Cloudy Day

2/6/2013 By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) I looked out to a very overcast morning when I got up and thought that just maybe there was a threat of rain. The streets were dark like they were wet but the sidewalks and driveways were dry. Maybe there were some clouds practicing pinpoint raining but I figured we just had a very low dew point and it really wasn’t all that cold. Besides I had a fun ride planned and it would be my last ride before the Palm Springs Century Saturday. I put on my Club Kit and a jacket and headed for the parking lot for my morning coffee. It started out slow but by 9am there were 12 of us heading down Gilmore the start our move west.

Dura Max, Highlander, and Dragon Slayer were dressed pretty much like me and so there was a wall of florescent green leading the pack followed by Bloodhound, Gambler, D’Artagnon and Bulldozer. Behind them were Chinook, Rocky, Artemis and Huntress. We turned the corner on Acacia and picked up Bandit giving us 13 riders as we turned onto Kirby and headed towards Cypress to continue our trek west.

I was a bit surprised at the size of this group on such an overcast morning. It also felt colder than it was because of the humidity. I was also surprised how quickly the pace was picking up as we moved south and wondered if this would turn out to be a far more energetic ride than I thought it would be when I put it together. As we turned west on Cypress we were a pretty tight group and it would stay that way all the way to Sanderson and Johnston.

I took us north on Sanderson and west again on Wentworth towards the Airport. For a change I wasn’t pulling as we rode by Hanger 1 and was well back in the protective draft of the pack as we pulled out onto Stetson. With Dragon Slayer on the front we were already past the warm up stage and onto full cruise mode as we got to Warren and I was pretty sure it wouldn’t get any slower by the time we got to California Street

I rounded the corner onto California and found myself in the forth slot when we turned again on Stowe. We moved rather well towards Winchester and the sprint didn’t start till very late when Bulldozer attacked Bandit and Gambler who had split off of the front. We regrouped at the country store parking lot.

As we left the parking lot and headed south on Winchester we split the group a bit as Dragon Slayer and five of us made the turn while the rest of the 8 had to wait for a break in traffic. It didn’t matter much because shortly after we turned onto 9th, the dump road, the big dogs had the trailing group up to the leading one. As we moved down towards Leon the group started to spread out and it broke into four parts. By the time I turned onto Leon and then again on Simpson we could just barely see some of the other riders passing Lindenburger. Six of us hit the bottom of the hill on McCall and we once again could just see D’Artagnon cresting the back side of Hospital Hill. We didn’t see them on Hillpoint or Sumner as we climbed over the hill to Antelope. But they were waiting for us at Jack in the Box were some made a nature stop.

The ride got a little fragmented after we started towards Garboni because there was a segment in front of the College. After the light that started the segment the Big dogs dropped the hammer and Gambler, D’Artagnon, Bulldozer, Dragon Slayer and Bandit pulled away like they had warp drive with Rocky and Chinook in hot pursuit. Most of the group closed when we turned onto Garboni and Dura Max and I found ourselves having to chase from far off of the draft. We were too far back on Briggs and they were already on Domenigoni east when we were on Newport. They were topping the saddle as we reached the bottom and they were long gone by the time we crested the saddle ourselves. Dura Max stayed on Domenigoni as we got to Winchester and I turned to go to Chris’s. I got there to find Rocky, Bulldozer, Bloodhound and Dragon slayer waiting for me and after some conversation and a fiber bar we headed for Stowe and Home.

We made a rather quick run to California and then to Stetson and I was comfortable just sitting in the draft all the way to Warren. Dragon Slayer and Bulldozer turned off at the airport road while Rocky, Bloodhound and I stayed on Stetson to Sanderson and then we moved over to Johnston. It seems as if Gambler, Bandit, D’Artagnon, Highlander, Chinook, Artemis and Huntress had stayed on Domenigoni rather than come to Chris’s and we didn’t see them anywhere so I can only assume they made it back in one group. Rocky left us at Lyon and I pulled off at Palm while Bloodhound continued on to Yale and home. It turned into an interesting ride because it was a cruise for some of us and a drag race for others but that is part of what makes this group special. We had rides that fit everyone.