By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Sometimes planning a ride is a lot harder than it should be. I often get ride requests and some are easier than others but the Bling team requested a ride to Idyllwild and that is not a favorite ride for everyone. So I planned several different rides that would cover everything from an A group to a C group and posted it not knowing just who would be riding where. All I knew was I would be leading a group from Burger King and meeting a group at Cranston Station. I just didn’t know who would stay with me once we made the turn up towards Idyllwild. I got to Burger King met Digger for coffee. Dragon Slayer was already there talking to Robert and Akira but I discovered they wouldn’t be riding with us. Bloodhound was there and Sasquatch was there as well. Huffnpuff came down from Beaumont and Daniel pulled up. MacGyver arrived as well and we were ready to go. Right at 9am we headed over to Lyon and made our way to Johnston to start east in hopes of making Cranston by 9:45 at the latest.

Bloodhound led us east on Johnston all the way to Girard and then over to Stetson to continue east. I will admit the pace was quicker than I thought it would be but everyone seemed to be riding easy right up till we got to the little hill just past the high school. One of our new riders still has trouble with small climbs and he fell off of the back and out of the draft. Digger offered to go back and ride sweep but I had him stay with the group and I went back myself. I ended up pulling the rider to Fairview and then to Florida before heading to Cranston with no one heading for Soboba. We got to Cranston just as everyone was getting ready to leave. We had picked up Gambler, Bulldozer, Papillion and Bandit along with Quicksilver. Huntress had an appointment and couldn’t make the ride. As we got started we had Quicksilver pull almost to the Jeep trail and then the A group started to wind it out. I stayed with Quicksilver and she stuck to my back wheel like a bolt on reflector. Soon Dragon Slayer pulled away from Sasquatch and tagged up on Quicksilver and me. Dragon Slayer and I pulled away when Scott caught up to Quicksilver and stayed with her. Dragon Slayer and stayed together till we caught Huffnpuff and I stopped to wait for Quicksilver and Scott. Dragon Slayer continued on and we followed a few minutes later after removing some arm and leg warmers. It wasn’t long after that we crossed Strawberry creek and passed Huffnpuff again and then stopped at the turn out to see who wanted to continue on chasing the A group.

We waited to Scott, Huffnpuff, Quicksilver and I had hydrated bit before deciding who we still going up and who would be going back down. Quicksilver was running out of time and Scott was already running late so he decided to head back and the three of us headed up towards Mountain Center.

Quicksilver and I pulled away from Huffnpuff and Scott headed back down the hill. I heard him shout at Sasquatch as he rounded a corner below me. I later learned that Digger was still climbing to Strawberry Shortcake so only Daniel had turned back before getting half way up the hill. Quicksilver and I never caught Dragon Slayer but we did see the A group coming back down from Mountain center. When Quicksilver and I got there she decided she needed to call it a day and I checked with Dragon Slayer telling him I was going with her. We passed Huffnpuff and Sasquatch on the way down and Dragon Slayer went to Mile High café in Idyllwild. I got quicksilver back to her car and decided to do the Soboba ride myself and headed west on Ramona to Main and then over to Soboba and out to Gilman Springs and finally to Sanderson and back to Menlo before heading home. It was not a bad day after all and I felt good about the group and the effort of the climb.