8/24/2012 By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Another Friday and we had a good ride planned. I had a request for a ride that has some nasty little climbs in it about half way to the coffee stop. I didn’t know how many had looked at the map but it is one ride that often gets a lot of comments. It is one reason I used to call it Gibbel Grumble. There should be a hint as to the kind of comments I used to get. None the less I left the house with some positive thoughts and headed for the parking lot to see who would be joining us. I got there to find Centaur and Dura Max waiting. To my surprise Sidewinder was there as well. We hadn’t seen him in our group for more than a year. Surgeon, Huntress, Gambler, Digger, Highlander and Barracuda rounded out the group as we got ready to leave. We headed down Gilmore to Acacia to get started.

We turned to Kirby and got there just as the light turned green. Only Highlander and I made it through the light so we had to wait for a cycle for the rest of the group to join us before we headed to Cypress and through the housing tract. I found the morning pretty cool and a bit overcast but it seemed like perfect riding weather as we got to Johnston and made ready to turn south on Sanderson. We would have to make a quick stop at the gas station just past Stetson because Centaur forgot his water bottle. Even if I privately might have thought denying him hydration might have given me an advantage when we got out onto Domenigoni. But being the nice guy I am we stopped while he got some bottled electrolytes. Soon we were back on our way and headed for Domenigoni.

Huntress was looking strong and over the last few rides has pushed me whenever we made any long runs like Domenigoni or Ramona and today she was right there as we turned west and headed for Warren. In fact I felt pretty good and pulled to warren before giving the lead to Huntress. We rotated through the line till I was pretty close to being back up front when Huntress pulled up next to me to let me know Digger was falling out of the draft. I fell back to bring him up to the group but once Gambler, Barracuda and Centaur were in front closing was out of the question. At least we were still in sight as they made the turn at Leon and started back east. We regrouped just past the turn before heading back to Winchester.

From here back to State Street is where the ride gets its name, Gibbel Grumble. Several riders started to say they were not going to make the climb. I told them that all they had to do was go as far as they could and they could turn around when the leaders came back down. Still several were more than willing to wait at the bottom of the first rise before the climb. Huntress even threatened me with the prospect of running up my back wheel if I didn’t hit the climb hard. Gibbel isn’t a climb I ever plan on hitting hard I just try to survive it. I did manage to stay with Gambler to the top of the rise but shortly after that he pulled away. I was caught by Centaur and Barracuda but stayed right behind them as we worked towards the first serious climb. I had gapped Sidewinder and Huntress and once Centaur and Barracuda decided to stand up I started to down shift. Just before I topped the first hill I slipped into my granny gear and realized it was a lot easier with my new climbing gears than it had even been before. About Halfway up the second hill Gambler decided to come flying down the hill and I decided to turn around and follow him down. First I past Sidewinder and then Huntress looking pretty tired. Sidewinder got past me but I repast him and got back to the waiting group shortly after Gambler. Once we were all back together we were on our way back north on State Street and working our way east first on Chambers then Thornton and finally up Santa Fe to Stetson.

Now we were on the easy part of the ride. Highlander and Surgeon got out front and managed to get through a light that the rest of us caught red. The made another light at the High School and were over the little rise before the rest of us got to it. I pulled as long as I could to try and close the gap but had to give up before Lake and fell back to cruise to Fairview with Digger and Dura Max. No one stopped at Stetson and Fairview but we could see the main group at the light on Florida. We didn’t make it to light in time as the rest of the group rolled through so we waited through the next cycle and finally headed for Carl’s to join everyone for coffee.

It looked like Sidewinder had decided to head for home so we were down one while we took the time to have a conversation and rehydrated. Soon we were back on the bikes and headed for home going north on New Chicago and then west on Lincoln were Huntress and Gambler dropped off and headed for home as well.

We cruised back past Lake and Hemet Street before Surgeon and Dura Max pulled off at Park. By now we were discussing what a good ride it had been and how the weather had co-operated. Highlander and I talked casually all the way back to Santa Fe and then down to Latham. Digger turned off at Palm and I continued on to Burger King with Centaur and Highlander. After a short conversation I headed for home to end up with 40 miles and a smile on my face.