By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It sure felt like fall when I got up this morning. There was a slight chill in the house and the kitchen tiles felt cool even to my stocking feet. We had moved the start time for our bike ride to 9am but I was still up by 6am and got ready to start breakfast. It was going to be an easy ride because that is how we design Monday rides but that didn’t take into account cold or wind. I wouldn’t know about the cold till I got ready to go outside and I wouldn’t know about wind till we were on Domenigoni. I got dressed after breakfast and realized it was going to be a arm warmer and leg warmer day. I even put on a heavy skull cap and headed to the parking lot to see who else had joined me. By 9am there were only 9 of us but we were all eager to get on the road. We headed down Gilmore and started to warm up our legs.

Like most days when we ride with Bloodhound we had to watch him fade into the distance as we caught up on things since the last time we had seen each other. One big difference about today is absolutely no one seemed to notice and no one gave chase. We were determined to stay together as a group, at least till we got to Domenigoni, and no one was interested in moving out on their own. We made the turn on Kirby and again on Cypress to get to Johnston. We had to wait for a moment till we caught a green and headed towards Mustang and picked up the pace just a bit.

By now Bloodhound was not as far in front of us and Sasquatch started to move up. Just as the light turned green Jackal gave chase taking Sasquatch with him followed by Dragon Slayer. I stayed with Tax Man, Highlander. Quicksilver and Digger and pulled them to Domenigoni to start west. By the time we were headed west Jackal had blown out of the back of the chase group and Bloodhound had started to pull away. I slowly pulled us up to Jackal and followed him to warren and over the dry wash. Jackal fell to the back of the pack and I pulled for a short distance before giving things up to Highlander. I took the lead back at Winchester and tried to give it to Quicksilver at Leon. Highlander moved up to take the pull and took us almost all the way to the saddle where Jackal made a break for it. I held his wheel till he was almost out of gas and got around for the regroup. Quicksilver, Digger and Highlander dropped off of the saddle fist and headed for Menifee with Tax Man in tow. Bloodhound decided to follow them leaving Dragon Slayer, Jackal and me to chase them to the park for a nature stop.

Digger didn’t stop and Highlander left with Quicksilver while we watched Jackal pump up his front tire. It turns out Quicksilver had a plan on getting to the top of Revive first and getting my picture to prove she could chick me. She didn’t think I would know what she was up to but Dragon Slayer warned me and I took off and chased as hard as I could to see if I could catch them. As I pulled out onto Menifee I could see I had a long way to go and at first it looked like I wasn’t going to catch them. Quicksilver broke from the Highlander group and started he sprint about half way up Revive just as I hit the beginning of the hill. I had to burn a lot of matches to catch her before the stop sign and I didn’t have much left as I pulled into wide parking area and waited for the rest of the group. I know the day will come when Quicksilver beats me on a hill but today wasn’t that day. Once we were all back together quicksilver started us on a fast run to Garboni. Shortly after the stop sign Dragon Slayer took the lead and pulled till we got to the slight uphill where I pulled around. Sasquatch decided to see if I had any matches left and I fought him off as we headed to Scott for the turn west.

We had more or less soft pedaled till everyone was in line as we got to Antelope and popped over the freeway and headed to Haun. We had to wait for Quicksilver and Jackal and Quicksilver rode right by us to get us started on our way back towards Holland. Dragon slayer and I pulled around her before Holland and Dragon slayer commented as he past me that he didn’t realize how much wind was in our face. It stayed that way all the way to Newport but we caught Digger by Holland and then made our way to the gas station where Bloodhound was waiting. Some quick hydration and we were on our way back west to Bradley. Wind was still in our face but no one seemed to care.

As we started the climb on Golf Cart racing Sasquatch and Dragon slayer pulled away leaving the rest of us to follow all the way to McCall and east towards Hospital Hill. I started the pull at the freeway and held it steady till we got to Hillpoint where Highlander and I pulled away from our group. I got to the top of the hill and planned on stopping but was passed by Quicksilver on her way down the back side of the hill to regroup just past Menifee. Highlander, Tax Man and Quicksilver left first while Sasquatch, Jackal, Dragon Slayer, Digger and I followed a few minutes later and met up with the group at Lindenburger and Simpson. I started us east and pulled to Leon before turning things over to Highlander. Jackal pulled around everyone and started to gap us. Dragon Slayer pulled up to relieve Highlander when Jackal kicked it up a bit. I pulled up to give chase but was convinced by Dragon Slayer that we could pull the whole group up to him. Slowly but surely we closed the gap and when Jackal started the last sprint Sasquatch and Dragon Slayer were there to finish him off. We turned north on Winchester and followed the group most of the way to the big turn before Winchester Farms.

When we got to Stowe I pulled into the parking lot to wait for digger while Dragon Slayer, Tax Man, Quicksilver and Highlander headed for home. Once Digger had pulled up the rest of us headed for California and the turn north. Sasquatch decided to take a run at the segment on California while the rest of us more or less cruised to Stetson and east again. We found Sasquatch waiting at Warren and then we headed for Sanderson staying on Stetson.

We settled into a cruise as we headed past Sonic and made the turn north on Sanderson. I pulled us back to Lowes and around to Acacia. I then got us to Kirby and all of us except Digger rolled by Gilmore and headed towards Lyon. Jackal stopped at the bike shop to work on his bike while Sasquatch and I rolled down Acacia to Palm where I headed for home leaving Sasquatch to stay on Acacia to get back to Fairview. I go home in time for lunch and a hot shower. I needed it t warm up.