8/27/2012 By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It was another nice day and another nice cool morning. Or at least that is how it looked as I stood out on the porch first thing this morning. Many times Mondays are not the best attended days for our rides but I had high hopes for today. So I headed for Burger King feeling relatively good after a nice breakfast. I got to the parking lot a bit after Dura Max and went in to get a small coffee while I waited for Tax Man and Highlander to arrive. Surgeon pulled up as did Gambler and Digger and I realized that was as big as the group was going to get. So we moved down Gilmore to Acacia and then to Kirby and south.

I was thinking my description of the ride might encourage the riders in such a way that they wouldn’t feel so reserved during the ride. That might have been true but everyone seemed extra quiet today and in fact I was feeling a bit lethargic myself. Still we were moving along pretty well as Surgeon and Highlander moved us through the housing tract and out onto Sanderson. We caught the light at Wentworth red and had to wait to make it west to the Airport.

I took us out onto Stetson and set the pace to Warren that seemed very satisfactory to the rest of the group. No one came up to push me and it was easy to give up the lead once we were west of Warren. About halfway to California Gambler started to pick up the pace and he ended up pulling us most of the way to California and Stowe. Once heading west on Stowe he started to increase the pace and had us rolling at 25+. I drafted him for a while and considered going out to pass but I simply didn’t have the will or the energy. I looked down and saw I was bumping a HR or 170+ so it was time to drop back and save some energy for later so Surgeon past me and grabbed Gambler’s wheel. Gambler took them both to the parking lot where we regrouped. It didn’t take long before we were back on our way and heading down Winchester to the dump road. Surgeon took us to Leon where we turned towards Simpson.

I took us past Lindenburger and started up the hill to Menifee where we would turn to head to McCall. For some reason even this small hill slowed me down and soon Surgeon came spinning past me. Gambler was next and I only managed to round the corner just ahead of Tax Man and Highlander. On the way to McCall Tax Man past me and we turned at the light on McCall together. Tax Man headed for the hill at a pretty good clip and I managed to just stay on his wheel till he slowed. Having stayed with the Cast a Shadow group over this hill a few weeks before I thought I would cruise right over it. That didn’t happen in that about half way up the hill I was maxed out and had to down shift. I was now in a gear two steps up from the last time I took the hill and one again got past by Surgeon and Gambler. I waited at the top of the hill and then followed everyone down to Highpoint. We made it through the housing tract and to Sumner where we climbed over Antelope and headed to Jack in the Box. Once back on the road we quickly made our way to Garboni and back towards Menifee.

Once past Menifee we only had the Briggs TT left before heading for home. I was feeling a bit better as we started north on Briggs and pulled briefly as we started towards Holland. Gambler came flying by followed by Surgeon. I dropped in on their back wheel and we were well on our way. Looking back Highlander and Tax Man were on my wheel. Gambler had us rolling at a very fast clip but it looked like he was backing off so I broke off and past him to help the pull. I knew full well I would never be able to go flat out all the way to Newport but at least I could help pull Gambler so he could get a better time. About 50 yards later I was cooked and Gambler came by again. Surgeon was still on his wheel and I thought about pulling in behind him but I knew I couldn’t help anymore so there was no point in keeping the pace up and I put it in Cruise mode. Once back out onto Domenigoni we all hit the saddle and started over the top. Surgeon rode over the hill first, he had been climbing well all day, and I backed down on the top to collect Highlander, Tax Man and Digger. As we crossed the hill everyone followed Surgeon by grabbing Gamblers wheel. Digger missed the draft and fell back so I dropped back to ride with him. I pulled him almost to the back of Tax Man and Highlander but we couldn’t quite maintain 21-22 MPH and they started to pull away. We were almost on to group when they got to Winchester and I started to move over for a left turn when I noticed they were going straight. Once we decide to follow then we ended up catching the light red and lost any chance of catching up. The bad part was we had to ride back to Sanderson alone. The good part was we got a chance to talk and get to know each other better. So that is just what we did all the way back to Sanderson and then to Johnston. We finished the ride together when we got to Palm and Digger headed north and I headed for home.