I had been gone for a week and had not been on my bike for more than an hour in all of that time. It looked like it might be a nice day Monday so I put together a simple run west with just a little climb to get my legs moving. I got dressed and had breakfast before heading to Burger King. Digger was already there and waiting as I pulled up and went inside to get coffee. Highlander and Dragon Slayer drove up and we discussed the blowing wind. We decided to ride anyway just as Minotaur arrived and Tax Man drove up. Once we had Sasquatch in the fold we were ready to pull out onto Gilmore and down to Acacia. As we turned towards Kirby we knew it was going to be a wild ride west and maybe a hard ride home. Still the ride south was every bit as easy.

As we headed for the railroad tracks the wind was pretty much off of the rear of our left shoulder. Dragon Slayer joked that the ride out was going to be a bit like eating our dessert before having dinner. Sometimes that can spoil your dinner and sometimes it is worth the risk. As we swooped around the corner onto Cypress and rolled the housing tract and out onto Johnston as if we were riding a crit race together and finally made it to Sanderson to head south again.

As we crossed Stetson Dragon Slayer and I considered making a run at the Mustang to Domenigoni segment and watched the light at Mustang closely but managed to catch it red so we aborted the attempt. The rest of the group caught us at the light and followed us onto Domenigoni and west towards Warren. At first it was Dragon Slayer and I setting the pace. However by Warren Tax Man and Digger were falling off and I went back to get them. We trailed the lead group all the way to the Saddle for a regroup and a snack.

The plan was to drop down the back side of the Saddle and ride all the way to the park on La Ladera. I know we normally stop at Carl’s but I figured we needed to make as good of time as we could with the wind at our back and hope for a lull when we made the turn north and east. I know that was a big wish but today I was an optimist and took off at a pretty good clip all the way to Menifee before catching the light and having to wait for the rest of the group. We then stayed together all the way to Antelope and over the freeway. We made good time crossing Murrieta but had to wait at the light where we turn towards Normandy. Finally we turned onto La Ladera and headed for the park. A quick break and we were back on our way towards Honeyrun.

I was informed that Tax Man had left us at Lindenburger so we were down one by the time we got back to McCall and headed east. Yes we were fighting the wind but it wasn’t as bad as we feared. We headed back to Bradley and over the freeway with Highlander in the lead. He stayed there till the group past the Valero station and Sasquatch made a run at Hospital hill. I caught up to Sasquatch by Hillpoint and took the lead myself. Dragon Slayer took over till the flat spot just before the top of the hill and we regrouped before heading down the back side and onto Heritage.

Once again the run east on Simpson was a bit hectic but the group stayed together as I pulled all the way to Leon. Sasquatch started pulling after that but we stopped for a mini regroup and Sasquatch led us towards Winchester. I got the last lead till we turned north towards Winchester Farms. Dragon Slayer made a great pull all the way to Stowe where we stopped for our coffee break. After a few minutes and a cup of coffee we were headed east again back towards California. We worked together fighting the wind from the east north east and finally turned right into is as we headed east on Stetson back towards Warren.

We stayed together past the airport and onto the road heading to Sanderson. Sasquatch and I got into a drag race heading back to Lowes and waited till everyone caught up to ride around the store to Acacia and back to Kirby and finally to Burger King. We talked for a while before heading for our separate homes. I got home with just over 38 miles on the computer and a feeling that I hadn’t suffered that bad for being off for a week. Not bad for an old guy.