8/22/2012 By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Finally! We had a picture perfect morning for a ride. We were starting early and it wasn’t supposed to break 90 degrees till after 11am and we should be back home by then. I was also excited about trying a new modified ride to French Valley and I was feeling pretty good when I got up. Now all I needed was a goo the parking lot d group to join me. I pulled into the parking lot to see Centaur unloading and shortly after that Dura Max and Ocelot arrived. By 7:15 we had Digger, Highlander, Surgeon, Gambler, Red Rabbit, Coyote and Huntress. Right at 7:30 we were ready to hit the road and head south to Acacia.

It had been some months since we had the Red Rabbit join us and it was good to see him on his steel Holland as we rode up to the light on Kirby and waited for it to change to green. The Rabbit was a bit tentative about staying with us for the whole ride both because of the speed and because of the distance. We had a 49 mile ride planned and that would be the longest distance he had done in about two years. It would also be Diggers longest ride. I was thinking about that as we moved down Kirby and turned onto Cypress with Highlander riding next to me.

We chatted away easily thinking about how nice it was to have a cool morning to start our ride. At least we had a good spread for two groups. Gambler, Coyote and Centaur made a solid A group. Huntress was looking strong so she might join them and Surgeon as always might stay with them as they charged down the road. Dura Max and Ocelot would be consistent but wouldn’t push it and Digger was new so I didn’t know just what to expect. I was still considering how the group would be divided when we pulled up to the light at Sanderson. When the light changed Red Rabbit took off like in the old days and it took us all the way to Stetson to catch him. We broke into a double pace line and headed for Domenigoni.

I got back up front and managed to lead us all to Domenigoni and headed west. I didn’t pull all that long and fell off about three minutes. Surgeon was the next to head up the line and for a while he kept the pace right at 19 just as I had left it. Soon however it crept up to 20 or 21 and we started to stretch out a bit. Red Rabbit was falling back a bit till we got to the rise at the dry wash where he started to come on strong. Once on the downside of the dry wash the group split and Gambler, Huntress, Coyote, Centaur, Centaur, Surgeon and Highlander pulled away while Red Rabbit, Digger, Dura Max, Ocelot and I followed. Digger pulled around as if to give chase and close the gap but we reeled him back in by Winchester and I started to close on the tail markers but we just didn’t have enough time. Still we all regrouped at the Saddle.

As soon as we were all ready I started us down the back side of the saddle and towards Menifee. Surgeon had to leave at Lindenburger but I was expecting that. What I didn’t expect was a pickup buzzing Ocelot. We were lucky and she wasn’t knocked down but we had to wait for her and Dura Max at Menifee before heading south towards Holland and the killed little hill. For some reason the hill seemed pretty easy for me today and we all regrouped one again past the stop sign where the road get wider.

Our next challenge would be Scott road to Leon and south again. Gambler took the lead and as he started to pull away Huntress and Coyote jumped around me and jumped on his wheel. I picked up my pace and stayed with them all the way to Leon but decided to stop at the corner and let them go so none of the other riders would miss the turn. I got a chance to pull everyone else all the way to Winchester. We continued on and worked our way to Pourroy and down to Benton and back to the gas station at Winchester for a break. Once we were refreshed we were back on the road but didn’t get far before Centaur flatted and we got to watch a tire changing clinic.

After listening to Gambler and Highlander kibitz while Centaur must have made fixed his flat in record time and we were back on the road and rounding the corner on Winchester. There has been some road work on Winchester so the farther north we went the more traffic we saw. It wasn’t till the last minute that we could merge left to get into the turning lane for Max Gillis and work our way back to Leon.

We quickly moved along to Leon and started a run to Scott. I stayed with the leaders till we got to Scott but decided to let Gambler and Coyote take the lead group and I would follow with the B group. We started to gain on Highlander but he decided to turn on Menifee and we moved on to Antelope. I understand he was picked up by the A group and they took him back down Domenigoni to Sanderson while the B group planned on turning on Lindenburger and taking Simpson to Winchester. Red Rabbit didn’t turn with us and headed for Warren and Domenigoni. Ocelot, Dura Max, Digger and I stopped at Chris’s for a quick cold drink before jumping back on Winchester and making our way to Stowe.

Digger must have caught a case of horse heading for the barn from Highlander because he was moving along at a pretty good pace as we started down Stowe. I got on his back wheel and he started to pull away from Dura Max and Ocelot. As the gap started increase I pulled up next to him and tried to encourage him to back down so we could regroup on California. That worked OK till we got back to Stetson and he pulled away again. Dura Max and Ocelot were in Cruise mode so I dropped back to ride with them as we approached Warren Road.

As we got to the corner we saw Red Rabbit again just as he rounded onto Stetson from Warren. He was back to moving along pretty good as we moved east and he was right on my wheel as we got to the airport road. Because he hadn’t been with us at Chris’s Red Rabbit decided to stop and Hanger 1 for coffee while the remaining four of us continued on to Sanderson and made the turn to Lowes to get over to Acacia again.

I have to admit for the longest ride Digger had ever done he was riding pretty strong and he got back onto Acacia in front of all of us and made a strong run towards Kirby. We pulled up behind him at the light and he took off strongly as soon as it turned green. We all rode to Gilmore and then to Burger King where we stopped to talk with Centaur before heading for home on Latham.

Once we got back to Palm I turned south, Digger turned north and Dura Max and Ocelot stayed east. I got home with 52 miles on my computer and 48.8 on Strava, the extra mileage coming from the ride to and from Burger King. Not Dura Max Mileage but pretty good for a summer day. And we had a great group to ride with so what was not to like?