9/10/2012 By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) I have been watching the news for a few days and time after time they talk about the Monsoon flow in this area. To many people Monsoon simply means a heavy downpour or rain but to those of us who ride bikes it also mean humidity. Today was one of those days it meant humidity in the morning anyway. I left the house this morning and at first felt relatively cool until I got to the parking lot and stopped. As soon as I wasn’t moving I started to sweat a bit as I sat and talked to Dura Max and Coyote. They said we might get 30 percent humidity today but it felt well over than as Highlander and Tax man arrived. Centaur, Surgeon and Digger showed up as well just before we rode out onto Latham to get to Lyon. Once on Lyon I was surprised how easily we moved north.

I took turns pulling the pace line with Surgeon as we past street after street all the way to Seventh. I know this was going to be a short ride but was an east ride and our average speed seems a bit quick for that direction. In both north and east are heading towards hill or mountain. Anyone who has ever played golf knows when you are heading towards a hill you are on an incline. Still we were scooting along pretty clip as we moved out onto Ramona and headed east towards State Street.

Surgeon must have been feeling pretty good as well because he was pulling us most of the way to State where we would head north once again. Highlander questioned if we were running a bit hot today and to be honest until I looked at my computer I would have said no. So once we headed north I took the lead and backed it down to about 18 as we past the Expressway. We were still rolling smoothly as we past the college and coming up on the Riverbed. I took us over the bridge and made the turn east on Soboba.

I dropped back in the pace line and got ready for the push towards the golf course. Highlander pulled briefly before Surgeon took over and picked the pace up. I was pretty far back when I noticed Surgeon, Coyote, Centaur and Highlander pulling away. Digger missed the move at the top of the first roller and I was afraid I was going to have to make the gap to Highlander by myself. Just then Tax man decided to close and I was back in line at the base of the second roller. Now it was an attempt at attrition as Surgeon laid down a good pace heading for the top of the second roller. Surgeon, Centaur, and Coyote were make a break again at the top of the second roller and Centaur made a break again as we crested. I decided to stay with Coyote and Surgeon and just before the rise at the driving range I tried to close on Centaur. As I jumped past the group Coyote jumped with me and we caught Centaur as we started up the last rise before the regroup. Coyote made it to the top first. We regrouped by the big trees and got ready for the next leg.

I knew I had a time limit so I wanted to get up to the fire station quickly but not by burning myself out. I did make a good showing on the river bridge and promised Highlander I would hold the run to Cedar down to a cruise. We all rounded the corner on Cedar together and I fell back to ride with Digger on our way down to Fairview and Florida. I pulled for a while before kicking it into a higher gear to rest my legs and followed the group to the trees. I was just in front of Digger as we got to the turn out for the fire station. I wasn’t going to have time for coffee on the way back so I was looking forward to a quick run back down to Fairview. Coyote, Centaur took off first followed by Surgeon. Tax Man past me and I had Highlander ad Digger in tow. We caught Tax Man and I pulled us up to the back of the lead group when they caught the light at Fairview. We headed for the light on Ramona and were in a rather quick pace line. We had past Casino and were almost in a sprint at the river bed. The light was still green and I had a chance to attack before Carl’s. We stopped for a minute and I headed for home while the rest of the group minus Digger went in for coffee. Digger stayed with me as we moved up to Lincoln and headed west. We talked about what a nice ride it had been and that the humidity had to be well past 30 percent. We turned on Park and made our way to Devonshire and a steady run down to Santa Fe. Once on Latham we headed for Palm and our separate homes.

I got home in plenty of time for a shower and a change of clothes before taking my wife to the doctor. It was also a good workout today. So even in the humidity it was a great ride.