By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) I will say it again; I can never predict what will happen on a Friday ride. Monday was a small group and Wednesday was a bit larger with a distinct A and B group. Friday does tend to be light but today people kept rolling in like people showing up to a yard sale. It started with Digger, Dragon Slayer and me and then Minotaur, Highlander and Tax Man arrived. Gambler, MacGyver and Bulldozer pulled up followed by some of the Bling Team with Quicksilver, Crystal, (Gelfling) and Huntress. Closer drove up just before Rooster and Surgeon arrived. Sasquatch pulled up just before ME-109 and Hacker. The Last to arrive was Polaris, the last of the Bling Team, or at least I thought until we pulled out onto Gilmore and somehow picked up Ferret.

I found myself out front and took us to Acacia to turn west and caught the light at Kirby. It was a pretty flat ride so I had my Klein and the road gears with the intent of working with Dragon Slayer as he got used to his gearing on his new BMC. It wasn’t working out however because he was suffering today and trying to ride through the pain. Because of the discomfort he was riding in the back of the rather large group as we turned into Kirby and headed to Cypress for our next turn West towards Johnston and Sanderson.

I ended up pulling us to Johnston and then Sanderson to head south and the light at Stetson. I expected that at any moment Hacker or Sasquatch would come up and put the hammer down as we headed for Wally World. But no one did and I rolled us by the store and onto Mustang expecting to catch that light red as well. It never happened and I got us all the way to Domenigoni without being passed. We managed to catch the light on Domenigoni Green and I started us east before Gambler pulled up next to me and said some of the A group would head for the Marina while I took the B group towards State Street. About the same time I noticed Prosecutor had joined is making the group 21 strong. We split at Searl and I took my group to State and headed south.

I had almost half of the group with me as we headed towards McSweeney. We had spread out a bit so I had to back it down a bit as we got to Newport and finally turned the lead over to Highlander and Surgeon. I was surprised to see Prosecutor was with us because he is a solid A rider. Still I fell onto his back wheel and we pulled around Highlander as he started the climb in front of Sherpa’s old house. We turned east towards Sage and the golf course and spread out quite a bit because of the rise on state. Soon Prosecutor was pulling away and I tried to pull the rest of the group up to him.

Gelfling zipped up next to me and asked to stop to remove her jacket, It had warmed up quite a bit since we started the ride and so I pulled over before we got to the trees in front of Sage. While we were stopped Closer, Surgeon, Highlander, Huntress and Quicksilver rode by and headed for the hill in front of the Missionary Baptist Church. I had to light a match to try and close on the group and didn’t get to Sage till they had already started the climb. The only advantage I had was they didn’t see me coming and I hit the hill with more speed at the bottom than they had so I caught all but Closer and Surgeon on the hill. I got Surgeon and Closer before the end of Cactus Valley where we stopped to regroup and take pictures.

The Bling Team was overjoyed because this was the biggest number of female riders they had all year. We all know our group is more of a social group than a normal bike club but we like it that way. Part of the thing that makes us different is we tend to like each other and look forward to seeing others improve. Today was special because Huntress was just coming back from surgery and Polaris was going to be surprised by getting some new shoes from the local bike shop. We waited for a while talking and taking pictures till Highlander headed back towards the top of the rise to see if the A group was coming. When he left several of the others followed him. Quicksilver, Gelfling, Digger, Surgeon and Polaris left and finally Closer, Huntress, Prosecutor and I headed west as well. Highlander joined us as we crested and Prosecutor and I led the group down the hill and past sage to start to chase of the fleeing riders. Prosecutor and I chased down Digger and found Polaris and two other waiting at State. Quicksilver was gone and making a run for Newport. We had watched the A group heading towards the end of Cactus Valley just as we were coming out so I was sure the Prosecutor and I were the only ones that might catch Quicksilver before she got away and finally we caught her just before the stop sign on Newport and State. She had to head for home and I rolled through McSweeney with Prosecutor and he left me to head for home before I got back to State. I stopped with Tax Man as I got back to state and waited for the rest of the group to join us. Once we did a head count we headed for Domenigoni and the State Street sprint.

When we crossed the light at Domenigoni ME-109 started the pull. With the wind in his face I was surprised he was pushing it but he is young and strong so I was more than happy to draft. I would have stayed in third saving my energy for the Fairview run if Rooster had not decided to sprint by ME-109 heading for the rise. From somewhere a glut of hormones must have short circuited my brain and I took off after Rooster. ME-109 cruised back by and fell in on his wheel tile he let me back by. I got to the rise and shut down planning on recovering before the run east on Stetson. But there was no such luck on heading to Stetson because I was swallowed up by Gambler and his pack as we worked our way to Buena Vista and then Thornton.

I tried to stay with the big dogs but I was low on matches and simply hadn’t recovered from the state street run. I stayed with them till we got to Columbia and then to Thornton and then Crest. I had fallen off the back but was closing on two stragglers so I cut right on Hemet and then back on Thornton to Lake to catch up to Sasquatch and head back to Stetson and over to Fairview. I stayed with Sasquatch as we pulled in behind of the group that had gone straight on Stetson rather than turn on Columbia. I stayed with him till we caught Gelfling and then I followed her to Fairview. I made the turn to Wilson Mesa and did the turnaround before heading back north towards Stetson where the group had been sitting. No one was there so I continued on till Hacker and Dragon slayer pulled in behind me and passed on the bridge. Shortly after we passed mayberry the rest of the group joined us.

As we headed to Florida I noticed Minotaur parked on the side of the road with two or three other riders. They joined us as we made the light and all of us stopped by Casino to surprise Polaris with some MTB shoes and SPD cleats for her bike. She has been getting faster every week and this addition should help her get to the next step. She tried on the shoes and we mounted the cleats before heading to Carl’s for coffee.

Only about half of us stopped for coffee but we shared war stories while we were there and had a good time while we cooled down for the ride home or at least back to Burger King. Once we got ready to leave we pulled out onto New Chicago and headed to Lincoln to head west and make our way to Park.

We lost Hacker at Stanford and we lost Digger at Devonshire but the rest of us stayed together till Palm where Polaris and I turned south and headed back towards her house. I rode with her to her street and turned back for my house and lunch. It was a short day but I got a good workout.