By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) The end of the week was here and it seemed like a good day to put together a shorter cruise just to give our legs a break. I put up a sub forty mile ride east and got dressed for a cooler day. It was a bit like we lost summer between Wednesday and Friday morning. I thought I had put my arm and leg warmers away for the season only to have to dig them out for today’s ride. I got to the parking lot only to see Dragon Slayer unloading his truck. I got coffee and came out to see Digger pulling up. Gambler and MacGyver rode up as did ME-109. Highlander, Rooster and Ray arrived and for a while that looked like the whole group. We pulled out onto Latham and headed to Lyon only to be joined by Ferret giving us a good spread between an A and B group.

I told Gambler that I wanted today to be a real recovery day and didn’t want to push either group much more than fifty percent. Gambler agreed and we more or less simply cruised north on Lyon only to catch the light at Esplanade red. Up to this point we managed to keep the group together and they were all collected at the light when it turned green. I led us to Seventh Street and stayed in front all the way to Ramona to turn west and head for Sanderson.

I got us over to Sanderson and then up to the Expressway and once again caught the light. This is where the group normally breaks up because the A group is a lot faster on the Expressway than the B group. So was anticipated a faster run west after the light changed. We no sooner made the corner t that Highlander got a flat. We all waited till he got it fixed and I took us towards Warren. Before I could get to Warren Ferret and ME-109 rolled by as did Dragon Slayer. I pulled in behind Dragon Slayer and we watched as the two speedsters pulled away. We got to Bridge in time to see ME-109 and Ferret coming back towards us as we continued north and east to get back to Gilman.

We broke up into three small groups and headed over the gully and around the curve to head down the long straight. MacGyver pulled our group to meet Gambler, Ferret and ME-109 at Gilman and Bridge. I had planned on having the A group take a longer route and to have them chase the B group to Soboba. Today that was not an acceptable plan however s we decided to stay together and head east on Gilman all the way to Soboba. We took turns pulling and finally passed under Sanderson with MacGyver in the lead. He pulled over the rise and pointed us to Soboba and State Street.

Dragon Slayer and I turned east on Soboba while Gambler and MacGyver stayed on State and headed for home. We decided to regroup and wait for Digger and Ray before heading down Soboba and the rollers. Dragon Slayer wanted to keep us together so we kept the pace steady as we rolled over the first roller and then the second. Highlander stayed right with us and Rooster took a turn at the front till we got to the last hill before the golf course where Dragon Slayer and I took turns pulling to the regroup point and waited for everyone else. We picked up ME-109 and Ferret waiting for us at Lake and then rode over to Ramona and east. The plan was to ride past Hemet Street and then all the way to Cedar so we could put in an extra mile or two before getting to Florida and turning back for coffee. We also wanted to show Ray where Casino was so he could pick up a bike mirror. Once again Ferret and ME-109 left us and this time Rooster went with them. Somehow Dragon Slayer got away from us and I think he missed the turn on Cedar. The rest of us collected ME-109 and Ferret and headed down Cedar till it turned into Fairview.

We made it to Florida and turned west only to stop at Casino and wait till everyone had joined us. We did a little shopping and visited with Bulldozer before heading over to Carl’s for coffee and a break. We then left Carl’s and headed over to visit Huntress to see how she was recovering. After finding out how long she was going to be out we headed west come more to make it to Park and around to Devonshire. Highlander got just a touch of heading to the barn but he reeled himself in and we joined him at Yale. We rode to Santa Fe and then down to Latham to make our way back past State and back to the Parking lot.

We made our way past Palm and then Lyon before coming in through the Pep Boy’s driveway. We stayed at the parking lot and talked about the ride for a while before Rooster and I rode back to Lyon and then down to Whittier where we went our separate way to get home. I felt pretty good about the ride and it was a recovery.