By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Unpredictable Friday was here and it proved to be everything its namesake would indicate. The weather was warm and clear with very little of any wind giving us every reason to dress lightly and enjoy the warm sun. That is just what I did as I headed to the parking lot for coffee this morning. I got to Burger King just after Digger and News Boy and before Minotaur and Sasquatch. As we stood around talking Highlander, MacGyver and Ferret rode up followed by Cutter and Polaris. ME-109 and Rooster showed up and we were ready to go. Because of the road work being done on Stetson and Sanderson we decided to head over to State to get to Domenigoni adding another four miles to our day. Out first leg was onto Latham and over to Lyon to make our way down to Johnston.

In order to avoid the broken pavement on Lyon just past Stetson I took us left on Johnston and west to Gilbert. As I rolled west on Johnston past Elk and Palm I could hear the confused voices behind me wondering if I knew where I was going. The truth was I did know where I was going because it was close to my neighborhood and not far from where Polaris lives. So we turned south on Gilbert and headed to Thornton where I led us onto State Street and got us part way to Domenigoni before Ferret past me taking the A group with him.

Six of them rounded the corner on Domenigoni and headed west while six of us followed at a steady 20 mph heading back towards Sanderson. I settled into a steady pace thinking I had a long pull to the Saddle ahead of me but Highlander wanted to lead and he took it right after Sanderson. He pulled for a long way west past Warren and over the Dry wash before giving the lead to Polaris. Thinking it was a mistake I moved from the pack to take over at front again only to discover that Minotaur was going to let her pull for a little while to see what it was like, information he passed on to me at the light on Winchester. I pulled to the trees and gave Polaris her shot and she did fine. She gave to lead to Cutter and he got us to Leon before Minotaur went flying past us and created a gap. I decided to give chase and caught him just before the climb and came around before he noticed me. We all regrouped at the top with the A group.

Once everyone was ready we dropped off of the back side of the Saddle and headed for Lindenburger. Once again Minotaur took off but this time no one followed him and he made it to Menifee well ahead of the rest of us. He waited for us to turn the corner and head north so that we could all ride to Simpson together. It didn’t quite work as planned however because ME-109, Rooster, Sasquatch and MacGyver pulled away from the rest of us and headed for the AM/PM on Florida. Ferret chased them after Simpson and the rest of us followed to the gas station for a short regroup before heading north. I pulled the group most of the way to Mapes and got ready for the fast run to Central.

Soon Ferret went by followed by MacGyver. I took the opportunity to grab MacGyver’s wheel and took a free ride past the Nursery. When MacGyver went to the front I went with him. Still I was content to stay in a comfortable draft till News Boy rolled by. At first I thought he was going to pull but he didn’t and soon he had a gap on us. My heart rate was just above idle at the time so I jumped on it and gave chase. It wasn’t long before News Boy flamed out and I was on his wheel. I decided to stay there and once again Ferret, Rooster, Sasquatch and MacGyver went by. I pulled News boy to Nuevo and he returned the favor as we headed north to get over to Ramona for the ride home. I told Ferret that as soon as we turned on the frontage road by the Valero he could collect the A group and head for home and I would take the B group with me.

The speed difference between the two groups wasn’t that great and we had News Boy to help pull so we were doing fine. Fine that is till News Boy rolled over what looked for the entire world like a hypodermic cap and while he got a flat I hit it as well and it cut my tire. We changed the flats and ended up chasing Digger, Cutter and Polaris back to Bridge before moving on to Sanderson and the turn South. We took a short regroup till Digger caught up and then we headed back towards Devonshire. Digger was off pace by Cottonwood but was holding his own as we got to Menlo where he left. I moved up front to ride with Minotaur and we led the group to Devonshire and back to Burger King. We made a short stop at the LBS before heading for home. Sasquatch and I rode with Polaris till Palm and Stetson where we all split up and went home for lunch.