By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) As we have said before Friday is unpredictable. I can call it flat Friday and the group will turn it into fast Friday. East Friday turns into racing Friday. So I had to wait till the ride started to see what today would bring. One thing I didn’t have to wait for was cooler weather. It was in the low 60s when I left the house. I got to the parking lot just as Digger arrived and just before George rode up. I went in for coffee and at first we thought it was going to be another small group. Just as we were talking about that Quicksilver, Tax Man and Closer arrived. Bulldozer, MacGyver and Gambler were about the last three to arrive. Not a bad group for a rather cool Friday. Just after 8am we headed out onto Latham and up Lyon to get the show on the road.

Digger and I turned onto Lyon just after Bulldozer past us only to watch him fade down the road by the time the rest of us got to Devonshire. His figure kept getting smaller and smaller while the rest of us moved north on Lyon only to catch the light at Esplanade and a waiting Sasquatch. Now we had two groups and I was free to monitor the B group.

We moved north on Lyon past one intersection after another till we rolled by Seventh and Cottonwood. I was prepared to pull as long as needed to keep the group together and from all of the friendly chatting coming from behind me it seems as if the pace was just enough to keep everyone happy. As we got close to Ramona Boulevard I could see Bulldozer waiting for us and he let us all by before following the group west towards Sanderson.

When we got to Sanderson it took a minute to get to the light on the Expressway but we caught it green. Well all of us got it green except George and we had to wait for him to catch the next green. I then pulled us most of the way to Warren until Gambler, Bulldozer and Sasquatch pulled around and took off for Bridge. I gave the lead to Huntress and she gave it to Quicksilver before I got it back just before we turned onto Bridge and headed for Gilman Springs.

We had three riders strung out about a quarter of a mile behind us and I finally fell back to bring Tax Man up for the regroup on Gilman. We got the corner to find everyone, even the A group, waiting for us. I then took over the pull till we crested the first rise and the A group pulled by us and headed back towards Sanderson. When we got to Sanderson Tax Man left us and I pulled Quicksilver, Huntress and George towards Soboba for another regroup.

We managed to send Digger down Soboba first and he stayed out front till the first rise where Huntress jumped out front. I decided to chase her and the two of us gapped the rest of the group and stay out there all the way to the end of the Golf course before crossing the river bridge and turning on Ramona east. The A group was waiting for us and joined us as we rode to Cedar and headed towards Fairview and Florida. Sasquatch dropped off before we got to Florida and Gambler went with Bulldozer to Bautista while the rest of us headed back west.

We got back to Lincoln and headed west to Park. MacGyver and I were out front most of the way and because we had decided to have coffee at Starbucks Digger, Closer and George stayed with us. We made the jog onto Devonshire off of Park and MacGyver took the lead as we rode to San Jacinto and then to Santa Fe before dropping down to Latham and through the light at State Street. We were all together as we crossed Palm and in a nice line as we crossed Lyon. About half way to Pep Boys I noticed Quicksilver jumping out to sprint and took off myself just beating her to the driveway. She placed a curse on my helmet mirror and laughed at the effort. Five of us had coffee at Starbucks before heading for home and starting our weekend.