By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) I got up this morning to a clear blue sky. Clear blue it might have been but it was also only 47 degrees and I had a 41 or 42 mile ride planned. The bad part was I would have to dress warmly but the good part was I had a wool jersey I wanted to try out. I put on a base layer anyway thinking I wouldn’t need a jacket. As I headed for the door I was regaled in tights, base layer shirt, bibs and my new Wool jersey. I walked out onto my front porch and went right back into the house to get my jacket. I headed out to Burger King not really ready for the change in weather. I got to Burger King first and was joined for coffee by Digger. Soon we were joined by Dura Max and then Bloodhound. Daredevil pulled into the parking lot just as Dura Max was heading out to join T-3. By the time Huntress, Gambler and MacGyver arrived we were ready to go and moved out onto Latham to make our way to Lyon and North. Because it was so cold I was hoping we would start out slow but with Bloodhound leading the group there was no such luck. Soon we were headed to Cottonwood and Bloodhound was in the lead.

By the time we turned onto Ramona and headed towards Sanderson all hope of a slow start were dashed as Bloodhound kept that pace at 20+ all the way. Once we got to the expressway I had to shed my jacket. Wool is a lot warmer than my new jerseys and my jacket sure wasn’t letting it breath. Once back heading west we quickly bumped it up to 21 or 22 before Digger lost the draft and I went back to get him. We couldn’t close with the group but we stayed about the same distance back all the way to Lakeview. We regrouped and headed over the rollers towards Rider. I pulled as well as I could to Bernasconi and then tried to hold onto the big dogs to the second roller. I couldn’t hang with them so I saved a little for the ride down the hill and onto Rider for the sprint to Evans. I did manage to hit the light at Rider perfectly and was under full steam trying to catch the A group by Evans. After the regroup on Evans we took off again and made our way towards Nuevo.

By this point I was warming up pretty well. Bloodhound was playing nice and Gambler and Daredevil were busy talking as we rounded the corner onto the last straight before coming out at the light on Nuevo. I had been testing out a new saddle and up t this point it was working pretty well. As I was thinking about the saddle Huntress commented that my Jersey made me look like a bee and having seen myself in the mirror I had to agree.

Once on Nuevo the group started to spread out and soon I was in the back talking to Digger as Gambler left for home and Daredevil took everyone else to Menifee and headed for Florida. Somehow Huntress got separated from the lead group and turned on Mapes and Digger and I were too far back to see her. We continued on to the AM/PM station and then worked our way to McCall and then to Simpson. Bloodhound and Daredevil got s down to Winchester and we headed North towards Stowe. MacGyver left for home and the remainder of us caught Huntress just before she headed for home herself.

Digger and I fell back and chatted away as Daredevil took Huntress and Bloodhound back to Burger King. I rode with Digger to the airport road and then to Sanderson where I turned for home and a hot shower. I got home with 43 miles on the books and a surprising good ride.