By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Wednesday is play day. I don’t know how many Wednesday’s will be a play day for me but I was planning on today being one of them. I don’t know why but I almost over slept today but once I was up and moving I quickly got ready and headed for the parking lot to see who would join me. Even leaving the house 5 minutes later than I normally do I got to Burger King first and had coffee while waiting for Digger. By 8am we didn’t have a big group but the group we did have was eager to hit the road. Digger, Surgeon, Highlander, Dragon Slayer, Magic man and Eric were all ready to go so we moved east on Latham and south on Lyon to get the ride started.

We started out rather slowly and were talking when Dragon Slayer rolled by and took the lead and pushed us up faster and faster as we rolled through one intersection after the other. By the time we got to Ramona and headed west we had dropped Digger and I fell back t get him. Highlander fell back with me and we lost the draft from the lead group. Chase as much as I could we couldn’t close on the fleeing four so I set the cruise control on 20 and headed for Lakeview. By the time we got there Magic Man had left for home and I didn’t see anyone waiting for us so we continued on towards the first climb. As we rolled by Lakeview I could see Dragon Slayer and Eric pulling away from the light. I took off like a scalded dog and made a run for Barnesconi just knowing Dragon Slayer was working hard to chase me down. Somehow I caught Surgeon on the Barnesconi hill where he had stopped to remove a windbreaker. I got to the bike path first and waited for a regroup. I attacked the Backside TT and headed for the Marina for a quick bathroom break before following Surgeon, Dragon Slayer and Eric out towards the north side of the lake’s exit.

As we got to the frontage road leaving the marina I had Highlander and Digger following me about an equal distance to how far behind the group wit Dragon Slayer, Eric and Surgeon. After we made the turn east I decided to close the gap with the leaders and had to work pretty hard to catch Dragon Slayer’s rear wheel as we headed for the exit road. I rounded the corner and hit the little climb hard.

I managed to pull away from Dragon Slayer but not Eric and about 150 yards before the top of the climb he spun past me and crested first. He stopped just over the crest while I dropped down the hill like a attacking falcon and made my way to the light. Eric and Dragon Slayer joined me before the green and Surgeon arrived just as we were making the turn west. Highlander got there before the light turned red but Digger missed the light so we waited for him. As soon as he arrived we headed towards Lasselle Street and the fast run towards Ramona Expressway.

We decided to ride home on the Expressway and I knew Dragon Slayer would be leaving on Lakeview so I let him pull me almost all the way to Rider before I tried to hit the segment heading back to Bernasconi. I did get a good gap going over the rollers but Eric did pull Dragon Slayer up to me just before the downhill and he pulled around and took me to the bridge and took it back and pulled him back to Lakeview. We agreed to hold it down to under 20 mph heading home so I pulled all the way back to Sanderson where Digger left us and then Eric and I took turns pulling back to Devonshire and the parking lot to finish the ride. I ended up with 51 miles and some PRs so to me it was a good day.