By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) As some of you may know a private company called Space X has started launching rockets from Florida. That simple act more than likely was the cause of a problem for me. It seems as if the rockets passed by a small piece of comet that had broken off somewhere in space as was headed for the sun. The vaporous gas from the comet attached itself to the rocket stage just as it separated and fell back to earth. The spores that came from the Andromeda Galaxy were contained by that vapor. The jet stream carried those spores into the clouds of the storm that hit Hemet Saturday and I was infected with the crawling cruds all weekend. By Monday I was glad it rained again because no one had come up with a miracle cure and Tuesday I thought I had returned to the world of the living. I may have been way down on power and stamina but I was determined to ride on Wednesday even after knowing that several riders had contracted the same disease. Darn that Space X. I got to the parking lot to find Dragon Slayer and Digger waiting. I grabbed some coffee and waited to see who else had survived the weekend. I was pleased to know Tax Man and Minotaur had survived. Gambler, Bulldozer and MacGyver were still moving as well as was Rooster, Bandit and ME-109. Shooter, Ray and Quicksilver joined us as well but I discovered two of them were infected just like me. Bryan, (Magellan) made it as well and we were ready to head out to see how many would survive what was supposed to be a short break in ride for the walking wounded. We headed down Gilman to Acacia and over to Kirby.

I got us pointed south towards the railroad tracks and was just pleased I could get out front at all or that the rest of the group was taking it easy on me. Well everyone was taking it easy except Ray and Tax Man both of which were staying up front all the way to Cypress and then west towards Johnston. Tax Man was the first one to get to Sanderson and Johnston as we waited for the light to turn green. As we headed towards Stetson Tax Man and Ray was right behind me and only the first five or six of us made it through the light and past Wally World before I noticed that ten of our riders were stuck at Stetson. The lead group pulled over and waited till everyone caught up before we headed for Mustang.

As we got near Domanigoni I expected to be dropped like a bad habit and I expected to be dragging from being weak. My legs were fine and I gave the lead to Tax Man and Ray as I fell back to make a count of who was with us. By the time we got to warren we had split into two groups the larger one being the A group. MacGyver stayed with us and pulled us towards Winchester. After the dry wash I noticed Quicksilver was running a bit slow so I went back to get her and found MacGyver was already taking care of that. I then had her pull in behind MacGyver and we ended up chasing down Roy, Tax Man and Digger. By Winchester we had caught Minotaur but when we passed him Quicksilver fell off as if she had lost a piston and was running on seven. I picked her up and pulled her to the Saddle for a regroup and a chance to rehydrate.

Up to this point Quicksilver, Digger and I were just surviving while most of the A group seemed to be thriving. They followed me off of the saddle and past Lindenburger and Laguna Vista. I had on a new visor shield on my helmet and so I was having to practice looking behind me without a mirror as we got close to Menifee. As soon as we saw it was all clear the group started to move left to make the turn south. As we got into the turn lane a motorist pulled up on the back of the group and honked his displeasure at our lane choice. He unfortunately caught the light red and so had to explain to the group why his rights to the road outweighed ours. He was unconvincing and seemed rather relieved when the light turned green and he could drive away. We then headed south towards Holland and the Revival climb. It was at this climb that the two groups separated to finish the ride at their own pace.

I then crested Revival in front of my five riders and right behind Dragon Slayer and Minotaur. I stopped to collect Quicksilver, Ray, Digger and Tax Man but Quicksilver was too tired to stop so I chased after her and the other three followed us south towards Garbani. Quicksilver and I turned onto Scott about 200 yards behind Minotaur and ended up losing him when he made the light at Antelope and we didn’t. We finally rolled over the freeway and made the turn onto Haun where Digger, Tax Man and Ray caught us.

We rode north on Haun and I pulled at a pretty steady 18 mph all the way back to Holland. This time the group stayed pretty much together and got to Newport for the left turn west. No one was waiting at the gas station so we headed to Bradley before turning north again and starting back to McCall. Quicksilver seemed to be pushing herself a bit and didn’t want to stop or hold anyone back. She climbed Hospital hill right next to me and continued down the back side while I stopped to talk to Minotaur, MacGyver and Dragon Slayer on top of the hill. Dragon Slayer and I started to chase Quicksilver and we were joined by Minotaur. We were still chasing when she turned east on Simpson. With MacGyver’s help we caught Quicksilver by Leon and MacGyver pulled by her taking Minotaur with him. Dragon Slayer and I gave chase and caught Minotaur but didn’t quite make it to MacGyver before he got to Winchester. We made the turn on Winchester north and Quicksilver pulled us to Winchester farms for a quick regroup before heading east on Stowe to once again chase Quicksilver but this time she was working with Tax Man.

Dragon Slayer followed Minotaur all the way east on Stowe and made the turn north. I jumped on it, or at least as much jump as a sick man can do, and pulled Dragon Slayer all the way to Stetson and the construction. Minotaur caught back up as we turned east and Ray and Digger were close behind. We started to settle into and chase to warren when we looked over at the field on Stetson just before Warren and noticed one of the reasons we like living where we do.

Once I put the camera away Dragon Slayer and I settled into a steady pursuit and caught Quicksilver and Tax Man at the light on Cawston before pulling everyone back to Sanderson and making the turn north. Dragon Slayer and I took turn pulling back to Lowes and around the back of the store to Acacia. Ray left us on Acacia and Minotaur got a flat. Dragon Slayer stopped to assist Minotaur and Tax Man and I followed Quicksilver back to the Burger King and waited till Dragon Slayer and Minotaur got back just after Digger. Quicksilver went home looking like she wanted a nap and Digger left soon after. Dragon Slayer, Minotaur and I headed over to the Healthy Pub for a smoothie before I caught a ride home with Dragon Slayer. All in all it was a good ride for a sick guy.