By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Yes it is fall and yes we had our climb to Idyllwild with the only caveat that we wouldn’t go if it rained. Anything short of rain and we would be heading for a climb to Mile High Café. When I looked outside this morning I could see it would be cool but I never realized how cool it might get in Idyllwild. I rode over to meet Digger and we headed for Carl’s in Val Vista to meet the rest of the group. By 9am we had Gambler, Bulldozer, Bloodhound, Art, Quicksilver, Sasquatch Digger and me ready to go. MacGyver was running a little late so once Huntress joined us I started the B group a bit early and headed for Cranston with the Bling team, Digger and Sasquatch in tow. By the time we got to the construction past Cranston the A group caught us and we watched them fade up the hill as we rode to the jeep trail and toward Strawberry creek. We were pretty much together till the road kicked up and then Sasquatch and I started to pull away. Whenever I lost sight of the Bling team I would pull over and wait. That was slowing down Sasquatch so I told him to go ahead while I tried to place myself between the two from the Bling team and did that almost all the way to the regroup at the turn out just before the big part of the climb.

Once the A group was ready to leave Quicksilver and Huntress pulled up and four of us followed the trail of the lead group up the big climb. Sasquatch was a little too quick for the Bling team so once again we watched him go as we followed in a long line towards Mountain Center. I fell in behind Quicksilver and was just able to see Huntress as we made our way to the 4444 sign and stopped at the post office to see if Digger was close behind us. It was cool as we stood in the sun but it was about to get much cooler.

When it was clear that Digger wasn’t close behind and Sasquatch had gone on to Idyllwild we decided to head on for the last five miles to get to the restaurant and see who might be there. I started the pull and both Bling teamers stayed close to me for the first mile. By the time we were passing the Art Shop the motorcycle stuck in the logs Quicksilver looked like she was might be moving up to pass me so I up shifted just to stay in front and managed to get to the Idyllwild sign first. The Bling team was only a few yards behind me so we stopped for a picture.

We only had a mile to go and I got a text from Digger saying he was stopping at Mountain Center Café and would wait for us. We continued to the top of the climb and I led us down the slight drop to Mile High Café and a meeting with Art and Sasquatch for some hot coffee and something sweet. We stayed long enough to eat and warm up before Digger said he was on his way back down the hill. Something the A group had done about an hour before. We finished our coffee and got ready to put on jackets because it was way colder than we had been for a very long time back in Hemet.

As I crested the hill before the long drop back down the hill I had our group right behind me. As we started down I was ready to throw it into warp drive whenI looked back and saw Art and Sasquatch closing on me. Huntress was getting in the tuck position and I knew she would be hard to stay in front of but Quicksilver was gripping the bars and hoods so hard I could see the white knuckles from 50 yards away. I dropped back to ride with her all the way back to Cranston where we finally caught up with Huntress at the road construction. The three of us rode to Casino and then quicksilver and I rode to Carl’s where I joined Sasquatch and Digger while Quicksilver went home. Digger and I rode back to Palm where he went north and I went south to finish our rides and kick for the rest of the afternoon.