By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)
5/03/13
It was another beautiful Southern California day when I looked outside this morning. Clear blue skies and no real wind to speak of. I had an easy Friday ride planned and had been looking forward to it all week. At the last minute I got an E-mail from Gambler saying the A group would be staying on the east side of town and running Bautista while we headed west for the simpler Sun City. I didn’t know how Bautista was going to work out but I wanted Sun City to be relaxing before taking the weekend off. Digger was waiting for me when I got to Burger King and Dura Max wasn’t far behind. At first I was thinking it would be just the three of us but Ruby Tuesday and T-3 pulled up about the same time as Centaur. But just as we were about to start off Sea Lion pulled up to join us. I hadn’t seen Sea Lion since the Tour De Palm Springs and it was good to see him today. So we had at least seven riders ready to head South and West by 8:30am. We pulled out onto Gilmore and headed for Acacia.
It was already warming up as we headed west on Acacia and caught the light at Kirby. Ruby Tuesday and I rolled along together talking about her new wheels and what a great week we had been having so far. In fact looking back everyone seemed to have time to relax and talk as we got to Cypress and turned through the housing tract and headed for Johnston and Sanderson. Once again we sat at the light till it changed and then we headed south on Sanderson and this time we made the light at Stetson and quickly rolled past Wally World and up to Mustang.
My plan was to make our way up to Domenigoni and head west to the Saddle. I also wanted us to keep the pace line at about 18 or 19 mph as we rotated through the lead. We kept that pace as we moved past Warren and over the dry wash. Ruby Tuesday was pulling as we got to Winchester and Centaur took over before we got to Leon. We stayed together as a group to the bottom of the saddle and there was a short sprint to the top of the Saddle between Centaur, Sea Lion and me. We had a short regroup before dropping down the backside of the saddle and headed to Menifee.
We made it past Lindenburger and Laguna Vista before moving left into the turn lane at the Menifee light. We didn’t have to wait long before we were once again heading south on Menifee with Digger almost scampering towards Holland and the following hill. Digger may have hit the hill first but he was chased down by Centaur, Sea Lion and Ruby Tuesday. Dura Max, T-3 and I didn’t catch him till he got to the stop sign and once again we regrouped at the first turn out. Now our next move would be to ride to Scott and head to Haun.
As we rolled out of the turnout we started to form into a pace line and I took the first pull. Slowly we picked up the pace and soon we were coming up to Garbani and then we kicked it up again. I felt comfortable today and the group seemed very relaxed as we closed in on Scott. The group allowed me the pleasure of staying in the lead as we moved to Antelope and then through the intersection and over the freeway. Once past the freeway light I took the pack down to the light at Haunr to begin our run north back towards Holland.
I gave up the lead about half way to Holland and fell to the back of the pack to get some rest. The wind we did get seemed to be coming out of the north and while it wasn’t strong it did wear us down just a bit. Centaur and Ruby Tuesday paused a bit on Holland so I pulled up and let them know we were heading straight to Newport and making a stop at the Circle K before heading west on Newport. Rehydrated, relieved and refueled we started back out on the road and headed up to Bradley and north once more.
It was a smooth if not fast ride up the grade on Bradley called Golf Course Racing and back towards Cherry Hill to start back down to McCall. Up to this point the traffic had been pretty light but there was a little back up at the corner at McCall. I might have tried to slip inside on the right of the car at the light but for a BMW it had a loud muffler and some booming speakers making noise as I pulled up to the right rear that I was pretty sure that driver had no clue I was there. Once that car was on the way I pulled around the corner and headed for the Hospital Climb. We all did reasonably well getting to the top where we regrouped before dropping down the back side and heading for Heritage.
We got a great ride down the hill to Heritage and I took us south east heading towards that little park on the corner of Lindenburger and Heritage. Once we got to Simpson we decided to form another pace line and hold the pace to 18 all the way back to Winchester. I took the first pull up to Briggs before turning it over to Digger to take us to Leon.
Digger kept the pace steady all the way to Leon where Centaur took over and took us past the Lama and trees into the flat. I was impressed with how well everyone was doing staying in the draft and not demonstrating too much slinky as we closed in on Winchester. But as soon as I got that hint of pride in my head Centaur and Sea Lion pulled away from us and made it to Winchester first. Still we weren’t far behind as we turned north towards Chris’s and coffee. T-3, Ruby Tuesday and Dura Max didn’t stop but the rest of us did and we took a little time to talk before heading back up Winchester to Stowe. Centaur took us down Stowe to California and north once again.
We had been moving a lot more quickly on Stowe and at first I thought California would fall just as quickly but that wasn’t to be because finally the wind started to pick up. Yes it was still warm and beautiful but we had a bit of a breeze in our face all the way to Stetson. Still it wasn’t right in our face and it did give us a little shove towards Warren and then to the Airport Road.
