By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) I looked out this morning at a rather grey cold sky with just the breath of wind blowing the little windmill next to my house. I was looking forward to a ride but I wasn’t sure I wanted to bundle up as much as it looked like I would have to. So I put on some arm warmers and ling base layer tights with my kit and headed for the door. As soon as I walked outside I went back in for wind vest before heading to Burger King for coffee with Digger. Highlander pulled up right after I said hello to Digger. By the time he walked in to get coffee Bloodhound rode up. The next one to arrive was Daredevil followed by Dragon Slayer, Quicksilver and Huntress. It was a small group but an eager one as we pulled out of the parking lot and headed for Acacia. Bloodhound was the first to the light and the first one to start down Kirby but that has become normal.

The rest of us cruised south to Cypress and headed west through the housing tract. Highlander and Dragon Slayer pulled up next to me and we chatted while at first it looked like Daredevil was going to chase Bloodhound. He seemed to think better of it and fell back to help pull the rest of us to Johnston and Sanderson. Bloodhound was waiting there and he jumped out front as the light turned green and stayed there as we got to Stetson. He pulled away again as the light changed and we followed him to Mustang.

Now the plan was that when we turned onto Domenigoni we would get into a pace line and run all the way to the Saddle with the big dogs pulling. That worked reasonably well till Warren when Dragon Slayer took the lead. While he pulled at a steady pace he started out a bit quicker than normal and soon the group split in half. I held on pretty well till we got to Winchester where the rest of the group caught us when the light turned red. I took a while to get organized when we started west again and Quicksilver was fighting a jacket that kept filling with air like a parachute. By the time I took the lead we were almost at the saddle and I was in the dead man’s spot. Still I pushed hard to maintain the 21 MPH we agreed on. It wasn’t good enough to stay in front of Daredevil but I did hold steady to the top for a regroup.

Normally the saddle is the perfect spot for my morning snack. We get there almost 3 hours after my breakfast and I am ready for food and something to drink. It is lucky for me everyone else is used to the routine and they have things to do at the same time. Quicksilver needed to shed her parachute jacket and I removed the glove liners I had on. Once we were all ready we dropped off of the saddle and continued west.

Moments before we were ready to drop off of the saddle MacGyver joined us and made for a slightly bigger A group. We headed past Lindenburger with us and down to Menifee where once again we got the light and had to wait to head south towards Holland. Once headed towards the elementary school Bloodhound once again jumped out front and I closed slightly on him at Holland. I wasn’t going to attack Revive hill but I wasn’t going to slack off on it either. What I noticed as I rode next to MacGyver was Quicksilver we tracking me like a heat seeking missile. What I didn’t see was Dragon Slayer on my blind side that was ready to pounce the second I changed gears. He did jump past me but ran out of air before the summit and I just got by him before the stop sign. We regrouped at the wide spot after the stop sign before heading towards Garboni.

We picked up the pace a bit after Garboni and I led the way over the rise before Scott. I missed a shift on the rise and was passed by Daredevil and MacGyver. They took us around the corner and headed for Antelope. We caught some traffic at the light but we made it over the freeway and headed north on Haun. Daredevil fell back to ride sweep and I started the pursuit of Bloodhound. I had MacGyver on my wheel so I decided to burn all my matches to get him up to Bloodhound for the pass. He had other ideas and wouldn’t go by without me so we ran him down again and I fell In on the double pass getting us by him and t the stop sign on Holland.

MacGyver sat up and waited for me as Bloodhound continued on to Newport were we caught him before we headed to the AM/PM for a regroup. Bloodhound didn’t stop and continued on to Bradley while we waited for everyone to regroup. We followed a few minutes later and got to Bradley with Daredevil taking the lead. He pulled MacGyver and I to McCall giving me a PR on Golf Cart Racing. I got around the corner on McCall and put a light between me and the rest of the group. I got to the top of McCall without being caught and saw Bloodhound at the top of the Hill. I dropped down to Menifee and waited for everyone else to catch up. We turned onto Heritage and worked our way to Simpson. Bloodhound had already left to head for home so we kept the group together all the way to the light at Lindenburger. We started east on Simpson with me in the lead till Daredevil, MacGyver and Dragon Slayer rolled by. I grabbed a wheel and held on for dear life. Highlander asked for me to get them to drop back a notch and they did at Leon where Highlander moved up to get Dragon Slayer’s wheel as he took the lead. I stayed in the draft as Huntress and Quicksilver pulled in behind me. Then at the last stand of trees I made a sprint of it trying to get to Winchester first. I didn’t make it because Daredevil caught me before the turn lane and he made the light while I didn’t. We then rode to Winchester Farms where Highlander and I stopped for coffee while Daredevil, Huntress, Quicksilver, MacGyver and Dragon Slayer headed for home. Digger joined Highlander and I for coffee before we headed for home ourselves. I stayed with them to the airport road before going on to Sanderson and finally to Johnston and home. It was just short of 40 miles on a day that got better as it went. Not bad for a winter ride.