By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It looked like a good day for the last road ride of the year and how could we end it but with a simple ride with training climb. Juniper flats has always been a challenge not because of the difficulty but because it lets you push yourself or cruise depending on how you feel Plus you get a good speed run west on Ramona. So I posted the ride the night before and got a good night’s rest. The next morning I had breakfast and got dressed before heading to meet Digger for coffee. I got there just a few minutes later than normal and Digger, Highlander, Doug and Dragon Slayer were already there. Bloodhound arrived after I got coffee and Sue, “Tonto”, pulled up just before Phil arrived. A new rider named Nathan arrived; he is a friend of Mantis, as did MacGyver and Albert. 11 of us were ready to head out onto Latham and north on Lyon to meet up with Mantis.

We were stretched out over two blocks before we even got to Fruitvale so I pulled the group over and regrouped and then sent Phil to chase Bloodhound towards Cottonwood. Soon Dragon Slayer and Doug went after them. By Ramona Boulevard I had the rest of the group up to the fleeing foursome. We headed west to Sanderson and finally were all turning at the light on the Expressway. I managed to take the lead and pull us down to Warren and then fell back to take up a place as sweep. The group held together till we got to Bridge Street and I took over the pull for second but smaller group. We all made it to the stop light Hansen and regrouped on the corner.

We gave everyone the option of taking the bypass down Lake to Menifee but only one took the offer and the rest of us headed for Contour to zero in on the Juniper Flats run. I regrouped everyone on the corner of Hansen and Contour and promised to wait for everyone to regroup at the top of the climb. As soon as we were on our way Bloodhound took off followed by Mantis and he was followed by Dragon Slayer. I was planning on just cruising the hill till Doug rolled by on his way to close on Mantis. I moved off after him with Dragon Slayer tossing out encouragement as I pulled away. I knew I wasn’t going to catch the young guns but I also knew I had a possible PR if I could keep my spin up. About halfway up the flats I noticed a rider closing on me and was pretty side it was Dragon slayer making one of his last half of the hill charges. I kept the spin going and tried to keep my distance till I was closing in on the last kick up before the stop sign. By then I knew the closing rider was MacGyver and I also knew he was faster than me so I pushed ever harder to make sure he didn’t run over me before the stop. I just made it before he caught me.

It didn’t take long for everyone to regroup and we were happy to see Digger was not the last one up the hill. It was the first time up the Flats for some of the riders but they all looked pretty good at the top of the hill. As soon as everyone was ready we started down the backside of Juniper and Bloodhound dropped like a rock down the hill. It was all I could do to stay with him to the last turn. We made our way to Florida and then west to Briggs for another regroup.

It is a rather quick trip from the High School on Briggs through the housing track and out onto the dump road. I wanted to work of a pace line was we headed east to Leon but we had too many new riders and it fell apart every time I got us back in line. Finally we split in two and I dropped back to ride sweep as we neared the DVV sprint area. We were not all that far apart as we got to Winchester before heading north to Stowe and our coffee break. We talked for a while and Bloodhound had to leave early. Once the rest of us were ready we headed east on Stowe towards California.

We took turns pulling north to Stetson and then east back to Warren. We were all going to head back past the airport and out onto Sanderson. As we past Hanger 1 Highlander seemed to get the old heading for the barn feeling and started to head for Wentworth and to the light at Sanderson. Dragon slayer and I started to sprint to the light with the intention of catching Highlander but it turned green for Highlander and Doug and red for the rest of us. We finally made it to Burger King as Highlander was loading his bike in the van and we all headed for home for lunch and a hot shower. Maybe it was the last road ride for 2013 but it was a good one and I felt great about the effort.