I left the others at the Airport and headed for Sanderson on my own. I was still feeling pretty good and I managed to catch all of the lights green even on Sanderson where I turned north to Johnston. I turned east on Johnston and made my way back to Palm and home in time for lunch and a shower. All in all it was a great day for a ride and to be with other cyclists.
It was already warming up as we headed west on Acacia and caught the light at Kirby. Ruby Tuesday and I rolled along together talking about her new wheels and what a great week we had been having so far. In fact looking back everyone seemed to have time to relax and talk as we got to Cypress and turned through the housing tract and headed for Johnston and Sanderson. Once again we sat at the light till it changed and then we headed south on Sanderson and this time we made the light at Stetson and quickly rolled past Wally World and up to Mustang.
My plan was to make our way up to Domenigoni and head west to the Saddle. I also wanted us to keep the pace line at about 18 or 19 mph as we rotated through the lead. We kept that pace as we moved past Warren and over the dry wash. Ruby Tuesday was pulling as we got to Winchester and Centaur took over before we got to Leon. We stayed together as a group to the bottom of the saddle and there was a short sprint to the top of the Saddle between Centaur, Sea Lion and me. We had a short regroup before dropping down the backside of the saddle and headed to Menifee.
We made it past Lindenburger and Laguna Vista before moving left into the turn lane at the Menifee light. We didn’t have to wait long before we were once again heading south on Menifee with Digger almost scampering towards Holland and the following hill. Digger may have hit the hill first but he was chased down by Centaur, Sea Lion and Ruby Tuesday. Dura Max, T-3 and I didn’t catch him till he got to the stop sign and once again we regrouped at the first turn out. Now our next move would be to ride to Scott and head to Haun.
As we rolled out of the turnout we started to form into a pace line and I took the first pull. Slowly we picked up the pace and soon we were coming up to Garbani and then we kicked it up again. I felt comfortable today and the group seemed very relaxed as we closed in on Scott. The group allowed me the pleasure of staying in the lead as we moved to Antelope and then through the intersection and over the freeway. Once past the freeway light I took the pack down to the light at Haunr to begin our run north back towards Holland.
I gave up the lead about half way to Holland and fell to the back of the pack to get some rest. The wind we did get seemed to be coming out of the north and while it wasn’t strong it did wear us down just a bit. Centaur and Ruby Tuesday paused a bit on Holland so I pulled up and let them know we were heading straight to Newport and making a stop at the Circle K before heading west on Newport. Rehydrated, relieved and refueled we started back out on the road and headed up to Bradley and north once more.
It was a smooth if not fast ride up the grade on Bradley called Golf Course Racing and back towards Cherry Hill to start back down to McCall. Up to this point the traffic had been pretty light but there was a little back up at the corner at McCall. I might have tried to slip inside on the right of the car at the light but for a BMW it had a loud muffler and some booming speakers making noise as I pulled up to the right rear that I was pretty sure that driver had no clue I was there. Once that car was on the way I pulled around the corner and headed for the Hospital Climb. We all did reasonably well getting to the top where we regrouped before dropping down the back side and heading for Heritage.
We got a great ride down the hill to Heritage and I took us south east heading towards that little park on the corner of Lindenburger and Heritage. Once we got to Simpson we decided to form another pace line and hold the pace to 18 all the way back to Winchester. I took the first pull up to Briggs before turning it over to Digger to take us to Leon.
Digger kept the pace steady all the way to Leon where Centaur took over and took us past the Lama and trees into the flat. I was impressed with how well everyone was doing staying in the draft and not demonstrating too much slinky as we closed in on Winchester. But as soon as I got that hint of pride in my head Centaur and Sea Lion pulled away from us and made it to Winchester first. Still we weren’t far behind as we turned north towards Chris’s and coffee. T-3, Ruby Tuesday and Dura Max didn’t stop but the rest of us did and we took a little time to talk before heading back up Winchester to Stowe. Centaur took us down Stowe to California and north once again.
We had been moving a lot more quickly on Stowe and at first I thought California would fall just as quickly but that wasn’t to be because finally the wind started to pick up. Yes it was still warm and beautiful but we had a bit of a breeze in our face all the way to Stetson. Still it wasn’t right in our face and it did give us a little shove towards Warren and then to the Airport Road.
I left the others at the Airport and headed for Sanderson on my own. I was still feeling pretty good and I managed to catch all of the lights green even on Sanderson where I turned north to Johnston. I turned east on Johnston and made my way back to Palm and home in time for lunch and a shower. All in all it was a great day for a ride and to be with other cyclists.
No comments:
Post a Comment