By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It was supposed to be another cool morning with the sun breaking through about 10am. I for one was looking forward to a longer ride to Juniper Flats and back to Winchester. It would require some climbing but nothing we couldn’t take so once we were all assembled at 8am I took us out onto Gilmore and south towards Acacia. There were 9 of us when we left and made the turn on Acacia and the light at Kirby. Once the light changed we headed towards the Railroad tracks and the turn onto Cypress and headed for Johnston.

As we closed in on Johnston Digger asked if I knew where some of our riders had gone because we were down to five. I decided to pull us over as we made the turn and wait for the rest of the group. One of them had a flat so Quicksilver, Surgeon, Digger, Highlander and I waited till we saw Bulldozer, MacGyver, Newsboy and Minotaur come around the corner and head for Sanderson. We made the turn and followed Bulldozer north till we got to Wentworth. Digger took us onto Wentworth and towards the airport.

To be honest I don’t do well when it is cool in the morning because my legs seem to stay tight for at least the first 10 miles. Today was no different so I was perfectly happy to let someone else pull us out onto Stetson and towards Warren. Digger and Surgeon took up the cause and got us to Warren before giving the lead to me as I struggled to get us to California and made the turn south towards Stowe.

As we closed in he on Stowe Surgeon pulled away a bit and rounded the corner first. I pulled the group after him and soon past just as Newsboy, MacGyver and Bulldozer rolled away. I kept the pace easy for the rest of the group and we slowly lost ground to the three of them as the pulled away to the parking lot where we stopped to regroup.

I started us out onto Winchester and moved us south towards the Dump road. At first it looked like we would cruise the Dump Road until Minotaur got out front and slowly picked up the pace. MacGyver pulled up next to him and soon we were in a double pace line and heading past the Wild West bar. As we got close to the rise it seemed as if Minotaur was picking up the pace and soon part of the group dropped off of the back and I fell out of line to go back and get them. I pulled them up as well as I could and when the leaders started to soft pedal on Briggs we finally caught them. By the time we got through the housing tract and back out onto Briggs we were all back together and ready to head north to Florida.

It took at least two cycles before we got through the light at the High School but once we did we quickly made our way to the elementary school and then up to Mapes where Quicksilver had to refuel. It didn’t take long before we were back on our way to Menifee and headed north again. I led the way to the top of the rise and started the hard run towards Central. Before I got to the first stop sign MacGyver pulled by me and jumped the pace up again so I was running almost flat out chasing him. I sat up at the stop sign and the rest of the group caught up and we rode to Central and then Nuevo together. Surgeon left us on Lakeview and the rest of us continued on Nuevo. We were spread out quite a bit on Nuevo and didn’t fully regroup till we got to Contour and headed for Juniper. It was here that I got a lot of help from MacGyver and Bulldozer. We started the climb with Newsboy and were doing well till a car forced us into single file. It was then I commented to MacGyver that we were getting a wind in our face and it was taking a toll on me. Between MacGyver and Bulldozer talking me through it I managed to pull through the pain and push to the top of the climb. It wasn’t a PR but it was satisfying in that I had not quit till we got to the top for a regroup. I took it easy on the downhill and had an informal regroup at the high school except for Bulldozer who had gone on. We rode back through the Housing tract and back out Onto the Dump Road and headed for Leon.

I simply didn’t have the steam to hang with MacGyver on the Flag sprint and by the time we hit Winchester I was pretty much out of gas. Stoll I followed Newsboy and MacGyver north to Winchester Farms for coffee and conversation. Once everyone had rested and refueled we were back on the road and headed east on Stowe.

We moved pretty quickly to California street and almost as quickly to Stetson before riding back to the airport and over to Sanderson. Once again we had to sit through two cycles before we turned north to Lowes and around back to get to Acacia and then to Kirby. I rode with the group till we got to Gilmore and then stopped to talk at the parking lot before heading for home and a hot shower. I have to say it was a great ride and a pleasure to ride with the group.