By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) I did not believe we would get in a ride on Wednesday the weather wizards assured us on Monday that we had a 50 percent chance of rain by Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. By Tuesday it was down to 30 percent and in some places it may have rained. It did not rain where I live and so I headed for Burger King to see who would be riding. I got there first and was followed by Highlander and then Digger. Scott, (The Closer) drove up about the same time as Sasquatch. Lastly Mantis arrived and we were ready to leave. The clouds had parted and I did not know if it was clearing up or if we had a monster sucker hole that would dump rain on us when we were as far from as we could be. We made it to Acacia and then headed south on Kirby to start our journey west to ride the rollers on Goetz.

At first I was concerned that this ride was simply going to be cold bit as we moved to Sanderson I realized it would be windy as well. Highlander got us to Domenigoni and started west before I took over and pulled to warren giving the lead back and falling to the back of the line. As we rotated through the pace line we soon came to Winchester and the wind simply got to Digger and blew him off the back of the pace line. I closed the gap and got in behind Closer and soon we stopped to collect Digger at the trees on the other side of Winchester. Once we started off again I got us started and had the group moving along between 17 and 19 into the wind. To my surprise Sasquatch came from the back and made a break for Briggs and the Saddle. Sasquatch had gapped us but he was running alone into a ever stiffening head wind and I managed to pull Highlander up to him before we were at the start of the Saddle. He had simply burned too many matches and Highlander and I passed him with Mantis moving up pretty quickly as we got to the top for our regroup.

We took a few moments to rest before dropping off of the Saddle and heading west towards Lindenburger and then Antelope. Somehow we were able to catch all of the lights green until we got to Haun. Once that light turned Green Closer took us to Carl’s for a nature break before moving on past Murrieta and heading to Goetz.

Sasquatch, Closer and Highlander rounder the corner onto Goetz first and I didn’t catch them till they got to Normandy. Once we started up the first roller I pulled out front and kept Sasquatch and Closer close behind me till I saw everyone but Mantis fall back. By the second climb Mantis had caught up to me and we road together past the Moose Lodge and down to the final climb. The rest of the group was nowhere in sight as we crested the hill and Mantis went back to bring up Sasquatch. Closer finished third followed by Sasquatch, Highlander and Digger.

All we had left to do was drop off of the hill and turn on Ethernac and get back to Murrieta. We headed south into the wind again and I pulled everyone for a while till Sasquatch took the lead and led us to the turn heading over to Bradley and back out onto McCall and east. I got a good jump on Hospital hill and got to the regroup point first. We then rolled down to Menifee and then to Heritage and south to Lindenburger. I started the pull east on Simpson and took us all the way to Winchester before we headed for Winchester Farms on Stowe. We had coffee and conversation before heading for home on Stowe and then to California to turn North.

Highlander took us to Stetson and we started east towards Warren. It was much easier now when we didn’t have to fight the wind and it wasn’t long before we crossed Warren and made our way to the airport road. Highlander didn’t seem to have the “heading for the barn” syndrome today and we pretty much stayed together all the way to Sanderson and then to Lowes. People started to break off by Kirby and we were down to Closer, Highlander and me by the time we got back to Gilmore.

Digger continued on for home when we got back to Burger King but I stopped to talk with Closer and Highlander before heading for home myself. I got home feeling tired but good even if my legs never felt like they totally warmed up. But for me cool damp weather always does that to my legs so it simply took a hot shower and took the dog for a walk before kicking back in the easy chair and having another cup of coffee.