By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It was hard to believe it was Labor Day already. Time has mashed on the gas and just flown by since summer began. Still we had a short simple ride planned before everyone had to rush off and be with their families. I got to the parking lot to find Digger waiting. I was a bit surprised he was there because he had hurt his back the week before and was nursing it Sunday. We were soon joined by Surgeon and Quicksilver followed by Highlander and Alan. It was a small group but at least we were starting off Labor Day with some exercise.

Unlike most group rides we had no A riders with us so there was no mad dash down Gilmore or Acacia. In fact we all stayed together all the way down Kirby to Cypress and started west riding two by two. We rounded the corner onto Johnston and had to wait for the light at Sanderson. Once we were on our way again I led us to Stetson and south past Wally World and headed for Mustang and the High School.

Once we got to the light at Sanderson and Domenigoni Surgeon took the lead and stayed out front past Searl and all the way to State. I took over and pulled to Newport and Quicksilver pulled all the way to Sage making her a target for the small hill sprint. Everyone did real well till we got to the Baptist Church where I pulled away followed by Alan, Quicksilver and Surgeon. Digger was still nursing a sore back but he managed to join us at the end of the road only a few moments after we stopped. We headed back towards State chasing Alan and Surgeon and ended up chasing them all the way back to Domenigoni where everyone stopped for a red light except Surgeon. We ended up chasing Surgeon all the way to Chambers and around to Santa Fe to get back to Stetson.

Surgeon once again took the lead and headed east towards the other High School. We followed him to Speed bump and he scampered over it about as fast as we had been going to get to it. He then gave up the lead just past lake and I ended up pulling us to Fairview and then starting us towards Wilson Mesa. Heading for the little hill in front of Wilson mesa I felt like a sitting duck knowing that Surgeon and Quicksilver were going to be all over me on the climb. I decided to jump on it early to get over the climb and through the housing track before anyone could run me down. We circled the track and regrouped in the shade on State just before Bautista Canyon. Once we were headed back towards Florida we let Surgeon go while the rest of us got into a coasting race to see how far we could go without pedaling. Quicksilver lost because she lacks the beef needed to coast that far but Highlander and I managed to make it to Florida and in my case to Ramona where I had to stop for the light. I think Highlander made it all the way to Carl’s. We made a quick potty stop before moving on to Lincoln and west towards Park.

Surgeon left us at Park while the rest of us made our way to the jog off of Park and onto Devonshire. As we got on Devonshire Quicksilver got the dreaded case of horse to the barn and dragged us to Santa Fe and west again on Latham. We past the library at better than 20mph and had long ago dropped Digger. As we rolled by Palm I hit it pretty hard separating myself from the rest of the group by at least 75 feet. I still had most of those 75 feet as we crossed Lyon and I got to the driveway by Pepboys first with Quicksilver chasing. We stopped at the cars for a few minutes before heading to our respective homes for lunch and in my case a tepid shower. Not a bad way to spend Labor Day