1/9/2013 By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It was supposed to be a warmer day today and if fact the warmest day of the week. This was one of those times I wanted the weather man to be right and with any luck we would have light winds. Still I decided to put on my heavy duty base layers and a jacket. It may have been club jersey day but being cold with the tail end of a cold wasn’t my idea of fun so long fingered gloves, a mask with neck gator and jacket were a necessity. I headed for the parking lot feeling pretty good and reasonably warm. I wondered how many would brave the weather and join me on one of our better rides. As I got to the parking lot to see Digger having breakfast and Centaur unloading his truck. I was surprised to see how many riders started pulling in after that. Dura Max, Highlander, Dragon Slayer, Red Rabbit, Josh, D’Artagnon, Gambler, Rocky, Bloodhound and Punisher were all there ready to go at 9am. We picked up T-3 as we crossed Florida and headed for Acacia.

As soon as all of us were heading in the same direction Bloodhound moved to the front and took us to Acacia to make the turn west. I was just a bit surprised to see so many riders behind us on a winter ride. This was a typical spring sized group and it was also heavy on the A group side. Even if I were feeling better I knew I wasn’t strong enough to stay in sight of this A group if they decided t drop the hammer and I kept that in mind as we waited for the light to turn green so we could head south for Cypress and get this ride on the road.

I discovered I was moving far easier than I had earlier in the week and that I didn’t even need my jacket, I still had the face mask on and the long gloves but the jersey and base layer seemed just find as we traveled through the housing tract and got ready to turn on Johnston and again on Sanderson. For whatever reason the group was more than willing to let me lead through those turns. The light at Wentworth was red so we did a quick regroup and headed for the airport.

We moved past Hanger 1 and once again I was out front all the way to Stetson and started the pace line run west towards Warren. To my surprise ramping up to 20 was pretty easy and I felt real good as we got to the stop sign and continued on down Stetson towards California. Finally Bloodhound and Highlander took over the pull followed closely by Dragon Slayer and they stayed there all the way to California where Dragon Slayer got out front and pulled to Stowe where Bloodhound and I rounded the corner and headed west. We had a bit of a gap on everyone else till Dragon Slayer pulled a group with Highlander up to us. I was in the fourth slot for a while and then pulled up front to give Bloodhound a chance to recover before the big dogs came up on our left. It was a drag race to Winchester and I fell off of the second group after I started coughing a bit. We regrouped at Winchester and Stowe.

We let Rabbit roll on and start down Winchester while some of us took off our jackets and down some electrolytes. As soon as he was out of sight Dragon Slayer took us south on Winchester building up speed pretty quickly. I felt pretty good sitting on his wheel till we turned west on 9th heading down the dump road. As we rounded the bend and started down the straightaway past the Horse Bar we got in a rather fast pace line and I stayed with the lead group all the way over the rise only to look back and see we had dropped several of the B riders so I fell off and went back to get them. The group split into three parts and I ended up in the last part after we crossed Florida and started to Mapes. We got to Menifee and headed south without seeing either of the other two parts of the group. As we got to Florida once more we noticed the other two groups were stopped at the AM/PM. We didn’t stop so T-3, Dura Max, Rabbit and I made it to McCall and over the hill before they could give chase.

We were just cruising but we had a pretty good lead as we started down the hill past the Hospital and toward Hillpoint. The front side of Hospital hill isn’t as steep as the back side but it is longer and gives us a chance to rest our legs after the short steep climb on the backside. We caught the light red before the freeway and then lost Rabbit at a light on Bradley. We were well past the gas station on Bradley and soft pedaling when instead of Rabbit I noticed two other riders gaining on us. It turned out to be Bloodhound and Rocky. They caught us and pulled up next to us at the light on Murrieta.

Bloodhound started up the hill to the end of McCall and turned south with Rocky on his wheel. They both missed the turn at Cherry Hill so briefly Dura Max, T-3 and I were alone. That didn’t last long because before we got to the golf course we were overtaken by the big dogs and I had to work a bit to get in front and get a picture.

To my surprise I was staying with Josh, Gambler, D’Artagnon, Punisher and Dragon Slayer. We moved onto Bradley and cruised up the rise and onto the flat heading towards Newport. I took some teasing from the big dogs about my Monday post and the contention that some of my friends questioned my health just to see if they were going to be able to drop me like a bad habit or if I could put up a fight. Today I felt like I was at about 80 percent and if my breathing comes back I will be ready to play. We made it to the light on Newport and headed for Jack in the Box on Antelope for quick cup of coffee. Dura Max, T-3 and Rabbit decided not to stop.

Coyote stopped by on his day off just before we got ready to leave. We discussed the ride home and the pace we wanted to set and after we got ready to start said good bye to Coyote and headed east over Antelope and towards Menifee. I pulled all the way to the base of the hill where Highlander asked if I would regroup on top of the saddle rather than the down side and I agreed. We ended up having to wait for Bloodhound and Digger while all of the big dogs kept on going. Bloodhound said he was a bit under the weather so I pulled us to Winchester and a little beyond before Highlander took the pull. We took turns in the pace line till we got back to Warren where I took over and got us back to Sanderson. It was time to head north and I stayed in front as we headed back to Stetson.

Bloodhound stayed on Domenigoni as we headed north and I left Highlander and Digger at Johnston and headed east. I was still surprised how well I had done up to this point. Last week I would have been out of gas well before I got back to Johnston and I was still spinning easily as I rolled past Kirby and then Lyon on my way home. Elk, Palm and San Francisco and I was all but home. I rolled up to my front door feeling almost a good as I did when I left this morning, only warmer. I think I am on the mend.