Always share what you learn at School

By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Sometimes a ride can surprise you and today was one of those sometimes. I thought I would be tired after the long beach ride Saturday and I had promised to make the Monday relatively easy and short so I picked an old flat ride to Garboni and back to Winchester farms for coffee. It was supposed to be warm to I dressed light and had breakfast before heading to Burger King to meet the group. I got there early and went in to get some coffee before other riders started showing up. Highlander pulled up, much to my surprise, and was followed closely by Dragon Slayer and then by Digger. Then I saw Bloodhound and Sasquatch parking their bikes. Pony Express pulled up just before Surgeon and Jackal. I was also surprised to see Bulldozer and even Newsboy get there before 9am. Rooster and Tax Man rounded out the group before we got ready to head out onto Latham to start the day. Bloodhound took us to Lyon and headed south towards Acacia.

As we moved south past Florida Bloodhound pulled us and I was once again worried that he was setting up too fast of a warm up pace. We were quickly getting up to 19 or 20 well before Johnston. What may have surprised me even more was as I looked back over my shoulder everyone was keeping up very well. It seemed to me we were going to have a rather quick ride down to Thornton and over to State.

Bloodhound once again started to pull away from us as we headed east. Surgeon wasn’t far behind him and we started to string out a bit and we got to each stop sign. It seemed as if everyone came awake as we got to the light on State and headed south again. By Chambers I was back on Bloodhounds back wheel and we were starting towards Domenigoni and a very reasonable cruising speed. We just dropped down the little grade leading to the flat section of State when someone yelled “flat”. This time it was Dragon Slayer and we all stopped to watch him change the tube.

Once he had everything back together we headed for Domenigoni again and soon turned west to begin the run at the Saddle. It didn’t take long before the pace picked up and Bulldozer took over pulling and I almost got blown out of the back of the pack. Still it was early in the ride and I felt rather fresh so I gave chase with Bloodhound and we finally closed on Dragon Slayer as he drafted Jackal, Newsboy, Sasquatch and Bulldozer. Pony express, Rooster, Highlander, Surgeon and Tax Man formed a group behind me with Digger riding sweep. Somewhere close to Searl we ran into what looked like a lot of broken dry wall causing the pace line to break up a bit. Dragon Slayer fell off not wanting to get a second flat and I moved up to the forth position and tried to hold on. Soon Bulldozer pulled off and let Newsboy pull. When newsboy started to slow down a bit Bulldozer came from the back and as he passed by me I fell in on his wheel and then completed the double pass to get us back up to 26 and to my amazement we were off all by ourselves. I took my turn at the front a time or two but Bulldozer did most of the pulling till we got caught at the light on Winchester. Bloodhound had pulled newsboy and Jackal within a few hundred yards of us before the light changed to green but we had enough of a lead to get to the Saddle for the regroup without being reeled in.

Bulldozer had to leave as did Highlander and Tax Man. Digger was under the weather so he left at Lindenburger. After we turned into the housing tract on Laguna Vista the rest of the group rode off and left Rooster and I and we had to follow them all the way to Garboni for a quick regroup just before Antelope and a short sprint before the college. We were spread out quite a bit as we turned onto Newport and worked our way back to Lindenburger. I was a bit disappointed in the leaders running the red light at Laguna Vista but we will have to review 4 way red lights next meeting. The soft pedaled till we caught them at Simpson and turned east again. Bloodhound was leading just as several of the other riders rolled by. I told him to go play but he wanted to give them a head start and slowly reel them in before Winchester. By Leon he was moving pretty good and we were closing pretty fast. Coming out of the trees he had me moving smoothly in the big ring and I made a run at the group picking them off as I drafted by everyone well to the outside left of the line. I held them off till the end of the segment and they rolled by me heading north on Winchester heading to Stowe and coffee. Bloodhound left first and we had a good conversation till it was time for us to head back east as well. We didn’t stay together long because Rooster flatted and only sasquatch and I stopped to help. Once the tire was fixed we were on our way again.

We had no trouble cruising to California and then up to Stetson and east to Warren and onward to the airport road and back to Sanderson where Sasquatch left us as we turned towards Lowes and back to Acacia. By the time we got to Florida it was clear everyone else had left so we stopped by Hemet Bike to see if Newsboy and Jackal were there. We found them there and we visited for a while before heading home ourselves. For a planned easy day it turned into a lesson on sprints and long runs but a good ride none the less.