By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Here we were facing another Friday and one I had picked specifically because he had been thwarted by it and the wind the last time we headed that way. There was some good points and some difficult points about this planned ride but I for one felt up to it as a week ending ride. There were three little climbs that bothered me the first two or three years I road with this group and Juniper, Hospital Hill and Sumner/Antelope were all in that group. So heading to the parking lot this morning I was determined to make a planned attack and stay with it to not only finish the ride but to have one of my better climbs to date. When I got to Burger King there were a few riders waiting for me. Digger and Surgeon were by the windows and Dragon Slayer was unloading his truck. A new rider Harry joined us as both Highlander and Huntress pulled in a few moments apart. We also had Minotaur and Sasquatch which made may plan of attack a much better proposition. But what was missing was the A group and that worked to my advantage because I wouldn’t have to chase them all the way to Hansen and burn all of my matches getting there. Right at 8am I moved them out onto Latham and over to Lyon to start our way north. I also started out rather slowly allowing quite a few blocks for my legs to warm up.

I have been riding with a sore right leg most of the week and I decided to wear my knee warmers just for the compression they provided. As we moved first past Devonshire and then Menlo and finally Esplanade my knee warmers seemed to be doing just as I had wanted and my legs felt pretty good. We took turns pulling till we got to Cottonwood and towards the end Surgeon took us around the corner and pointed us at Sanderson.

We formed a nice little pace line heading west towards Sanderson and finally rounded the corner and stopped at the light on the Expressway waiting to head west towards Warren Road. I pulled to Warren and Sasquatch pulled around me and took over. He got us past the first two dairies and gave the lead back to me. Not what I wanted with the wind in my face but by Bridge Dragon Slayer took over for me and pulled us towards Hansen. We got there with just a small split between the lead seven and the last two riders. We regrouped on the corner.

As we moved out again Highlander decided to ride the Lakeview/Menifee bypass while the rest of us headed up Hansen to Contour to start the assault on Juniper Flats. I was struggling a bit at first with Harry leading the way and Dragon Slayer, Surgeon and Sasquatch right with me. We rounded the turn to the right and headed for the first uptick in the road where I downshifted to pick up a spin and save my sore legs. Somehow I was in the perfect gear for my condition and knew I had a good run going. The only question was how long could I hold the spin? Harry, Surgeon and Dragon Slayer let me get a gap and I crested the first part of the climb about 100 yards in front of the group. That gap stayed till we got to the second rise and the flat spot before the last part of the climb. As I exited the flat spot and started the last climb I could see Dragon Slayer was closing quickly and had cut the gap in half. He had done this to me before on Bautista and it almost killed me from surprise when he caught me at the last hill.

This time I simply increased the spin as much as I could and headed up the hill to the stop sign. Once around the corner I knew I had the top in sight and could squeeze a hill top finish just in front of Dragon Slayer. We then waited for the rest of the group before dropping off on the hill and heading to Florida and west again. Picture 95

We got down off of the hill and made it to Florida and headed west once again with Dragon Slayer in the lead. He pulled us past Briggs street and then all the way to Menifee where we planned on meeting up with Highlander. It turned out that Highlander and Surgeon were planning on cutting the ride short and Harry decided to follow their lead. It was left to Huntress, Dragon Slayer, Digger, Minotaur and me to get back on Menifee and head for McCall and Hospital Hill.

Huntress and Dragon Slayer were not planning on stopping for coffee so I knew we would lose them once we got to Antelope and Newport. I thought there would be four of us stopping at Jack in the Box and then heading home. But while three of us stopped at Jack in the Box Digger did not and we watched him heading for Menifee. We decided to give chase and have coffee at Winchester Farms so we quickly pulled back on Newport and managed to catch Digger at Menifee before turning on Lindenburger and heading for Simpson. Minotaur started the pull and took us all the way to Leon before heading to the dump road take a shot at the DVV flag sprint.

Minotaur was feeling pretty frisky and led both Sasquatch and me east on the dump road and towards the rise just before the DVV segment. I found myself in the coveted number three slot as we crested the rise and started the sprint. I never ramped up very well but did manage to get up to speed and hold it most of the way to the flag. I may have reached the flag first but I was pretty sure it wasn’t a PR or at least it didn’t feel like one. Minotaur came back as we headed for Winchester and led us to the stop sign before turning north to Stowe. I pulled all the way to the corner where we stopped for coffee and a break. Like many groups we discussed the ride, or should I say we relived the better parts of the ride while we rested and rehydrated. As soon as everyone was ready we headed onto Stowe and towards California to start the ride home. We made quick work of California and then Stetson to cross warren and ride by the airport. Minotaur led us to Sanderson and Sasquatch took us towards Lowes and around to Acacia and home.

Three of us were going to continue on to Lyon while Digger was going to head home on Latham to Palm. We lost Sasquatch at Lyon and Minotaur and I parted ways at Lyon and Acacia. I got home with about 48 miles on my computer and a very good feeling about my Juniper Flats climb.