11/05/2012 By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Winter has a set back today in that the cold weather wasn’t with us. They were predicting 90+ temperatures today with a light wind. So for a Monday it seemed only proper to toss in a simple little ride to Murrieta and back over McCall. All we needed was a good group and the ride should be a good way to start the week. I shouldn’t have worried because there were eleven of us pulling out onto Gilmore and heading for Acacia at 8am.

I guess we were lucky that it had warmed up again because Surgeon came out of his cave to ride with us. We pretty well knew if it was less than 63 degrees he wouldn’t be joining us. Centaur was able to get away as was Coyote and our steady riders like Highlander, Digger, Tax man, Dura Max and T-3 plus Jerry and Rabbit. We stayed together as we turned on Cypress and made it through the housing tract and to the light on Sanderson before heading south again and heading for Mustang.

The question I had as we passed Mustang was what would happen once we got out onto the Parkway. The last few times we started west on Domenigoni we spread out over at least a quarter of a mile as we headed for Warren and I was hoping we could stay together longer this time. Surgeon started us out and took us up to about 19 and we held it there till I got a turn and took us over the dry wash. Highlander took us to Winchester and gave the lead to Digger and he turned it over to Coyote who took us to the saddle till the sprint and regroup at the top.

I was pretty pleased that we had stayed together as a group and was glad to glide down the back side of the saddle and follow Red Rabbit to Menifee before turning south once more. I was sitting pretty far back in the pack as we came up to Holland and had to make up a lot of ground as Centaur got ready to attack the little hill on the other side. I stayed with him about half way up the hill only to watch him scamper to the top and have Coyote sprint past me to close in on his wheel. I regrouped everyone else at the wide spot after the crest and then took off after Rabbit as he headed for Scott Road.

We didn’t see Coyote and Centaur again till we got to Haun and then got into a pace line and headed back north on Haun to Holland before turning left and climbing the hill to Murrieta. We regrouped at Murrieta and Newport before heading to McCall and east. We were split into two groups as we headed for Hospital hill. Still we regrouped at the top and dropped down to Heritage and worked our way to Simpson where we headed east as Coyote headed home. Centaur took the last pull before Winchester and we turned north and stopped at Chris’s for coffee. After refreshing ourselves we were back on Winchester and headed for Stowe. Once we made the turn east on Stowe we were is a pace line headed for home.

I pulled half of the group to California and Stetson and about ¾ of the way to Warren where Centaur took over and I left the group at the airport road to head home on Stetson to Sanderson. I dropped down to Johnston and headed east past Palm before turning north and home. I was maybe a bit tired as I got home but it was a great ride to start the week with. And with the exception of the speed run on Simpson we pretty much stayed together as a group.