to Gilman. We regrouped at Gilman and Bridge before taking off again for Sanderson. I chased Gambler and Centaur for a little while before backing off to let the group catch up. I didn’t need to wait however because the rolled right by me once they caught up and I followed them to Sanderson and then back down to Ramona for another regroup. We then headed east to State and made a short nature stop and Mickey D’s before getting back on the road.
I am not sure about everyone else but the ride up State Street towards Soboba is always on of anticipation for me. I don’t want to push too hard because sometimes I get caught up in the hard run down Soboba to the Golf course. I had no intention of taking off with Gambler or Centaur if they dropped the hammer and I wasn’t all that worried about it after we turned on Soboba and I followed casually behind Vortex as we came up to the first of the three rollers.
About halfway up the first roller Gambler and Centaur started to pick up the pace. As they past Vortex I jumped on their back wheel and tried to hang on. The Soboba run has never been one of my better runs and after the second roller Gambler took the lead from Centaur and they started to pull away from me. At first I couldn’t close with either of them and then just as Gambler started to pull away from Centaur I managed to close and get on Centaur’s wheel. It looked like Centaur was getting tired so I pulled around to pass on the little rise by the driving range and Surgeon when with me. Surgeon pulled past me and I ended up a distant third to Gamblers run to the trees where we regrouped again.
Our next stop would be coffee at Carl’s so we started for the rider overpass and I managed to get over it before Gambler could run me down. However by the time we were heading back on Ramona I felt a bit tired and more or less cruised to Carl’s where we had our coffee and conversation. We stayed for about 20 minutes getting caught up on what we had all be up to for the last week before heading for home on Lincoln.
Dura Max left us at Park and we quickly worked our way over to Devonshire and west. We had beat the wind and with the slight downhill taking us to Santa Fe where we had to drop down to Latham and head for Burger King. I stayed with the group till I got to Palm before breaking for home. Once again it was a good day to be on a bike with friends.
Vortex has been absent from the group for a while but at least he was with us today. Nike had a friend with her named Dave, Surgeon and Dura Max followed them and Gambler was in the back talking to Centaur. Once we were on Lyon we covered the distance between blocks pretty quickly. We weren’t pushing but it was just one of those mornings when the ride seemed easy. I was planning on making this a easy ride and early on it seemed like everyone was on the same page.
Somehow Surgeon must have gained some extra energy and started to pull us along a bit quicker. I didn’t mind one bit because I found I like riding in the middle of the pack and so I sat back with the rest of the group and chatted away as we worked our way to Ramona for the turn West to get over to Sanderson.
Vortex pulled up front and started us along at an easy 20mph. In only a few minutes we were turning onto Sanderson and waiting at the light to start the run on the Expressway to Bridge. Vortex pulled most of the way to Warren and I took a turn for a short distance before I fell to the back to ride with Dura Max. The group turned north on Bridge street and watched as Gambler spread out the group on a run to Gilman. We regrouped at Gilman and Bridge before taking off again for Sanderson. I chased Gambler and Centaur for a little while before backing off to let the group catch up. I didn’t need to wait however because the rolled right by me once they caught up and I followed them to Sanderson and then back down to Ramona for another regroup. We then headed east to State and made a short nature stop and Mickey D’s before getting back on the road.
I am not sure about everyone else but the ride up State Street towards Soboba is always on of anticipation for me. I don’t want to push too hard because sometimes I get caught up in the hard run down Soboba to the Golf course. I had no intention of taking off with Gambler or Centaur if they dropped the hammer and I wasn’t all that worried about it after we turned on Soboba and I followed casually behind Vortex as we came up to the first of the three rollers. 
About halfway up the first roller Gambler and Centaur started to pick up the pace. As they past Vortex I jumped on their back wheel and tried to hang on. The Soboba run has never been one of my better runs and after the second roller Gambler took the lead from Centaur and they started to pull away from me. At first I couldn’t close with either of them and then just as Gambler started to pull away from Centaur I managed to close and get on Centaur’s wheel. It looked like Centaur was getting tired so I pulled around to pass on the little rise by the driving range and Surgeon when with me. Surgeon pulled past me and I ended up a distant third to Gamblers run to the trees where we regrouped again.
Our next stop would be coffee at Carl’s so we started for the rider overpass and I managed to get over it before Gambler could run me down. However by the time we were heading back on Ramona I felt a bit tired and more or less cruised to Carl’s where we had our coffee and conversation. We stayed for about 20 minutes getting caught up on what we had all be up to for the last week before heading for home on Lincoln.
Dura Max left us at Park and we quickly worked our way over to Devonshire and west. We had beat the wind and with the slight downhill taking us to Santa Fe where we had to drop down to Latham and head for Burger King. I stayed with the group till I got to Palm before breaking for home. Once again it was a good day to be on a bike with friends.
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