By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) 8/21/13 When I got up this morning I was really looking forward to today’s ride. Monday had been one of the first days in long time that I started to feel like I had some energy to run hard in a pace line and I felt I was almost ready to try a sprint. I put together a plan for a bit shorter ride with some nice short little climbs in it and thought I might get a chance to play just a bit if I didn’t blow up early. So I fixed myself a high protein breakfast and got dressed for what looked like a beautiful day. Digger and I had a chance to get coffee well before Dura Max arrived and the three of us were talking when Highlander drove up. Bloodhound was the next to arrive followed by Gambler without Bulldozer. As we stood around talking Quicksilver pulled up and it was quiet for a while. Surgeon, Alligator, Kendra and MacGyver got there just before Huntress and Dragon Slayer. Because everyone seemed ready to go we pulled out onto Gilmore and headed south to Acacia before moving over to Kirby and south again.

Quicksilver forgot her sun glasses and went back to get them and Dragon Slayer went with her. Highlander told me about her returning to the car and I knew they would get caught at the light on Florida. I pulled everyone over on Cypress and soon the missing rides were back with us and headed west towards Johnston and Sanderson.

Bloodhound took us north on Sanderson to the light and Wentworth and then west to the Airport road and out onto Stetson. Bloodhound was still in front as we continued west to Warren and slowly but surely he inched the pace up as we closed in on California and I was tempted to fall back to ride sweep. But what the heck I was feeling good so I decided to hook onto Bloodhounds freight train and head for Stowe.

We had passed Bandit on Stetson and he turned around to join us. Looked like a healthy A group and a frisky B group for today’s ride. I rounder the corner in the back of a small pace line and after about a quarter of a mile Alligator steamed by us and pulled away pretty quickly. When he sat up and let Bloodhound catch him I had him fall in line as we moved towards Winchester. About 100 yards before we got to the barn I pulled out and headed for the front. I didn’t know if I had enough steam to make it to the parking lot but I was going to give it a shot. I did reasonably well but Gambler ran me down and I didn’t have enough left to jump on his back wheel. Still it was one of the better runs I have had in a few months so I felt good about it. Once we were back on our way things got interesting. We headed south towards the dump road and the front three had to soft pedal a bit to let the group catch us at the corner. Once again Alligator took off but this time he let Bloodhound and a small group catch him. I had him fall into the pace line if front of me as we rolled by the Wild West Club. As we got to the rise I jumped out and made it to the crest first. But that only seemed to spur the rest of the group on as they past me and headed for Leon. We quickly made it to Simpson and headed west. I was in the second group that rounded the corner and had to work hard to catch the leader to get them to stop for a regroup at Briggs. Huntress pulled up and told me to keep the group moving because she would be riding sweep today. So off we went and started up the little ride past Heritage. As soon as I settled into a lower gear to spin up the hill Quicksilver jumped on it and beat me to the corner. I had been chicked again and this time by Quicksilver. I chased her to Menifee and McCall and headed around the corner for the back side of Hospital Hill. This time I was the first over the top and beat her to Hillpointe where we regrouped.

None of the ones being swept forward by Huntress seemed to be on their on their way and Surgeon and Bloodhound didn’t wait. We moved through the housing tract and moved to Sumner to climb the next set of hills. Once again Quicksilver jumped out and made me chase her to the first stop sign. I just said to myself that I might as well forget staying out of zone 4 or 5 as long as Quicksilver was drawing a breath. She backed of a bit trying to catch her breath before the second climb and admitted she had burned her matches. That was my cue to take off and crest the hill before her. When we got to Newport and Antelope for a small regroup Quicksilver was smiling like a cat that ate tweedy bird. By then I discovered the Digger was heading back and Huntress had Highlander in tow. Quicksilver started us towards the ride after Holland and exceeded Highlanders climb rate so I pulled him over the ride and to Garboni. Once we were heading east he set me free but I couldn’t catch the fleeing group before they made it to Briggs and headed to the Dairy farm. I was the last one to get to Newport and Laguna Vista. We regrouped and headed for the saddle. Highlander wanted us to wait at the top of the saddle and I had planned to pull over the top but this was the last hill on the way home and Quicksilver kept making noises like the theme from Jaws. Part way up the hill she tossed the gauntlet down and we jumped on it together. She almost got me but with a second effort I pulled away and she gave up. I backed down to wait at the top and she rolled by and stopped close to the front side of the Saddle. When I picked up Highlander and Huntress we dropped down the face of the Saddle and headed for Leon. We had pulled away quite a distance while Quicksilver was waiting on the top of the saddle so I fell back to get her. But I am no fool I let her pull us back to Highlander and Huntress. We turned onto Winchester and Had picked up Kendra and once again I followed Quicksilver north towards Winchester Market. We stopped for a break at the market and had a chance to talk to Digger about his chain jumping. After some cold drinks and some sweet watermelon we started for home east on Stowe. We were moving along quickly to California before heading north to Stetson and east again.

I was still feeling pretty good and my energy level was higher than I expected. We set one of our better paces on Stetson and then watch MacGyver leave us and Warren. All we had to do now was make it to the airport road and then to Sanderson. Dragon Slayer still have a lot of juice left at we headed north to Acacia and I managed to hold his wheel till we got to Lowes. We made it back to Acacia and then to Gilmore and back to Burger King where I collected ICE numbers from our small group. Quicksilver offered me a ride home so I tossed my bike in her Slade and got home in air conditioned comfort. I had a lot of fun today and I credit a lot of that to Huntress and her offering to ride sweep for me. It was a good day.