By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Bloodhound Down It was supposed to be hot this week so I decided on a short easy ride to get the week off to a good start. Being the first part of the summer I thought we should get used to the head one day at a time. So I took out the Klein and headed for Burger King and what I thought would be a short fast ride. Little did I know it would turn into a short ride of survival? Digger, Bloodhound and Dragon Slayer were already there as I pulled up into the parking lot. Tax Man, Highlander and Harry arrived along with Surgeon. Barracuda dropped by but only to show off his classic old bike. Bulldozer arrived and we waited for Jackal to finish his breakfast before we got ready to head out to Latham and the north on Lyon.

As we moved north I noticed Highlander was down on power a bit and Bloodhound was off to the races as usual. For some reason Bulldozer and Dragon Slayer were well off the back as we past Menlo. By the time we got to Esplanade we were all back together and with the exception of Bloodhound stayed that way past Cottonwood and the blind intersection. True to form Bloodhound missed the jog at DeAnza and Savoy heading out onto Ramona and east.

I managed to get out front when we got to Ramona and stayed there all the way to State Street. We caught the light red and once again I found myself in the lead as we moved back north towards the Expressway. After we started past the College I fell back to third as Bloodhound and Jackal picked up the pace and headed for Soboba. I took the rest of us to Soboba and got us pointed in the right direction just as Bulldozer pulled out to start his run at the break away.

As Bulldozer went by he had Dragon Slayer on his wheel giving me just enough draft to catch a ride on the freight train as well. We started up the first roller and gained at least 50 yards on the fleeing twosome before picking up the pace and heading for the second roller. We pulled that roller in the same gear we were cruising in and caught Bloodhound and Jackal before they could reach the driving range. I pulled around to take a turn at pulling but only managed to ramp up my burn to the point I was running out of matches and had to back down as we started up the last rise before the end of the Golf Course. I stopped at the trees and pulled the group to Lake and Main where Surgeon pulled away and headed for the east side. Once again Bulldozer and Bloodhound reeled him in by Hemet road and I pulled Highlander, Tax Man and Digger to Cedar. Highlander and Tax Man decided to call it a day and headed for home. Digger and I caught Jackal with a flat tire and digger continued on while I waited for Jackal. Jackal and I made it to Florida and headed east to Cranston to regroup with everyone else. We didn’t stay at Cranston long but still Surgeon left first calling it a day as well and heading for home. When we headed back west towards Carl’s I got out first taking Harry and Digger with me. When I saw how much of a lead we had on the rest of the group I took off like a man possessed and headed for the trees dropping Digger and taking Harry with me.

My only goal was to make it to Fairview before Bulldozer and Bloodhound could reel me in and so I pulled for all I was worth. As we rolled up to the light at Fairview it turned red and just as we slowed down Bulldozer caught us. Still I considered it mission accomplished. Bulldozer waited and Fairview while Harry and I headed for Carl’s. It wasn’t till we were about to order coffee that we got a text saying Bloodhound was down at the Shell station and the EMTs were on the way. As we headed back east we say Jackal walking his bike with a flat and I only had time to toss him a tube before heading back to the Shell station to check on Bloodhound. He was sitting up and was being tended to by the EMTs and they were waiting on the ambulance in case they could talk him into going to the hospital.

Bloodhound was having none of it until his aunt and mother arrived and then all of them started working on him. It seems as if some older woman had rolled the stop sign even after seeing the group coming and while Dragon Slayer managed to avoid hitting the car Bloodhound grabbed too much break and went down like a sack of potatoes scraping his back and breaking his helmet. Once his relatives were on site we left and headed back to the west side.

We had to try and keep up with Dragon Slayer all the way back to Devonshire and the downhill to Yale. Somewhere about Buena Vista Jackal left us and Harry, Dragon Slayer and I made our way back to the parking lot before heading over to Starbucks for some coffee, tea and conversation. I then headed for home and a shower before doing some errands and having lunch. For a short ride losing three to fatigue and one to automotive assault is not my idea of a short simple ride.