Monday, Monday

By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Monday is supposed to be our warm up start out ride each week and most times it is. When Jackal shows up the Monday rides are almost as unpredictable as Friday and as I sat at the parking lot with Digger Jackal rolled in. I knew I had better check my tire pressure and look for breaks even in the early parts of the ride. Brian and Bloodhound were next to arrive but we discovered they would be heading for Idyllwild with Bill cutting down on the local group. Dragon Slayer was unloading his truck when Newsboy rode up and decided to join the Bill crew. Once Surgeon arrived we were ready to leave and the two groups went their separate way.

Dragon Slayer, Surgeon, Digger, Jackal and I headed down Gilmore to Acacia before turning west and making it to the light on Kirby before turning south. I have to admit not chasing Bloodhound on the first part of the ride is rather refreshing. I am sure that while Bill, Brian, Bloodhound and Newsboy headed east towards Val Vista they were being pressed by Bloodhound to pick up the pace. I wouldn’t have gone over the hill through Idyllwild today because of the heat but I am not a young man with more energy and power than I now have. By the time my mind had thought of this we were down Cypress and onto Johnson heading over to Sanderson before getting back up to Wentworth. Our next move was to the Airport road and getting ready to come back out onto Stetson.

As we rode past Hanger 1 and out onto Stetson Dragon Slayer was in the lead and pulled us all the way to Warren and then stayed out front all the way to California. I thought he would give up the lead on California but it looked like he was perfectly happy to pull us all the way to Winchester. In fact Dragon Slayer took us up to and on to Stowe and started us west at about 20 or 22 MPH. That intent was smashed when Jackal pulled by and rather than simply taking the lead pumped it up to about 24 and broke up the group. Dragon Slayer sat on Jackals back wheel and I drafted Dragon Slayer as Surgeon and Digger fell off of the back. Jackal tried to ride us off of his wheel but that didn’t work and we ended up passing him and getting to Winchester Farms first. We only took a short break before I took us out onto Winchester and headed south past Grand and then Chris’s.

The ride today is a flat simple ride that takes us down Winchester and then east on Domenigoni. We had agreed to try and keep the group together and run east at about 20 to 22 mph. I started us out that way and when Dragon Slayer took over for me he kept us at about that pace at least till Jackal took the lead and moved it back up a bit. I got back in front after Warren and got us to Sanderson before Jackal hit it again and spit Digger and Surgeon off the back of the group. Once again I got back in front and Dragon Slayer finally pulled around and took us to Searl. Once we regrouped we quickly made our way to State Street and had to chase Jackal all the way to Chambers before working our way back out onto Stetson east.

We decided to stay on Stetson and head to Fairview by passing the High School. Dragon Slayer made it through the light at the High School while the rest of us caught it red. By the time we were rolling again he was long gone. The rest of us set our own pace and headed for speed bump before passing Lake about 50 to 100 yards apart. Surgeon and Dragon Slayer didn’t stop at Fairview and Stetson but Jackal, digger and I did before racing north to Florida to pick them up at the store on the corner. We then headed east towards Cranston Station and once again Jackal decided to set the pace. Now however the sun was beating down on us and it felt hot. Jackal ran out of steam before we got to Cranston and was third into the parking lot.

When Jackal pulled into Cranston we could tell he was hot and tired. He finished off some water and refilled his bottle but was still complaining about being hot. Dragon Slayer suggested that he cool off in the water channel that ran by the station and after a few minutes of thinking he opted to cool himself off in the water.

I was sure he was cooled off and that the ride back west would cool him off even more as the air passed through his jersey and shorts. It seemed to have worked because he seemed refreshed as we moved back down to New Chicago and over to Lincoln to head back west. We got to Park and around to Devonshire before making our way to Latham. We had decided to try the new coffee shop on Harvard because it might be a better place to start our rides. The owner seems very bicycle supportive and it was on our way home. The coffee and iced tea were good and we visited for a few minutes before heading back to the cars and home. Still I can hardly wait to hear about the adventures of the kids and Bill. It must have been cooking by the time they got back to Lambs Canyon.