By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) I was surprised when I looked outside and it seemed as if it might have rained before I got up this morning. It didn’t matter much because it wasn’t raining and the ground wasn’t wet at 6am so I figured we would have a good day for a ride. Digger and I were at Burger King by ourselves for the longest time so I was beginning to think maybe we would be doing the ride all by ourselves. Just as that thought crossed my mind Surgeon arrived. Not long after Surgeon arrived someone that hadn’t been with us in a long time, Socrates pulled up and we started talking. Bulldozer pulled into the parking lot as we were talking Followed by Highlander and Forest. About the time I expected to leave the parking lot Jackal rode in and we headed for Latham to start or ride. I had a text from Mantis so I knew he was planning on meeting up on the way but I didn’t start looking for him as we turned onto Lyon to ride north. I talked with Highlander as we headed for Devonshire. We kept the pace down so everyone could chat all the way to Esplanade.

It really didn’t take all that long to get past Esplanade and even get to Cottonwood and beyond. I was doing most of the pulling but I wasn’t working that hard so it didn’t really matter much as we were on the last stretch before Ramona Boulevard. As I took us around the corner Mantis joined us as I stayed out front heading for Sanderson.

Once we made the turn onto Sanderson we somehow managed to catch the light green and I rolled around onto the Expressway pointed west. I was happy to pull the group but Bulldozer came by followed by Jackal. I suppose I could claim I got sucked into their vortex and I had to give chase but then who would believe that anyway. The truth was Bulldozer was creating a fine draft and Jackal was only adding to it till we got to Warren were Jackal sat up as if he were giving up the number two slot. The problem was he didn’t pull off and Bulldozer just created a gap. So I simply shut down and waited to pick up the rest of the group. Surgeon and Forest rode right by me but I stayed to pull Highlander, Digger and Socrates all the way to bridge for a regroup. Once we were back riding I moved to the front until Surgeon pulled back past me on my right. We stayed side by side all the way to the big left turn where I got in the aero tuck and made a run for Gilman. I did pretty good till Bulldozer started to give chase and soon ran me down and past me before I could make Gilman. Once again we regrouped and had a snack before heading east on Gilman back towards Sanderson. Bulldozer and Surgeon soon separated off of the front of the group and were pulling away till we hit the wind in our face. I led Highlander and Jackal most of the way to Sanderson only to stay and wait for the stragglers before setting off south on Sanderson to get back to Ramona Boulevard. Highlander left us to continue south on Sanderson while the rest of us chased the leaders back towards Lyon.

We continued to chase as we rolled by Lyon even if we were a bit limited on top speed. However we did catch the lead group at State Street because they were sitting a long unresponsive red light. As we sat there we noticed Mantis had a tire about to go flat so we decided to stop and change it at Mickey Ds before heading back north to Soboba.

We quickly left the business district behind and pulled up to the light leading to the college campus. It seemed like we hit most of the lights in State red. After we reached the college Socrates took over the pull and took us over the bridge to Soboba and east again. I started the pull but soon Jackal pulled by and stepped the pace up heading for the rollers.

Bulldozer was on Jackal’s back wheel and I picked up the pace to drop in on Bulldozer’s back wheel. Soon we were pulling away from the rest of the group and heading for the first roller. Jackal was pulling pretty strong but he did fade a bit at the top of the roller. He picked it back up heading for the second roller. Jackal pulled over that one as well and once again increased the pace towards the driving range where I came around had headed for the last little hill. Once again Bulldozer ran me down and we headed for the river bridge and a regroup at Ramona and Main. After the regroup we were back on our way east planning on going to Carl’s.

We managed to get past Hemet Street where Bulldozer and Forest managed to pick up some goat heads that they decided to leave in and see if they could make it home or to Casino. The Goat head in Bulldozer’s tire didn’t slow him down much and soon we were coming up to Cedar where Bulldozer was planning on heading for home. Jackal and I continued on to Carl’s. Soon Mantis and Digger joined us and we had some coffee and conversation while Forest headed for Casino and I guess Bulldozer managed to make it with two blocks of his house before having to change out the tube. We headed for home on Lincoln and by the time we got back to Lake I decided to give Mantis’s Track Bike a try. I will admit it is an interesting experience but for me it was a difficult transition. Still before we got to Park I changed back to my Klein and road back to Lyon with Jackal and Mantis.

We stopped to talk to some riders at Hemet Bike and to replace a CO-2 before heading our separate ways and going home. It was a lot cooler than I thought it would be but it was a great ride none the less.