By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It looked like we were going to have a spotty week of riding at beast this week but so far Monday was good and Wednesday looked like it could be just as nice. I was looking forward to a good ride knowing we may have a rain out Friday and our Saturday ride would be at the very least modified. So I had breakfast, dresses semi warmly and headed for the parking lot. As I had coffee with Digger we realized we were going to have a rather small group as Highlander pulled up right after Closer. Gambler and Bulldozer arrived with Bulldozer on his new CX bike. I think you would call it glow in the dark green. Whatever it was you couldn’t say you didn’t see him. But it was also rather clean looking with the disk brakes and all. Bloodhound and Rocky were the last to arrive before we headed out onto Gilmore and rode down to Acacia and over to Kirby.

It didn’t take long before Bloodhound took off and left us. This time Bulldozer went after him followed by Gambler. They were setting a pace way above comfortable for most of us so we waited to catch up on Cypress and all hit the stop light on Sanderson together. It was a long light but soon we made the turn south and once again Bloodhound left us as we rode by Wally World and headed for Mustang.

At first I thought it would be up to me to pull the group to Warren and try to close on Bloodhound but thankfully Bulldozer and Gambler took over pulling duties and started reeling in Bloodhound slowly but surely. We lost some distance at warren but got it back by Winchester and soon were pulling up to the light where Bloodhound was waiting. Once again Bulldozer and Gambler took the lead and soon they had us in a long pace line moving about 24 or 25 mph. Bulldozer fell back to let Gambler take the lead while he rotated through the line. By Leon it was down to Gambler, me, Dragon Slayer and Closer with Rocky just off of the back. Bloodhound and had a flat and Bulldozer stopped with him. Highlander was following Rocky with Digger some distance in the back. Gambler turned the lead over to me and that is how we finished the Saddle and the regroup.

We dropped off of the saddle as soon as Bulldozer had pulled Bloodhound up to the group and Highlander led us past Lindenburger and toward Antelope. We jockeyed for position as we past Menifee lakes and soon caught the light once more at Antelope. When the light changed I got us to the freeway overpass and got passed on the downhill side as Bulldozer tried to pick up speed to use before hard braking to try and seat his brake pads.

Our next move would be to get to Carl’s for a nature break before heading for Goetz. Rocky and I got caught at the light on Bradley and lost the group heading for Murrieta. We were never able to close with them so we more or less cruised towards Carl’s where we stopped to join everyone in a short break before getting back on the road.

We had a quick snack and refilled some water bottles before getting ready to head back out onto Newport and west over Murrieta. We didn’t get far because I noticed a low rear tire and decided to fix it before trying to make the climb on Goetz. It only took a few minutes and while I was working on it some of the group stopped by the Menifee bike shop before coming back and joining me on our move towards Goetz.

As we moved west we got behind Dragon Slayer and chased Bloodhound all the way to the light before turning north on Goetz and heading for Normandy. Dragon slayer and I lead the group to Normandy before Bloodhound pulled around us. Bulldozer and Gambler pulled around as well just as I took over from Dragon Slayer and I tried to catch one of the big dog’s back wheels. I did pull away from Dragon Slayer but couldn’t get far enough in front of him to not feel like he could close anytime he wanted. I did crest Goetz just after the fleeing a group but it was the last I saw of them as I dropped down to Ethanic to regroup with what was left of the group. Once Digger joined us we all headed east to Murrieta and then south to Rouse where we ended up chasing Digger all the way to Bradley and McCall.

As we turned east on McCall Highlander took the lead and gapped us by a car length or two at the Valero. I took me all the way to Antelope to catch him and as I did Dragon Shouted that he wanted to go for a PR on Hospital Hill. I tried to make a steady pull of it and we crested the hill together. Once the rest of our group joined us we headed first to Heritage and then Lindenburger and Simpson before heading east. We had a nice little pace line going all the way to Winchester before heading north to Winchester Farms and some coffee. After we all had a chance to recover we got back on the road and headed east on Stowe towards California.

We stayed together all the way to California and again to Stetson before heading east towards Warren. Closer and Dragon Slayer took turns pulling and I took the last pull from the Airport to Sanderson. We turned north on Sanderson and Rocky left us at Johnston. Dragon Slayer and Highlander past me at Wentworth and led us to Lowes. I got back in front on Acacia and got us to Gilmore where Dragon Slayer jumped out front causing a drag race all the way to Florida before we stopped at the parking lot and split up for home. I got there with about 45 miles on the computer and a good feeling of being tired.