By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) This has been a good week for me and the group. We had what was planned as an easy day Monday that resulted in a lot of fun and fast riding. Wednesday was a new ride and we had a good showing even after a lot of wind greeted us as we headed for Gilman Springs Road. Today was a Friday ride and I no longer predict how hard or easy they are going to be. I posted a flat ride of about 40 miles and decided to let the chip fall where they may. All I knew was I was going to try and stay with the lead group at least for the first half of the ride and then see how I felt after that. I got dressed and had breakfast before taking the long way to Burger King to meet Digger. We didn’t have long to wait before Rocket and Bloodhound rode up. Daredevil pulled into the parking lot a few minutes later followed by Newsboy and Red Rabbit. Highlander, MacGyver and Huntress joined us as we got ready to head down Gilmore to Acacia. We saw Papillion on the other side of Florida and he joined us before we got to Acacia.

After we turned on Acacia and caught the light at Kirby I could almost feel the eagerness in the group and when the light changed it reminded me of the gates opening at a horse race when we headed south towards t railroad tracks and the turn onto Cypress to start our move west.

As we pulled up to Sanderson Rocket told me he was going to run with the Big dogs and far as he could to test his stamina and that encouraged me to make sure I stayed in any group that picked up the pace. I didn’t know where the run would begin but I was in agreement with Rocket that this was going to be a frisky run west to the saddle and anyone falling out of the draft would be working hard to stay in the same zip code as the leaders all the way to the saddle. Daredevil got us to Domenigoni and Bloodhound started us west and we slowly picked up speed over the rise. Everyone stayed together pretty well all the way to Warren where I fell back in the group behind daredevil, Bloodhound, Highlander, Newsboy and Rocket. That left Huntress, Digger, MacGyver and Rabbit behind me. There was some kind of problem between Newsboy and Highlander and the group broke up as they sorted it out going over the dry wash. I closed the gap and got on Daredevils back wheel before taking my turn pulling towards Winchester. By the time I gave up the lead we were flying at about 26 to 28 and Newsboy took the pull from Winchester almost to Leon before giving it back to Bloodhound. Newsboy broke out of the pace line and I tried to pull up and give Bloodhound a pull while Daredevil took off and got to the top first where we regrouped. Everyone was there within 4 minutes of the lead. Rocket broke off and we dropped down the back side of the saddle going after Rabbit who already made the turn south.

We didn’t catch Rabbit till Holland and the start of the hill called revive. Bloodhound and I were cruising the hill in front when I noticed Newsboy pulling up and attacking from the back. It was his bad luck however to be running next to Papillion and he lost the sprint about 30 yards from the stop sign. We continued on to Scott for a regroup. Rabbit pulled past us and asked where we planned on stopping and disappeared down Scott and turned on Antelope. I pulled us to Haun where we started a run north with a tight pace line that held together till just before we returned to Holland and made a stop at the Circle K.

It turned out that several riders had to get back early so we couldn’t stand around talking so I took us to Bradley and started the attempt at Golf Cart Racing. I didn’t hit it hard enough in the beginning but with Daredevil encouraging me from my back wheel I did pull strong to the stop sign and then onto McCall and east.

I pulled over at the Valero Station to make sure we hadn’t dropped anyone and Huntress stopped with me. Digger wasn’t that far behind but we waited for him while the rest of the group headed for Hospital Hill. Digger rolled by us so Huntress and I chased him to Hillpoint and we made the light green and finally regrouped with everyone else on top of the hill.

As we dropped down the hill I followed several other riders to the light on Menifee and then to Heritage where Bloodhound pulled me to Lindenburger where once again we got the light red and had to wait to run east on Simpson. Bloodhound took us to Leon, I took over through the eucalyptus trees and Daredevil pulled us most of the way to Winchester. We had a small run in with a irate drive who was unimpressed with our road position coming up to make the turn on Winchester. It worked itself out and I got us to Winchester farms were we found Rabbit again and stopped with coffee. Daredevil took Huntress, McGyver and Bloodhound back home and the rest of us finished our coffee and relived the ride before heading east on Stowe and north on California before turning east once more on Stetson.

We were still moving well as we headed for Warren and crossed the street to make our way to the Airport road. I got a phone call so Highlander, Papillion and Digger pulled away while I stopped with Newsboy. Finally we were on our way and we caught Digger by Sanderson. We rode to Lowes and out onto Acacia before returning to Gilmore and Burger King. Newsboy went to the bike shop and I rode to the parking lot with Digger and met Highlander before heading for home myself. I felt pretty good when I got home and took a shower before taking the dog for a walk. About an hour later I had a snack and made the mistake of pulling the lever on my recliner t watch TV. The Dog and I took a nap while my wife watched the news. All in all it was a great day for a ride.