By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It was a new year for me with my birthday being Friday. I had a new kit I got for my birthday. I planned a new ride to celebrate all of those things. I got up, had breakfast, took the dog for a walk and came home to get ready for the ride. It was cool but I chanced not wearing a jacket and headed for Burger King. I got to Burger King and had coffee with Digger and watched a small group assemble to start our ride. By 8:30 we had Highlander, Tax Man, Bloodhound, Shadow and MacGyver heading out on Latham to Lyon and going north. It was still a bit cold as we rolled on past Seventh Street heading for Cottonwood.

Slowly we picked up the pace a bit and I was still leading as we got to Ramona Boulevard and headed for Sanderson. There was a light breeze running into us as we moved west and I the lead as we closed in on Sanderson. We rolled around the corner and headed for the light but didn’t make it before it turned red.

Once on the expressway Bloodhound took over the pull and got us headed towards Warren. We stayed in a pretty nice pace line past the first two gates and weren’t even chased by dogs. Shortly after getting past the last gate Bloodhound gave up the pull and I took over again. Just before Bridge MacGyver pulled in front and I fell to the back to ride sweep. It took us a while before we stopped at the Valero and Digger continued on. After a short break we headed for the back gate of Lake Perris. As soon as we climbed the hill and dropped down onto the bike path we started to spread out as Bloodhound put the pressure on the backside TT.

It was turning into a beautiful morning as we navigated the east end of the lake and started to curve around to head west through the trees, past the day camps and onto the path heading to the Marina. Shadow and Bloodhound got to the Marina while MacGyver and I pulled out onto the street heading to the Transition road and waited for everyone. There was some debate when one or two riders realized we would be leaving through the north end of the park but soon we were on our way and crested the small hill leading to the North Gate.

The ride down the hill out of the north gate is rather quick but we all made it through the light and headed west towards Lasalle and south as it turned into Evans. One of our riders needed a nature stop so when we got to Ramona again most of us headed west to Mickey Ds while MacGyver went east and headed for home. When we were headed back east we moved over to Rider and then back onto Ramona only the climb over the two little hills and straight into the wind. We picked up Shadow and Bloodhound at Lakeview and slugged our way back towards Bridge.

Finally shadow rolled to the front and offered to pull us back to Sanderson. There is a reason we call him Shadow even if he wants to be called “Big Ben” because you can’t draft a Shadow. And we couldn’t draft him either. We finally got to Sanderson and he was waiting for us. We decided to stay on Sanderson as long as we could to avoid more head winds.

Digger turned off before we got to Devonshire and I managed to catch everyone as they turned the corner onto Devonshire and we headed back towards Gilmore. Soon we were by Kirby and then making the turn towards the parking lot. We all stopped to talk for a few minutes before I headed for home and a shower. I rolled up to my door with 53 miles on the computer and a feeling that even with the wind we had a good ride.