By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) I am beginning to believe the weather people are predicting weather for some place other than where we live. I knew it was supposed to be a bit warmer than Monday but when I got up this morning it didn’t look all that warm. Still I had breakfast, took a shower and started out with a base layer under my kit before heading for Burger King. I got there and had some coffee and conversation with Digger before Bloodhound arrived. Next Gambler pulled up followed by Huntress. Soon Tate, who I called Mike last week, joined us and just as we were getting ready to leave I let Isaac know we were on our way. As we moved out onto Latham MacGyver joined us and we headed north on Lyon.

We managed to move quickly past one street after another till we were past Cottonwood and in the distance we could see Isaac coming our way. I don’t know if I mentioned it before but Isaac has been keeping up with us riding a Track Bike. For the uninitiated a track bike is a fixed gear and still he was willing to come out and tackle a long fast run west on Ramona and climb over Juniper Flats and a planned ride over McCall and then Antelope. Anyway he joined us before we turned onto Ramona and headed for Sanderson.

Once Bloodhound took over the lead we quickly moved west to Sanderson and turned north to the expressway for a long run west towards Nuevo. As Bloodhound started us west I noticed Digger and Isaac were talking off of the back of the pace line so I asked for a 19 to 20 mph pace. Bloodhound let me pull and I kept it down till we past Bridge. Gambler started a run by pulling out around me. I was willing to let him go until Bloodhound, Huntress, Tate and MacGyver gave chase and like a dog chasing a cat I went with them. Soon people started to drop off and I was on Bloodhounds wheel. MacGyver pulled us about a third of the way to Nuevo and gave to lead to me for a few hundred yards before taking it back from Bloodhound and taking us to the light. We regrouped on Hansen before heading for Contour. From Contour we all headed up Juniper Flats and I fell back to sweep only to rejoin the group waiting for me at the Stop Sign on Juniper.

Once over the last little rise we had a swift decent down the south side of Juniper towards Florida. Bloodhound and MacGyver got an early lead and I started to close on them when Huntress almost flew by me followed by a Mini Van. I got on the Mini Van as it passed Huntress and closed on Bloodhound and MacGyver. I had a chance to pass but I was pretty sure that the Mini Van would try to pass them after the last turn of the hill and sure enough it did with me drafting it to sling shot by and take the lead. MacGyver and Gambler headed straight for Florida while Huntress, Bloodhound, Tate and I zig zaged over to Leon and then Florida. Huntress, Gambler and MacGyver turned left on Bridge while Bloodhound, Tate and I turned right and headed for the Stop Sign at the Elementary school. We made our way to Menifee while Isaac and Digger went back to Winchester to wait for us at Stowe. The three of us made it up McCall and over Hospital hill to Highpoint and then Sumner as it turned to Antelope. We crossed Newport and turned at the college to avoid the traffic on Newport. We came back down Menifee and then headed for Lindenburger and finally Simpson. We were joined by the wind in our face all the way to Leon and then headed towards the dump road.

We made the run east on grand and dropped onto the DVV sprint. I followed on Bloodhound’s wheel and started to plan a last minute spring around him to get to the flag first. However Bloodhound missed a shift making my job a bit easier and we laughed about me taking advantage of him when he was in the wrong gear to fight back, age and treachery as they say, and we all rejoined and road together to Winchester and up to Stowe to meet Digger and Isaac. Bloodhound couldn’t stop so it was just four of us for coffee, snacks and conversation and Winchester market. When we got back on the road it was time to wind down and head back to California and then Stetson to head east back to the airport. I decided to stay with them as we got to the airport road rather than take Stetson and Johnston home. We caught the light on Sanderson green allowing us a run north to Lowes to ride around to Acacia.

Digger left us at Gilmore and Isaac a few blocks later. Tate and I stayed together till we got to Palm and I headed for home. I got there with just a tick over 49 miles on the computer and the knowledge that I needed a hot shower and some lunch as soon as possible. It sure wasn’t a rest day.