12/05/2012 By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) We knew it was going to be a good day for a ride and Huntress wanted a longer ride before the end of the year. So at first I looked at a ride around Lake Elsinore but I discovered that Railroad Canyon was more or less shut down to bicycles on the east bound side. Highlander had already objected to the Mesa Metric so I tossed in the Perris Half Century with a detour around Lake Perris. I wanted to make it a good ride and planned on setting a Century pace for the B group and was going to let the A group do their own thing. All I needed was a group big enough for an A and B group. As luck and a beautiful day would have it I had a great group by 9am.

Heading east on Latham we picked up T-3 boosting the group to about 14 as we turned on Lyon and headed north. I was surprised to see Surgeon with us but then it was supposed to warm up today. Huntress was expected as was Highlander, Digger and Dura Max. Coyote has been busy for a few weeks but he was back along with Rocky, Red Rabbit and Dragon Slayer. D’Artagnon and Gambler made up part of the A team and they were joined by Shadow and Torpedo. Everything stayed pretty mellow on Lyon as it did on Ramona Boulevard as we started towards Sanderson.

As we waited at the light on Sanderson and the Expressway I knew the A group was chomping at the bit to hit the Ramona Segment on Strava. As soon as we started west on Ramona Torpedo started to ramp it up and Gambler, D’Artagnon, Rocky, Dragon Slayer, Highlander, shadow and Coyote gave chase. Dura Max, Surgeon, T-3, Digger and Huntress and I kept a steady pace and slowly reeled in Highlander. We were watching the A riders fade into the distance as I took my turn at the front and then gave the lead to Huntress. I fell back and followed Rabbit till he started to get dropped and lacked the energy to close with the group so I pulled in front. He didn’t feel like burning any candles trying to catch our group so we took our time till we regrouped at the Valero before heading for Bernasconi and Lake Perris. We didn’t all make it to the lake because as we started up Bernasconi I saw Huntress waiting on Shadow who had broken a chain.

Try as he might Shadow couldn’t press a pin back into the broken chain and it was his bad luck that I no longer carried a 7 or 8 speed link. I used to because Hornet once broke a chain and all I had were 10 speed links. However my Klein has a 8 speed chain so the extra link now resides with the Klein. So we called a friend to come pick up Shadow and Huntress and I hurried back on Ramona the meet up with the rest of the group at the entrance to Lake Perris.

It took a little while for everyone to get together at the entrance and the last to arrive was D’Artagnon. It seems as if he had a problem with his derailleur and it took time to get things worked out before he could catch up with the rest of us. But once he did we were ready to head west on Ramona one again but we didn’t get far before Surgeon had to stop and get something to drink at a Mini Mart before we worked our way to Perris Boulevard and started south.

This was one of the last times we were all together because we started to spread out from the stop lights. There was a rider that had joined us at the lake but I lost sight of him by 4th street. In fact with the exception of Dura Max, T-3 and Rabbit 4th street was the last I saw of everyone but Surgeon after we turned onto Goetz. Highlander had turned onto Ethanic and was heading for home. As Rabbit, Dura Max, T-3 and I started up the back side of Goetz Surgeon turned on Ethanic and I assume headed for home.

I got to the top just ahead of Rabbit and raced down to catch the group waiting at the Fire Station. Everyone but Digger decided to head for Newport and make a speed run for home. There were five of us left to head to Newport ourselves. Once headed east we decided to ride down to Lindenburger rather than back to McCall because we didn’t figure anyone would be waiting for us at Chris’s anyway. Dura Max mush have been feeling his second wind because he pulled us all the way back to Lindenburger and most of the way to Simpson. I took over and pulled us to Leon until we came to a road block we weren’t sure we were ready for.

We followed the Tiller for a little while before we got brave enough to try and pass it. Finally we got past it and started an easy cruise the rest of the way to Winchester and once through the light headed north to Chris’s for a quick coffee and a break after 44 miles.

After we were refreshed we hurried up Winchester to Stowe. Digger and I had to chase Dura Max, Rabbit and T-3 all the way to Stowe but once we caught them we stayed together all the way to California and then to Stetson. Rabbit left us at Warren and Digger turned at the airport road. Dura Max and I took T-3 back to her gate and then he took me back to Palm where I headed for home and watched him head east for his house. I got home with 52 miles on my bike and to a degree added to my soul. It was a great day for a ride.