By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) 8/26/13 We wanted and needed a longer ride for Monday. The problem was the weather wizards were predicting rain. That normally doesn’t mean much but Sunday it rained hard in Palm Springs and they are just on the other side of the mountain from us. The rain was supposed to be moving north east so it should miss us but the last time we had this chance of rain only three of us finished even a short ride. The A group were either captured by the local Indian rain gods or space aliens but whatever the case they didn’t finish the ride. So today I had low expectations for a large group, especially after getting a hit with a light rain while taking my dog for his morning walk. But by 7am it was clear to the west so I loaded up the bike and put my shoes on before heading to Burger King for coffee. Digger, Dura Max, Bloodhound and I stood around talking till Dragon slayer and Quicksilver arrived. Just before we decided Matt and Kendra,( Hawk) pulled up as Matt was heading for work. It looked like we had all the riders we were going to get do we took off for Latham and up to Lyon to head north to Ramona.

Everything went pretty smoothly as we moved north and then onto Ramona Boulevard. Things seemed rather effortless as we rode west towards Sanderson and talked about our plan of attack to avoid the dog at the second dairy after Warren. I decided to pull and Dragon Slayer took up the back as we headed west and made the light at Warren. Everything was going smoothly till just before we got to the driveway in question and I ran head long into the biggest glass field I believe I have ever seen on the road. It looked like someone had dropped a plate glass window and just took off. Naturally I got flat and a cut tire. We booted the tire and decided to try to make it to Dragon Slayer’s house to use one of his spare tires.

It took a few minutes to dismount and then remount another tire and as soon as we were done we headed back to Lakeview and over to Nuevo changing the route to save time. Dura Max and Hawn left for home on Menifee and the rest of us headed for Perris Boulevard on Nuevo. Bloodhound couldn’t wait for us and like an eager puppy took off for Evans ahead of us. We stopped for a moment to refuel and rehydrate and Bloodhound kept going till he got to Perris Boulevard. We remembered the construction on Perris so we took an alternate route down to Case and then onto Goetz. It was there I realized we had lost Bloodhound. He must have tracked the wrong rabbit because he ended up back on Ramona rather than Goetz where we were. After discovering his mistake he headed for home. The rest of us headed for the back side of Goetz and I decided to behave myself and take the hill in zone 2 or three. I was doing real well till I noticed Quicksilver was struggling towards the top of the hill in front of me. Like a dog chasing a pork chop I started a spin and noticed Quicksilver was in striking distance without going into zone 4. (So far so good.) As I caught up to her she indicated she was having a problem with leg cramps. Being the kind man that I am I slowed down to let her beat me to the top, (hahahahah, like that was going to happen.) But I did stop at the top and rendered her my drug stash of Vitamin I and Endurolyte. We then continued down the hill to Newport and east to the gas Station on Murrieta. A quick splash of energy drink and we were headed for McCall on Murrieta.

Once on McCall Dragon Slayer and Quicksilver got away from Digger and I and made it through the light at the Valero when we didn’t. In fact they made all of the light green to our reds and we waiting at the top of McCall minute ahead of Digger and me. We dropped down the pack side and decided to ride through the little park before making it to Simpson and heading east. Dragon Slayer, Quicksilver and I practiced a three rider pace line all the way to Winchester and then we all made a dash for the Winchester market because it had started to rain. Not a hard rain or a cold rain but rain none the less. We made it without getting very wet and had coffee while the brief rain passed over us. I just had time to chug down a cup before we were on the road again and heading down Stowe to California.

Quicksilver must have fully recovered because she tagged onto Dragon Slayer’s wheel and left Digger and I in the dust. In fact they were almost at Warren before Digger and I turned onto Stetson. Digger and I watched them turn onto the Airport road and by the time we got to the road ourselves Digger left me and I rode to Sanderson and then Johnson by myself. I got home without getting any more rain on me and pulled up to my door with 52 plus miles on my computer. And a note to the A riders, we didn’t get abducted nor did we get struck by lightning. We just had a great ride.