By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) After a busy weekend I was expecting an easy cruise on Monday. Some of us did a metric century on Saturday and some of us even raced at the Redlands Classic. Bloodhound got first in his class and Shooter raced in cat four/five on Sunday. It was just the kind of weekend for a recovery ride. So I had a light breakfast and headed for the parking lot to see who was riding with me. Dragon Slayer and Highlander showed up followed by Tax Man and Papillion. Shooter and Quicksilver arrived as did two new riders, Dan and Randy. Bloodhound pulled up and showed us his first place medal. We had to wait for another new rider, Melanie, before we could ride out onto Latham and head for Lyon to start the day. We made the turn onto Lyon and soon were rolling past Devonshire and Menlo moving north.

I should have expected something was different when I learned that two of the new riders were people that had been on Jax’s rides with Shooter. Melanie acted like she would have trouble averaging 16 mph but as soon as we past Seventh Street she took off chasing Bloodhound. I had to work at it to reel her in and it took a few more minutes for the rest of the group to catch us. We had pretty much closed on Bloodhound at Cottonwood and ended up following him all the way to Ramona Boulevard before turning west towards Sanderson.

Once we were headed west I knew the new riders were stronger than many of the new riders we have had in the past. It was confirmed as we sat at the light on the Expressway. When the light changed Bloodhound set the pace and soon we were in a fast pace line heading towards Warren. Bloodhound started to separate himself from the group and soon Randy and Papillion were going with him. Shooter pulled around and the three of them left us heading for bridge. Dragon slayer and I worked together to pull the rest of the pack up to the fleeing foursome but couldn’t close. Finally Randy popped off of the back of the other four and we caught him just before bridge. Once we made the turn Shooter came back and picked us up and before we got past the dairy Melanie was attacking again. After the curve on Bridge Shooter pulled in front and took Melanie, Dragon Slayer and I out from the group and up to about 27 mph. Once he pulled off I came around and got to within 50 yards of Papillion to join Bloodhound at Gilman and regroup.

We decided to stay on Gilman all the way to Soboba rather than turn on Sanderson and I relayed that information to the group before Bloodhound and Papillion took off heading east. I pulled over the rise and was relieved by Dragon Slayer at the first flat. Melanie rolled by us and took a 30 yard lead before I caught up to her and took Dragon Slayer with me. Shooter reeled us in and was right with us as we rolled on towards Sanderson. We made a quick regroup under the Sanderson overpass and then headed to Soboba. Bloodhound and Papillion got to State Street first and I think Papillion headed for home. The rest of us started east on Soboba with Bloodhound in the lead followed by Shooter and then by me. After the two rollers I pulled up and waited for Highlander and some of the other riders before finally chasing after Dragon Slayer, Melanie and Shooter all the way to the golf course hill. We then rolled on to Lake Park and Soboba for our last regroup before Carl’s. Highlander didn’t stop with us and soon several of the riders took off after him. I stayed with Dan as we turned onto Ramona and we rode together all the way to Cedar and then to Florida and west to Carl’s for a regroup before heading home.

We made our way to Lincoln and headed towards Park to get home. Highlander was well out front and Dragon Slayer and I had to work hard to pull Quicksilver up to the lead group and onto Park. We quickly made our way around Park and onto Devonshire to once again head west. The group split once again but we caught up at State Street and rode together back to the Burger King to load the cars, visit and discuss the ride. We laughed and took the time to realize what a special group we have and the friendships that have developed in such a short period of time. Shooter tried teasing me about being a hugger but he paid the price for that just before I headed for home.

I didn’t have far to go but I wanted to get home as soon as I could to fix lunch and get a few errands out of the way before I could kick back and enjoy the rest of the afternoon.