By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Wednesdays are supposed to be our big day and the ride for today was planned to be interesting and provide a chance to work up some stamina. We had a half century mapped out to French Valley and back and it was supposed to be perfect weather for it. I headed over to the parking lot and met with Dragon Slayer and we talked while Digger rode up. It didn’t take long before Highlander drove up and then both Gambler and Bulldozer pulled up to the parking lot. It was good to see Red Rabbit join us even if I knew he would stay for the whole ride. Then I was surprised once more when Closer and his son Matt arrived. That wasn’t the end of the good news because Centaur and Sasquatch showed up as well. It turned to 8:00 am so we headed out onto Gilmore and turned south towards Acacia.

I chatted with Gambler as we turned onto Acacia and headed for Kirby. We discussed the idea of keeping the B group together and so he and Bulldozer were free to run at any pace they wanted while we followed the planned route in case someone broke down. Once it was decided Gambler took off after Bulldozer and soon faded from site as we got to Cypress and turned west. Dragon Slayer decided to stay with us and help me pull the group out to Sanderson and up to Domenigoni. We all made the turn on Sanderson and headed to Stetson to start our run.

Dragon Slayer and I zeroed in on Mustang planning on taking a shot at the segment to Domenigoni but caught the light at Mustang red. There is little or no chance of us getting a PR from a dead stop so we slowly eased up is speed till we got to the corner of Sanderson and Domenigoni and headed west. We had an great little pace line going and everyone took a turn as we moved past Warren and the dry wash. Digger even took a pull and kept our pace up as we got to Winchester. Matt pulled us almost to Leon and Closer took over as we headed to the saddle. I was sitting in second and spinning along easily while waiting to see if Dragon Slayer was going to attack the climb. When no one came I pulled around Closer and noticed Sasquatch coming after me. I was in the wrong gear but decided to make the best of it only to run out of gear as I was caught and I watched Dragon Slayer sling shot past both of us.

We still had a long way to go but now I could tell the rest of the ride might be interesting. We dropped off of the saddle and headed for Menifee. We turned south towards Holland and Dragon Slayer kept taunting me about not taking Revive hill just past Holland. Still we stuck with the plan and turned on Holland and rode over to Antelope before turning back south. Looking back I could see we were still all together as we headed to Scott road and a snack break. After downing my Protein bar and following it with some water we were back on our way and heading for the Hospital.

Once we past the Hospital and the Bus yard we turned to Whitewood and dropped over the rise to the fun part of the French Valley ride. We dropped down a long slope of maybe three miles and made our way to Murrieta Hot Springs. We regrouped and headed bake east towards Margarita Road. We were all more or less together after Margarita and caught the light at Winchester together. Once the light changed Dragon Slayer and Centaur started up the hill first. I hooked onto Dragon Slayer’s back wheel and we pulled away from everyone but Sasquatch. I waited on that back wheel till Dragon Slayer had to shift and pulled around with Sasquatch on my wheel. I kept it steady and shifted myself so Sasquatch pulled around me. This time I was ready and got on his wheel and waited till he was in his lowest gear before up-shifting and pulling back around and gapping him while heading to the light at the top of the hill. Both Dragon Slayer and Sasquatch caught me at the light. We regrouped with the rest of the riders and headed to the gas station on east Benton for a rest stop before heading back onto Winchester to make our way back to Domenigoni.

We started to split up as we got back close to Scott road and when I slowed on the climb to pull Highlander and Matt we were past by Dragon Slayer, Centaur and Sasquatch. I thought we could catch them at the light on Domenigoni but they made it through on a green and we never closed. It looked like Digger and Closer were stopped at the light so we continued on to Winchester Farms for a quick stop for water before heading back towards California on Stowe.

We pretty quickly made it to California and just as quickly made it to Stetson before heading back to Warren and the airport road. We were all back together by the time we got to Sanderson. Once we were able to turn north Dragon Slayer led us to Lowes and around the building to Acacia. He got us to Kirby and the stop light. Highlander took off from the light and I caught him only to be past by Dragon Slayer and then I past him back on Gilmore. We got back to the parking lot and then went to Starbucks to relive the ride. I had to get home after a short visit and was happy to have lunch and a cool shower.