12/31/2012 By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) I have been gone for a few days visiting my son and daughter in law in Colorado. I left Hemet when it was a bit damp and cool and got to Flagstaff when it was freezing. Spent several days in Colorado Springs with some snow and got back to Hemet looking forward to some warmer weather. Two things damped that expectation however; I came down with a cold and it was freezing in Hemet last night. Still I got bundled up and headed out to see how many would brave the weather for a short ride with a sick guy on the last day of the year. To my surprise there were several willing to brave the cold for a short ride out Soboba to Cranston and back. Dura Max, Digger, RCMP, Barracuda, Tax Man. T-3 and I pulled out onto Latham and turned on Lyon to start our ride north. It didn’t take long and we were past 7th.

T-3 and I rode together at the front to catch up on a week of not riding together and how our Christmas was. At that point I was feeling pretty good at least as far as my legs were going but it was easy to tell I was a bit low on air. It is a bit like a car with a restricted air filter in that you can still use about the same force to suck the air in but it just doesn’t get past throttle body to the engine. Digger must have noticed that I was down on power because he pulled in front of me and offered to give me a break as we turned onto Ramona and headed towards State. I can’t express how good it felt to be back out on the bike and with a few friends. It was even better drafting Digger after we got ready to turn north on State.

True to his work Digger pulled us past the light at the Expressway and then continued on past the fast food places and the College. Somehow the streets seemed to be pretty dry and while we weren’t setting any land speed records we were making pretty good time. I think because we were plodding along at a steady pace we didn’t see a need to stop and regroup as often as we normally do. Digger took us to Soboba and started over the rollers. When he gave up the lead I got it back and then RCMP past me followed by Tax Man. A few moments later Barracuda rolled by and I led the rest of the group to the golf course before we continued on to Ramona and then down to Cedar. By now we started to spread out a bit and while I was still breathing well and felt strong enough I was getting just a bit tired. We more or less regrouped at the light on Fairview and Florida before heading east through the trees and to Cranston Station.

RCMP made a good pull that kept us all together through the trees and started us up the hill to the station. I still felt like part of the group and was holding my own as we got closer to the driveway and got ready for a short break to regroup before heading back down the hill. Digger told me he would give me a break and not race me back through the tree to Carl’s and I assured him I had no intention of trying to run it up until I get over this cold. So we headed back west and soon we well on our way back to Fairview.

We managed t stay in one long pace line all the way back to Carl’s for some hot coffee and conversation. It felt good to warm up and reconnect with friends even though I have only been gone 9 days. It seemed like only a few minutes before people were ready to go and we walked out and got back on our bikes. We split into two groups with Dura Max, T-3, RCMP and Barracuda heading over to Acacia and Digger, Tax Man and I headed to Lincoln and headed back to Park before working our way back to Palm where we split and headed our separate ways. It was a good way to end the year and I hope an example of the year to come.