10/22/2012 By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Today’s ride turned out far better than anyone expected. It had rained or drizzled all day Sunday and we expected a cold and wet ride today. But after getting dressed this morning I added arm and leg warmers and opted to leave my jacket at home. It was overcast but there was no sign of rain as I headed for the meeting place. It was cool enough to get a cup of coffee and wait for everyone by the big windows in front of Burger King. By 8am we had a group of B riders ready to head out of the Pep Boys parking lot and onto Latham to get to Lyon and head north. As we past Calvary Chapel I looked back to see a pretty tight group following easily behind me.

I had managed to get plenty of rest over the weekend and I was surprised at how well my legs felt in these early stages of the ride. Normally when it is cold it takes my legs a long time to warm up but today I was feeling smooth and comfortable enough to take the pull and try and hold everyone together as we continued north towards Ramona. Slowly I took us to 17mph and Highlander stayed right on my wheel. At 18 Highlander, Tax man and Digger were right behind me. At 19 all of them were still there with Jerry, Dura Max and T-3 still in the pack. At 20 I looked back and everyone including Red Rabbit was with me and ready to make the turn on Ramona to hear to Sanderson.

As we made our way towards Sanderson I tried to calculate how to hold the group together knowing that once we were on the expressway the Rabbit was going to have a hard time holding on till we got to Bridge Street. My hope was to start out slow once we made the turn west and give Rabbit a chance to tuck in on the back of the pace line and stay with us. That plan didn’t work because Tax Man took the lead and it took too long for Rabbit to flip his traps and straps. The line pulled away from Rabbit and by the time we got to Warren we had dropped some other riders as well. We stopped to regroup and headed for bridge only to drop Rabbit again. We finally turned onto Bridge and soft pedaled until Rabbit caught up.

We stayed together as we made the big right hand curve and headed for Gilman where we were going to regroup. Once we were ready to hit the road again I had Rabbit start first and Highlander pulled the rest of the group up to him a few minutes later. After Highlander rotated off of the front Jerry pulled and then Dura Max. Finally Highlander pulled back up front and we regrouped at Sanderson. we were back on the road and quickly made it back to Ramona and then back over to State Street before heading north again to get to Soboba and head east.

I geared myself up for a pull all the way to the golf course so I slowly built the pace line up to 17 or 18 by the first roller. Looking back everything was going good as we got to the second roller. Just before we crested the second roller Jerry jumped me and I took off after his wheel as he past. The problem was that broke the pace line and once he lost his after burner I pulled around expecting Highlander to fall in behind me. He didn’t however and fell in behind Jerry after I had made a gap. I had lots of steam left so I took off for the golf course and waited for the rest of the group to arrive. By this time I was finally getting tired. We regrouped and headed over the riverbed and east towards Florida. We were back together and easily made it down to Carl’s for coffee and conversation.

We sat and talked about the ride for a few minutes before downing the last few sips of coffee or soda and getting ready to head for home. As we got on our bikes and got ready to head back to Lincoln Dura Max and T-3 got ready to head to Acacia and back west. That left Highlander, Digger, Rabbit, Tax Man, Jerry and I to head for Park and towards home.

We were still pretty chatty as we got back to Park and headed over to Devonshire and headed west again. Highlander was just as energetic towards the end of the ride as he had been when we were out on Lyon. I followed him down to Santa Fe and back out onto Latham and west to State Street. I decided to stay with the group all the way to Burger King. Digger left us at Palm and we cruised back to the Pep Boys driveway a few minutes later. After watching everyone reload their cars and head for home I went home as well. Not a bad ride for Monday and I felt pretty good after lunch and a shower.