By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) 8/7/13 It was supposed to be a rather nice day today and it was time for a ride east so I plotted a ride called Backwards Soboba, a favorite with many, and sent it out. After breakfast I got into my kit and headed for Burger King to see how many wanted to ride. By 8 am I was pleasantly surprised to see we had 12 riders pulling out of the parking lot and down Gilmore. We picked up T-3 and Gambler before we got to Acacia so we have blossomed into a nice sized group of 14.

The other special thing about today’s ride was we had three female riders with us with Quicksilver, Huntress and T-3. I felt that was a safe number because in the past I would lose riders on a ride but I would always have the same number of females when riders starting disappearing. To this day I wonder how many orange trees have male riders buried under them after being knocked off by one of the women. But I didn’t let that bother me today believing that the men can take care of themselves. Kevin H. and Bulldozer stayed out front till we got to Sanderson and then again past Stetson where Bloodhound and Surgeon joined them. The rest of us followed towards Domenigoni.

Once on Domenigoni the pace picked up a bit and we lost Rabbit. Dragon Slayer pulled up front and had the B group moving at a pretty good clip as the A started to fade into the distance towards State Street. As we rounded the corner to head south I dropped back to ride sweep. It took a few minutes but we make it through the McSweeney housing tract and back out onto State for a regroup. Once I had a head count we started off again heading north towards Stetson.

It can be a bit intimidating to see Gambler, D’Artagnon, Highlander and Dragon slayer moving up on you as you ride north over Domenigoni. But soon the light changed and I had told Gambler to take the A riders east and we would regroup at Fairview. Some of the B group followed leaving me and whomever I managed to sweep up as we got to Stetson. Half of the group turned on Columbia and half went straight towards Fairview. However some of us gathered together at Stetson and Fairview before moving on to Florida and the rest of the group. We worked our way to Ramona and headed for the bridge crossing heading to Soboba. Huntress more or less stayed with me as I rode sweep and was with me as we watched the A group turn at the light with Quicksilver, MacGyver, and Surgeon turn before we got to the light. When our group got to the trees Surgeon fell back as MacGyver and Quicksilver took off. Soon Highlander pulled out front and started to close on Dura Max and T-3. As the pace picked up Surgeon caught Highlanders back wheel just about the time Digger fell off the back of the group. When Highlander gave up the lead I got on Surgeon fleeing wheel and the pursuit was on. Soon we noticed Quicksilver had lost MacGyver’s wheel and we were closing fast. At the last little hill I jumped out and tried t sprint to the top passing Quicksilver on the way to the top. I made it to the regroup spot a lot faster than I thought and we all regrouped once more.

I started us off south on State Street and we got back to Ramona to ride back east towards Carl’s. Dura Max and T-3 were nowhere to be seen and as we got back to Main I once again fell back to ride sweep. Digger and I tossed it down into cruise mode but as we rounded the bend by Cedar we saw a group standing by the side of the road and Digger thought they were waiting for us. But they weren’t waiting for us they were watching Surgeon put on a tire repair clinic.

As we stood there and watched it has to be noted that we have a warped sense of humor because we rarely offer to help and we are always commenting about someone else’s bad luck. In fact it takes a lot of acting to put on a sad face to show you are simpatico with the one changing their tire, a skill of acting I never acquired it seems.

I started us off towards New Chicago but soon watched as Dragon Slayer took the group to the corner and jogged over to head to the restaurant. Digger and I were the last to arrive as we turned into the parking lot and saw everyone standing outside talking. At first I wondered if the place was closed but it wasn’t so I went inside and joined Quicksilver, Surgeon, MacGyver, Rabbit, Highlander and Digger for a little break.

Once on the way home I expected a slower pace but that wasn’t to be I guess as we pushed it all the way to Park and then over to Devonshire and west again. Quicksilver, Digger and I was at least a block back as we crossed Yale but soon Quicksilver had us closing on the rest of the riders till we caught them at the light on San Jacinto. All we had left was Santa Fe, Latham and back across State. Digger left us at Palm and the rest of us sans MacGyver stopped at Burger King before heading for home and some went to lunch. After spending some time reliving the ride I headed for home and got there with 41 miles on the computer. All in all it was a pretty good day.