1/23/2013 By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Today was special because the weatherman is turning on us. It I didn’t know better I would think someone from Portland or Seattle say how good our weather has been over the last few days and sent and evil wizard weatherman down to Southern California to cast a bad weather spell on us for this weekend. However it may be on its way but for today only the clouds made it and we had a cloudy but warm day. I put on a light base layer because of the clouds I thought it would be cooler. Later on I realized arm warmers and leg warmers would have been more than enough. Still I headed for Burger King looking forward to a good ride. I got there a bit later than normal and found Dura Max, Digger and to my surprise Double Time waiting for me. I think it has been a year since we last saw Double Time. Within a few minutes the rest of today’s riders were there and ready to go. At 9:02 twelve riders pulled out onto Gilmore and headed south across Florida towards Acacia. In front of me were Bloodhound and Torpedo and behind were Digger, Dura Max, and Double Time, Rocky, Huntress and Dragon slayer followed by Gambler, D’Artagnon and Bulldozer. A very strong A group for a Wednesday.

It became clear that Bloodhound and Torpedo were feeling a bit frisky because they were pulling away from us during the traditional warm up period. It didn’t matter to me because I wanted to warm up before Domenigoni and what I thought would be a fast and steady pace. We weren’t that far behind the two flyers coming down Cypress but we caught the light at Sanderson and again at Stetson only to watch them fade into the distance. Once the rest of us crossed Stetson I got the lead and took us past Wally world and the high school before turning west on Domenigoni and picking up speed.

I pulled briefly before turning it over to Digger and falling back to see if there were any stragglers. However Gambler and Bulldozer decided to ride sweep so I got a chance to fall back in line and take it easy as Digger pulled us all the way to the dry wash on the other side of Warren before giving it over to Dura Max. Dura Max took us to Winchester and Double Time took over till D’Artagnon pulled around and took us to Leon. I was sitting in forth when Dragon Slayer took the pull with Rocky and Huntress right behind him. Huntress pulled over to give me a shot at an attack on the Saddle and for a change I felt I might give it a try. I got a good jump but couldn’t keep it up all the way to the top and Rocky caught me by the fence. Still I felt good and we regrouped with everyone else before heading down the back side towards Menifee.

We all made the light on Menifee and turned south again heading for the little hill just past Holland. Some of the group continued on while Huntress and I waited for the stragglers and then rode on to Scott road to head west. Huntress and Rocky crossed Haun first while Double Time, Digger, Dura Max and I followed. For some reason the climb seemed easier or shorter than normal to me. Still we rounded the corner about 150 yards behind Huntress and Rocky and I got a great draft off of a slow moving truck that got me up to 40 before I had to stop where Bloodhound, Huntress and Rocky were waiting for us. We started off after Digger and Dura Max caught us and Bloodhound pulled us to the next stop sign and I pulled to Holland. Bloodhound started us off again after Holland and I managed to jump in front of him when he least expected it. So at least all my pistons were firing even if the air supply was still choked a bit. We regrouped at the Chevron Station and then headed for Cherry Hill on Murrieta.

We made a more social run on Cherry Hill and over to Bradley before heading towards Newport. I spent most of my ride on Bradley talking to Bulldozer and following Double Time as he seemed fired up to get to the coffee stop. Double Time may not have been with us for a year but some things don’t change and his desire to get to the coffee stop is just as strong as ever. He made it onto Newport in front of us but Bulldozer caught up with him at the top of the overpass just as Digger, Dura Max and I were pulling through the light on Haun. We regrouped and refreshed at Jack In the box before getting ready for the ride home.

We quickly rolled up on Menifee for the second time and started for the Saddle again. Before we got to Lindenburger the big dogs started their run for home and the group splintered. I waited on top of the saddle for Huntress, Digger and Dura Max while the rest of the group continued over the hill and down the other side. Huntress took off to chase down Double Time and Digger took off to chase Huntress so once Dura Max caught my back wheel we had to chase Digger. Slowly but surely I was reeling in Digger when Dura Max and I caught the light at Warren. Digger almost caught Rocky, Double Time and Huntress at Sanderson and once Dura Max rolled on towards State I caught Digger. We never were able to close on the three or four in front of us so we turned on Johnston and rode back to Palm together. I left Digger to his own devices before Whittier and got home with 42 miles on the clock. All in all it was a good day and I hope the North West witch doctor weathermen go home to Portland or Seattle and take their weather with them before Friday.