9/19/2012 By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) I was really looking forward to today’s ride. It had been a week since my bout with Heat Exhaustion and slowly but surely I seemed to be getting stronger and had a bit more energy. So today we would be doing the first half of the Paris Century and we would be leaving right at 7:30 to try and beat any heat. We pulled out onto Latham right at 7:30 with Dura Max, Highlander, Bloodhound, Digger, Red Rabbit, Coyote , Huntress and I.

As we turned onto Lyon I started to test my legs and lungs out to see how well I thought I might do once we got to the fast run on Ramona. As I looked back I could see D’Artagnon had joined us making the total 9 riders. Not bad for a hot day with a half century in front of us. What I didn’t notice was somewhere along the line Dura Max left us to meet up with T-3. I managed to pull us up to Ramona so we could make the turn and head for Sanderson.

I decided to try and give up the lead at this point and it took more than one try. Finally Highlander took over and I fell back to enjoy a bit of the draft the pace line created. At this point things were looking pretty good and I was both relaxed and feeling strong. All down Ramona to Sanderson everyone stayed in line pretty well. I was in mid pack and pulled around the corner heading north onto Sanderson only to catch the light red at the Expressway. When the light finally turned green we were on our way west and averaging 20 to 21 MPH. Still we held together till we got to Warren where Red Rabbit’s straps and traps slowed him down and he fell off the back of the line. We were scooting along pretty fast and Digger was drafting like an old pro till we got to Bridge. I fell back to get Red Rabbit and we followed at a distance all the way to Lakeview and the Valero station.

As we got back on the road the plan was to regroup at the Motorcycle Park before heading into the City of Paris. As we eased our way towards the bridge with D’Artagnon in the lead suddenly he swerved in front of me and called out “Flat”. Huntress, Coyote and I stopped to help him while Rabbit continued on. Soon Bloodhound left to keep the Rabbit company and then Highlander and Digger left to get a head start on the two climbs. Dura Max and T-3 came by next and I realized he had made a detour to pick her up. Just as D’Artagnon fixed his tire Huntress took off and we had to chase her to Burnisconi where I just slipped by. On the way to the next hill she tagged up with D’Artagnon and caught me about half way to the top. She tried to “chick” me but I had just enough to hold her off and we laughed as we topped the hill and raced down the other side. We picked up the rest of the group and headed for Paris Boulevard.

Now things would start to get interesting as we headed south on Paris and got ready to jump over onto Goetz. The plan was that Dura Max would lead Highlander, Digger, T-3 and Rabbit around Goetz hill and meet us at LaLadera park. However as we rolled up on Ethanec I pulled up next to Coyote to score some extra shot blocks and then fell back into an easy spin to start up the hill. We were spread out for about a quarter of a mile and as I got to the top I noticed someone was behind me. Turned out it was Rabbit and Highlander and digger was behind him with Dura Max and T-3 behind them. I didn’t realize that everyone had climbed Goetz till we turned towards LaLadera. Finally Highlander and I followed Dura Max and T-3 to the park.

The Rabbit was heading for home on Domenigoni so the took Digger the wrong way but we called and had him wait on McCall and Murrieta while we worked our way to Honeyrun. It didn’t take long before we were on McCall and heading east. We saw Digger waiting for us at the light on Murrieta and we all headed for Hospital Hill. Coyote broke for home at Antelope and trying to chase down Highlander when he got a one stop head start. We regrouped on top of hospital hill before heading down to Heritage and south towards Lindenburger.

We managed to put together another pace line when we got to Simpson and headed east towards Leon. D’Artagnon pulled to Leon and I took over when he got a Phone call. Slowly we creeped up to about 20 as we slid past the Eucalyptus trees and next to the open fields between Simpson and Domenigoni. I kept waiting for Huntress to attack me but she had mercy on me and followed me to Winchester and then to Chris’s for some coffee and conversation. Highlander led us up Winchester to Stowe to start our way home.

We were cruising as we got to California and dropped down to Stetson heading east. For some reason we were still running hard as if we had just started the ride even as we past Warren and we broke up once more when Highlander and Huntress headed off on the airport road and the rest of us stayed on Stetson till we got to Sanderson when Digger and I jumped down to Johnston and headed back to Palm. I left digger before he got to Wilshire. It was a good 52 miles and a great day to be on a bike.