By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It is a big week this week. We have a Pot Luck at Dragon Slayers on Saturday. We will also be doing the Idyllwild ride on Wednesday and the weather is changing. We may like cooler weather but at this rate it may be our last chance to get to Idyllwild. I got up this morning to cold and fog. I was a base layer day so after a warm breakfast I got dressed and headed for the parking lot and some hot coffee. Digger and I were having coffee when Highlander drove up and Bloodhound arrived. Somewhat to my surprise Surgeon joined us. Normally he stays home till the spring thaw but even with chilly, to him, sub 60 degree weather he was with us. Sasquatch was the last to arrive and we still had ten minutes to wait before heading out onto Gilmore and down to Acacia. What made today even more special was Highlander was on a new Fuji 11 speed with electronic shifting. He even had a mid compact crankset and a sporty black and orange paint job. It had to be good for an extra 2 MPH just being new. We turned on Acacia and then Kirby to get the show on the road.

Highlander was almost in stealth mode today with a totally quiet machine so I had to keep looking back to see where he was. Sasquatch was also a challenge today because he seemed to be stronger than ever and I knew he would make me work hard to try and stay up with him. Bloodhound had left us on Kirby but came back with Bloodhound once we turned on Sanderson and headed for Mustang. After we passed Mustang Sasquatch took off and headed for Domenigoni and made the turn well before the rest of us. Bloodhound fell back and pulled us up to Sasquatch who fell in line as we headed for Warren. When we were all back in like Bloodhound pulled up over the dry wash and I pulled us to Winchester. Surgeon pulled us to Leon and I got the jump on Sasquatch for the sprint to the top of the saddle and a regroup.

As we dropped down off of the saddle Bloodhound took off on us and headed for Menifee and managed to make the turn left before we even got to the light. We couldn’t even see Bloodhound as we turned south and started towards the elementary school and park. As we got close to Holland Surgeon, Highlander and Digger were in front of Sasquatch and me. Sasquatch was following me like a airplane in a dog fight. He started to pick it up a bit after Holland and we were soon up to Digger and Highlander. Next we caught Surgeon and started the steep part of Revive. Sasquatch pushed me all the way to the top driving my heart rate into the red zone and proving that he had loads of youthful recovery in his legs. We regrouped before heading south once more going towards Garboni.

I pulled us after we passed Garboni and they all let me as we closed in on Scott road. Bloodhound was long gone. We got to the corner and I turned us west. I started us on a smooth pull back towards Holland and with the exception of Digger everyone stayed right with me. When we rounded the corner digger wasn’t far behind but Surgeon took the lead and we picked it up a bit heading towards Bradley. As we got to the climb on Holland Surgeon downshifted and went onto a quick spin so I jumped on it and tried to sprint to the top. Sasquatch was on me like a bee chasing a bear and pushed me to the top and over as we dropped down onto Murrieta. We turned north and headed for the gas station on Newport with Surgeon and Highlander close behind us. We found Bloodhound waiting for us at the gas station. We waited for a while before we realized we had lost Digger. I called and it turned out he had done a modified Dutch treat. So we headed up railroad canyon and met Digger at Goetz to head up to Normandy to ride over to La Ladera and work our way to McCall.

Once on La Ladera we pushed ourselves to Honneyrun and Digger was right with us. He fell back a pit was we took the slight grade to McCall but he was with us at Murrieta and again at Bradley. Surgeon led us to the light after the Valero where Sasquatch took over and I drafted him till the steeper part of the climb and made my escape just before the flat spot and last kick to the top and back down to Menifee where we waited for everyone. We worked together all the way back to Simpson and took turns pulling to Winchester with Sasquatch will the sprint to the light. Digger took us up Winchester to Stowe where we stopped for coffee and conversation. Once we got back on Stowe Surgeon was in a hurry to get back to Warren so he could head to the car dealership before they ran out of dough nuts. The rest of us cruised to California where Sasquatch attacked the segment and beat us to Stetson.

We caught him by warren and I took us back past the airport and over the railroad tracks to get us back to Sanderson. I started us north towards Johnston and Highlander pulled us to Lowes and around the back to Acacia.

We all decided to ride to Gilmore and then back to the parking lot together where we stopped and visited. While we were there we once again admired Highlander’s new ride and had a rider drive up to ask us about our start times and ride distances. After filling him in on our site and group Sasquatch and I headed back to Acacia while Digger rode home and Highlander loaded up his van to drive home. All in all I would say it was a perfect ride to get us ready for the long climb on Wednesday.