Proud Mary ride

By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Normally I plan a ride for Friday that is nice and easy. It doesn’t always turn out that way but I plan for it anyway. With that in mind I started getting text messages asking for something more challenging. Daredevil was planning on bringing some friends from the Marines and suddenly all I could think of was the introduction Tina Turner gave to the song “Proud Mary”. She said they were going to start out the song, “Nice and easy”, but then they were going to pick it up because the group never does nothing, “Nice and easy”. And of course heard her do “Proud Mary”, you know it is true. So I planned a 50 mile ride with sprints, climbs, rollers and twists that I hoped would entertain everyone. “Da-doot-doot-doot, da- doot-doot-doot. Left a good job in the city.” That was going through my head as I rode to the parking lot to meet Digger and have coffee. As I had coffee with Digger and Dura Max the group started to assemble, Dragon Slayer, Surgeon, Daredevil and his friends Jet, and Paul. Bloodhound, Bulldozer, Gambler and Highlander got there just before Rick and MacGyver. Quicksilver pulled up along with RCMP. A rather large group for a Friday and a half century at that. We headed for Gilmore right at 8 am. We got stalled at the light on Florida and then headed towards Acacia, nice and easy, (Left a good job in the city.)

Bulldozer rolled by much like a base player switching from quarter notes to eighths followed by Bloodhound hitting a double count on the hat. The rest of us were still taking it nice and easy like Tina in the beginning of the song. As we moved from Kirby onto Cypress and headed towards Johnston Daredevil and his friends moved up towards the front. When we turned south onto Sanderson Bulldozer and Bloodhound started to pick up the beat but before they could get fully on the back beat the rest of the A group took off after them. The B group formed in the back to become the audience as we watched them all turn onto Domenigoni while we were still coming to Mustang.

I could almost picture Tina and her girls starting their dance and the A took Domenigoni like they owned it. “Roll in, roll in, roll in, on the river” and they were gone. It wasn’t like the Bs were dragging their feet, we were hitting 20 and 21 consistently but had the addition of Ferret catching up to the back and upon discovering there was a monster A group took off after them in pursuit. We held steady to Warren and then to Winchester before a short regroup on the Saddle only to discover the A group had moved on. Quicksilver did chase me to the top of the saddle but was gracious enough not to pass before we stopped. We dropped off of the saddle and made our way to Menifee before turning south again and heading towards Holland.

Just before we got to Holland and the little hill I saw the A group pulling out of the Park and gaining on us. I wanted to make a charge at the hill but was almost in zone 4 just as I got stated. Quicksilver wasn’t so gracious this time and past me as soon as I backed off. I could hear Tina loud and clear as some of the A rolled by. (Working for the man every night and day) Some of us regrouped at the top and headed for Scott just as the A group was heading east through the light. RCMP and Surgeon turned around on Scott and I led the group to Winchester and then onto Washington. Quicksilver took over just before Benton and Highlander caught her wheel as they pulled away from Digger, Dura Max and Me. (Cue the backup singers, “Rolling on the river”. We made it to the gas station to regroup with the big dogs.

It was hot and humid and most of us had been going through water and electrolytes. Soe refueling was taking place as well as conversation.

Once our break was over it seemed much like an encore and the song began again as I led us out of the gas station and north on Winchester.

We caught the light and got ready to make the turn on Max Gillis and head west. The next part of the ride was going to be new for many and in my opinion a lot of fun and very interesting. I knew the As were going to hit Los Altos like Tina would hit the song Proud Mary so I got in front as soon as I could to catch them before the faded into the distance leaving only the song in my head. Picture 90

As soon as the As turned onto Los Altos Quicksilver left us and tagged onto the back of the A group. I tried to pull the rest of the B group through the rollers and twisters but we managed to get strung out over a quarter of a mile. We finally caught Quicksilver at the intersection where Los Altos changes names and all of us pulled out onto Whitewood and headed back North. Before we topped the hill Rick came back to join us and we rode to the Hospital together before moving over to Antelope and then back to Menifee. Once back to Newport we headed to Lindenburger and then over to Simpson before rolling down to Winchester to head for Winchester Market.

I managed to pull us to the Market on Winchester and Stowe where we stopped for coffee and a time of reflection on today’s ride. We were talking about the Patriot Ride in October that is being put on by the Tour De Palm Springs people and trying to figure out how many of us were going to give it a try. After cooling down a bit and refilling out bottles we headed for home on Stowe. About half way to California I had a blowout on my rear tire that sounded like a gun shot? It split the tire so that even a boot only made it bulge like a bee sting does someone’s arm. The words of Tina came back to me, “We never do anything completely nice and easy. So after contacting Dragon Slayer to get a ride home and sending the other riders on I limped at about half way down California and met Dragon Slayer after I had my 50 miles in. I guess I can be just as Proud as Mary ever was.