Making of a new Cyclist

By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) I woke up feeling better than I had in a week. After the ride Wednesday I thought that just maybe I would chase the big dog today and see how my legs and lungs would hold up. It felt just a bit cool this morning so I added arm and leg warmers and headed for the parking lot. When I got there Digger and Dragon Slayer were already waiting. As we all stood there riders started to ghost in. Minotaur pulled up with another flat tire and while Dragon Slayer and I worked on it ME-109 arrived followed by Ray from Oregon. Next came a contingency from Cast a Shadow with Gambler, MacGyver, Ferret and Bulldozer. Already it looked like a strong A group.

As we stood there talking two new riders showed up, Sol and another Ray, this one from Colorado. As we talked to them about the ride Digger and Ray 1 took off on Gilmore and headed for Acacia. The rest of us followed as soon as Rooster arrived and followed only five minutes later. I took us to Acacia and then over to Kirby to point us south towards Cypress.

As we turned onto Cypress the group split up a bit but I thought they were back in line by the time we got to Johnston. I followed part of the group south to Stetson and we headed west to the Airport. As we got to the railroad tracks I discovered the group was not together. A group of us made it to Warren and headed for California. We picked up Bandit and Shooter on the way. I started to move forward thinking I could get in on the run on Stowe. I did get to second as we rounded the corner but the pace line started to move past me.

Ferret was moving strong and falling in behind him is almost worthless if you are looking to draft.

Shooter would have been a much better prospect but he had a group closing in on his wheel.

Dragon Slayer finally got by me and I managed to fall in behind him and follow him to Stowe. Now the pace line started to pick up and I settled in to keep pace all the way to Winchester Farms. I didn’t quite work out when Dragon Slayer backed out of line breaking it in two. Unlike Rooster I didn’t feel like I had the steam to close the gap so I stayed behind Dragon Slayer till we regrouped and waited for the B team. Minotaur went back to get Sol and they showed up with Ray2 looking just a bit tired. Minotaur offered to lead the B group if I wanted to ride with the A group but after hearing where he thought we were going I decided to give up and lead them myself. I considered having MacGyver lead them but he was in his CAS jersey as well and I wasn’t sure if I could hold their wheel for the next forty miles. I let the A group go and watched as the rode off on Winchester.

I was ready for the grind at that point and took the B group south on Winchester all the way to the dump road and then to Leon to cut over to Simpson and head West. As we crossed Briggs I realized we might not catch Digger and Ray1. I was still thinking about that as we crossed Lindenburger and headed for Menifee. Minotaur and I stopped after turning south so we could wait for Sol and Ray2. I called Digger and had him wait for us on top of Revival. It took us about ten minutes to get to them and collect all of the new B group before heading to Scott road.

We moved down to Scott and headed east to Leon before turning south again. Sol was still hanging in there as we headed towards Briggs and Los Alamos and the rollers going back to Whitewood. Ray1 made the turn first and I started to chase him only to have Minotaur fly by me on the big downhill and fly by Ray1 on the first big uphill. He went a bit hard and I caught him before the top. Once we made the rest of the climbs I pulled over and waited till we all regrouped and dropped down to Whitewood and a food break, Sol had not planned for a fifty mile ride and was out of food and water. Once refreshed we climbed Whitewood and worked our way to Antelope to head north past the Hospital and back to Newport. It turned out this was Sol’s longest ride and she was looking pretty tired as we got back to Newport so we decided to avoid any climbs and took Lindenburger to Simpson before heading back to Winchester. We turned north on Winchester and waited till Sol and Ray1 caught up to us. We had not planned on stopping at Winchester Farms but Sol was toast by the time we got there so we stopped to let her rest before heading for home.

Digger and Ray2 pulled away from us on California and again on Stetson because Digger thought his tire was going flat. I turned back to pick up and pull Ray1 and Sol back to Warren and then to Sanderson so we could head over to Johnston and head east to Palm. I stayed with them all the way back to Palm and Ray2 took Sol back to Thornton before heading over to the golf course to meet his wife. Sol was tired but said she would be back next Friday, as long as it wasn’t going to be another half century.