By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) 8/16/13 It was supposed to be hot o Friday so I had planned a rather flat easy ride, at least on paper, and looked forward to an easy ride. I got up and looked outside first thing in the morning and I was pretty sure this time the weathermen were correct; it was going to be hot. I headed for Burger King looking forward to some coffee with Digger and waiting to see who would show up. By 8am we had about 17 riders ready to head down Gilmore and onto Acacia. We made a quick turn onto Kirby and we were on our way.

It was good to see Rick and Sterling joining us from Beaumont and I was pretty sure they were going to enjoy one of our bigger A group today. I knew Gambler was going to meet us on the way so I figured we would have 19 riders by the time we got to Warren. Sure enough before we got to California the A group started to pick it up and when I looked back as we rounded the corner the group was spread out all the way down California and half way down Stetson. I fell back to gather the stragglers and pulled onto Stowe well behind the fast moving A and B group. We regrouped at Stowe and Winchester and I asked Gambler to take the A group and not wait for the rest of us.

Still after a rather shaky and slinky start south on Winchester I took the lead and pulled us to Simpson. Somewhere in there we picked up Bandit but on the dump road T-3 and Dura Max left us. So for a few blocks I think we had 20 riders. Not bad for a Friday.

I got us around the corner onto Domenigoni and then fell back to pick up Digger. Everyone took off with the A group except Digger, Sterling and me. I pulled the two of them all the way to Searl where the A group had gone up to Seven dollar hill and we picked up Rick and continued on to State. After checking to see if the A group was off of the hill we made a run for Chambers and then back out onto Stetson. They hadn’t caught us by the time we got to Columbia so we rounded the corner and got onto Crest and tried to make our way to Lake.

We got all the way to Lake easily enough and cruised up to Stetson with Digger trailing us over the hill. The three of us had gapped digger by about 150 yards as we turned east towards Fairview and were moving well enough not to disturb the big dogs on the right behind the chain linked fence. We could see the lead part of the A group coming but we made it to Fairview before they caught us and somehow were back to 15 riders.

After we were all gathered back together and ready Quicksilver and Surgeon started us north towards the bridge I followed in fourth place. I already knew Rick and Sterling were going to leave and head home when we got to Florida so as soon as I noticed Quicksilver wasn’t looking I took off and headed for the bridge. The wind was in my face a bit but soon I was up to 28 and well in front of the group. Only Bloodhound really gave chase but I beat him to the end of “Not the Fairview Mile” and he pulled ahead at Mayberry. Surgeon, Rick and Sterling turned left at Florida while the rest of us headed for Cranston Station. Bloodhound picked up the pace and Dragon Slayer pulled in front of me to allow and that worked pretty good till we got to the little Statuary place and I started to exceed zone 3. She ended up pulling me through the trees and I pulled her to the Station for another regroup.

All we had left was the run back to Carl’s and the ride home. Bloodhound and I got out of the parking lot first and I managed to get into the trees again and managed to grab the wheel of Bloodhound after he hooked on to the passing a group freight train. I stayed with them almost all the way to Fairview before they pulled away. Quicksilver needed to Stop at Casino and it was a good time to get her derailleur adjusted and by the time we got to Carl’s everyone had gone home. So we continued on with dragon slayer and headed for home ourselves.

It did get hot like the weather wizards had predicted and by the time we got to Santa Fe and Latham. I decided to ride back to Burger King with Quicksilver and Dragon Slayer and once we got there Dragon Slayer offered to give me a ride home. It wasn’t a real long ride and it was a bit faster than I planned but I enjoyed it none the less. In fact being out with friends is one of the reasons I like cycling so much.