By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) I got this up morning wondering if I was feeling any older than I did Thursday. I wondered if I was up to riding my age and I wondered if anyone was interested in doing the ride with me. After all riding Bloodhound’s age is pretty easy but mine would be a metric and then some. It was also cold when I left the house, about 47 degrees. Still when I pulled into the parking lot Digger was already there. While we had coffee Bloodhound rode up as did Gambler and Highlander. Gambler had his new built up BH with him dressed in seasonal Black and Green. Highlander and Huntress arrived. I was surprised with a birthday card and a gift before we headed for Latham and east to Lyon.

It was defiantly jacket time as we rounded the corner onto Lyon and started south. I knew we might pick up Daredevil once we got to Domenigoni and Sanderson. I didn’t know if he realized we would be taking State Street to get there. Still we made our way down Lyon and past Johnston to start our trip.

As we crossed Johnston and headed for Thornton I wondered how in the world anyone ever managed to race a bicycle on the roads of Roubaix France. Lyon past Johnston is a mess and riding on it makes your bike vibrate like one of those beds in the movies where you had to put coins in to make it move. Thornton was better but the cracks across the street in the beginning are a bit like little curbs. However soon we were off of Thornton and onto State heading for Domenigoni.

Bloodhound took us west on Domenigoni and I stuck to his wheel like a trailer. Sure enough we cruised past Searl and headed for Sanderson to see Daredevil waiting at the corner. As we past the light he joined in and was followed by Shadow as we headed for Warren. I expected to have to help Bloodhound pull by the time we got to the dry wash but Gambler took care of that and started a pull that would take the whole group to the Saddle for a short break.

Gambler, daredevil and Bloodhound would be leaving early because they were doing a century ride Saturday but they stayed with us as we turned on Menifee to avoid the construction between Menifee and Antelope. That left Shadow, Huntress, Highlander, Digger and me to ride up to the elementary school and over to Antelope to cut back onto Newport and west again. We rode over the freeway and past Haun and then Bradley. By the time we got to Carl’s we decided we didn’t need to stop and so moved on towards Railroad Canyon.

To be honest in years past I did not look forward to Railroad Canyon but today I hit the bottom of the hill just past Goetz pretty hard and pulled it almost to the top in a full spin. The problem was Shadow was in the group and my two legs weigh more than he does. It didn’t take long for him to close with me and once over the first hill he simply fell in on my back wheel. The second problem with Shadow is I can’t draft him uphill. Well in fact drafting Shadow is like; ok I’ll say it, drafting a Shadow. We traded places all the way through the canyon and waited for the rest of our group at the turn past Mickey Ds. Our next move was down to Coradon and then over to Grand to start around the lake. Highlander put his head down and made a run for Ortega that all in all was pretty respectful. Huntress and I caught his after about a mile and she and Shadow pulled away to round the corner and head for Jack in the Box.

We couldn’t stay long because Huntress had to get back by 1pm so after a quick cup of coffee we were headed for Lake and south to Elsinore proper. I got us moving and south on Lake and pulled against a small head wind back to the Lake and onto Graham.

We had no trouble getting to Main and started to move back to Lake and head for Mickey Ds and the run at the canyon. This time last year I would be tired by this point in the ride and dreading the climb back through the canyon. Today I thought I could pull Huntress up the hill and give her a better shot at getting home on time. However I didn’t pace myself correctly and dropped her so I just continued on and dropped down to the next hill and got caught at the last light by Shadow. Shadow and I decided to wait and canyon Lakes estates to regroup one last time.

We dropped down out of the Canyon and past Goetz where Huntress took over the pull to set a pace that would get her home on time. At first I was going to have Shadow ride with her and I would go back to pick up Digger but we realized even she couldn’t draft off of Shadow. So as we got to Murrieta I decided to pull her home but we picked up Barracuda so I felt he would be a better choice and both he and Shadow could set a pace back to Sanderson.

Just as Barracuda started to pull towards Bradley Shadow flatted and so we set Huntress and Barracuda free and Digger, Highlander and I stopped to help Shadow. It didn’t take long before we were back on the road and headed to the Freeway and Antelope. We decided to stay on Newport past Antelope and while we made it safely we agreed the road is in bad shape and should be avoided. Finally we were back over the saddle and headed for Winchester. We took turns pulling till we got to Winchester and somehow we got the light green. We ran in twos all the way back to the dry wash. Shadow and I sprinted to the top of the wash, he beat me, and then soft pedaled till we were all back together and Shadow pulled away a bit before we caught him at the light on Sanderson. Shadow left us at Mustang while Digger Highlander and I made our way to Lowes and around back to get to Acacia.

We did a reasonable job of cruising Acacia till we got to Gilmore and headed for the parking lot. Digger stopped for a moment before heading home. I stayed for a few minutes talking to Highlander before heading for home myself. I rolled by 66 miles as I got back to Lyon and made it to 67 by the time I got to my front door. Not bad for a birthday ride and to be honest I enjoyed the company as much as I enjoy the ride.