By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It was another beautiful day today as I looked outside. Yes it was cold and yes we would have a divided group going in two different directions but that is just how it is now and then. Several people would be out sick or just staying home because it was cold. But I didn’t care because I was looking forward to riding Bautista and watching Huntress apply her spinning skills. I left for Burger King only knowing that at least Huntress and I would be heading east today and if that was all there was I would still be OK with that. But we had six just like we did Wednesday with only a slight change. Digger replaced Bloodhound and Barracuda replaced Tate so that Huntress, Rob, Dragon slayer and right at 9am we headed to Latham before turning onto Lyon and heading south towards Florida and then Johnston.

The ride to Bautista is an easy one that we can almost do on auto pilot. Once past Johnston we simply cross Stetson and make our way to Thornton and head east. Today was no different except Dragon slayer was riding point where Bloodhound normally rides, about a block in front of the rest of us. He did have to hold up at the light on State Street and we more or less regrouped and followed him to Santa Fe and back to Stetson where he took off again. The rest of us stayed together and headed for Columbia.

We all turned south on Columbia to make our way to Crest and through the old homes located on that street. For some reason that is beyond me we have riders that don’t like the Crest Thornton section of the ride. I like it because it is quiet and has less traffic. I rode side by side with Huntress and we talked while watching Dragon Slayer pull away into the distance. Finally we lost sight of him as he turned onto Lake and by the time we got there he was gone.

Up to this point it had been rather cool without much wind. Digger was suffering with cold legs and kept falling back so as we headed north on Lake and got by Thornton we decided to slow down and regroup on Lake and Stetson. Huntress took over the photo selection as we got ready to head east towards Fairview.

Things would get interesting soon enough as we headed for Fairview with Huntress in the lead. She managed to pull us all the way to Fairview and I took over as we moved south towards Bautista and a regroup. As we got to the foot of Wilson Mesa and turned east to start the climb we stopped to shed some jackets and give digger a head start up the canyon. I took off and started my spin up the hill as soon as we made the hard right turn on Bautista heading towards the dam. In fact I managed to catch Digger at the dam and headed for the river crossing and Picket fence trying to hold 90 rpm and using my gears a lot. Just before we got to the last three little climbs Barracuda caught me and I followed in his draft to the last two miles. I had to down shift to keep my RPM up but was cruising along real well till I crested the last hill and headed for the little drop just before the end of the road. Dragon Slayer caught me and I took off in a sprint trying to get away. He was on my wheel as we climbed out of the dip and disaster almost struck. My left foot came unclipped and I almost lost it. However I saved it and managed to stop with nothing more than a sore left calf muscle. I ended up limping to the finish and rested till it was time to drop back down the hill. Naturally we were riding into a head wind and it was almost as hard as riding up the hill. Still we easily made it back to Fairview and took off towards Florida and coffee at Carl’s. Barracuda left us at Stetson and the rest of us hurried on to Carl’s. Huntress didn’t stop so there was just four of us having coffee and joking about my near disaster. We finished our coffee and headed to Lincoln to head for home. Digger left on Palm and I followed Dragon Slayer and Rob to Burger King before heading home for a hot shower and lunch. Like I said, it was a great day for a ride.