By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Today was a test of our fitness and stamina. Some of us did better than others but we all did better than any that spent the day on the Sofa watching TV. When I got up I knew it would be hot so I dressed light with light colors and headed for the parking lot. I was thinking it would be a small group but it didn’t matter because I just wanted to ride and even if it were just three or four of us I would be heading out for the day. Still by 8am we had nine riders and were headed south on Gilmore to start the ride.

Like in times past Bloodhound was on his own ride and with today’s heat there was very little interest in chasing him on the early part of the ride. We turned onto Acacia and moved to Kirby as a group when I got the message that Huntress was riding the route backwards to meet us out on Domenigoni on the way back east. We turned off of Kirby and headed west on Cypress where I chatted with Highlander as we headed for Johnston. Once we made it to the light on Sanderson we decided to head up to Stetson before heading west towards Warren. The connecting road on Wentworth is just too much like a cobble road and it shakes your fillings almost out of your mouth.

Once on Stetson Bloodhound led us to Warren and then stayed in front as we headed for California. We picked up the pace pretty much as we got to the stop sign and then followed him to California and lined up for the run on Stowe. I was riding easy in third spot all the way to Stowe and fell into Second till Dragon Slayer came by and took me to the front. After the rise Sasquatch came up to Challenge Dragon Slayer for the lead. However he ran into the slight head wind and was stuck on the outside front with Bloodhound yelling at him to push to the front. I split the lane between Sasquatch and Dragon Slayer and took my turn at the front and pulled hard almost to the steel barn when Jackal sprinted by taking Bloodhound with him. It was a good run none the less. We took a long time at Winchester Farms because we had to go back and look for the mounting hardware for Dragon slayer’s saddle. Once we got back on the way we found out that Huntress was already at Winchester and heading our way. We met her at Grand and headed west.

The dump road was one of the last times we were all together because this is where the younger riders started picking up the pace and some of the other riders started to fade. Shortly after we got on Grand Dragon Slayer, Surgeon and Digger formed the front of the group and pointed us towards the Wild West Bar. They didn’t stay there long because Jackal and Sasquatch picked up the pace again, hot or not, and headed for Leon.

For whatever reason I followed them west on Grand and pulled by Jackal on the slight climb. I decided to hold my pace and leave it in the small ring as Sasquatch chose that time to roll by me. Jackal took the lead again just as we crested the hill and I dropped it into the 11 gear and pulled away while both of them recovered and chased me to Leon. We moved over to Simpson and headed west to Briggs for one last regroup before turning on Lindenburger and heading to Domenigoni. We had planned on stopping at the Ghost bike but several kept going and the group started to fracture. Several riders seemed to be having a problem with the heat and I lost sight of Tax Man and Digger. As we re-passed Leon Sasquatch and Jackal took off after Bloodhound and Surgeon followed by Dragon Slayer. I started pulling Huntress and Highlander east towards Winchester. We missed the leaders at the light and Dragon Slayer fell back to help me pull the others. It was almost like the pavement was getting hot and slowing the group down. We went from 21 to 20 to 18 to 17 trying to keep everyone together but finally Highlander broke off at Sanderson and I got a call from Digger saying he was heading for home as well. Dragon Slayer, Huntress and I headed for State Street and turned onto Chamber to get over to Stetson. We rehydrated at the golf course and then made our way to Stetson. Huntress flatted putting us farther behind the leaders but we finally made it to Fairview and down to Florida. We picked up Sasquatch and he stayed with us to Lincoln and Ramona. We dropped Huntress off at her street and headed west to where Dragon Slayer was having his RV worked on before having lunch at the Healthy Pub on Sanderson and Florida. After a refreshing chilled smoothie dragon slayer dropped me off at my place before heading home himself. Yes it was hot and we had a high attrition rate but it was a good ride anyway.