A little more bling

By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) After a rainy Thursday and Friday I think many of us were eager for the Monday group ride. I believe the extra time off even made my legs feel better than they have in months. But for cautions sake I planned a flat ride that would head east. I got up a bit early and had breakfast while watching the news for the day. After getting dressed I headed for Burger King to see how the group would form. Digger got there just as I was parking and going in for coffee. Dan, Earth dog, pulled up in his car just as Hacker rode up on his bike. It must have been a forced vacation day for Hacker. Quicksilver and El Cid drove up next and we thought that was going to be it as we got ready to leave. At the last minute Siren drove up and rushed to get ready to leave with us. We did have Gambler stop by and talk to us about the ride on the 29th of August and the one on the 23rd of this month. We finally hit the road about 9:05 and headed for Acacia. Somehow we managed to catch the light on Florida green and made it to Acacia very quickly. I got us to Kirby before we turned south and headed for the railroad tracks and Cypress.

As we moved towards Johnston Digger and Earth dog took the lead and got us to Sanderson. Once we got to the light Digger led us through the Industrial park and out onto Stetson. For some reason Digger and Earth dog decided to set the pace and because it was still rather cool I had to work to keep up. Digger kept the pace going all the way to Warren and half way to California before giving things over to Earth Dog and Hacker. I followed Hacker as he moved up and rounded the corner onto California. At least I was in the lead as we moved towards Stowe.

After turning on Stowe I started us west and pulled for maybe fifty yards before Hacker and Siren took over. Soon Siren backed off and it was Hacker followed by Earth dog and me. As Hacker picked up the pace we started to pull away from the rest of the group and Earth dog left a gap so I caught Hacker’s wheel and got myself set up for a pull to the Winchester Farms parking lot. He started to spin out before the big metal barn so I pulled around and made him chase me to the parking lot for a regroup. After a brief stop quicksilver wanted to take the lead and pull us to the Dump road. Didn’t quite work that way because Earth dog got out onto Winchester first and the rest of us lined up behind him. He managed to pull us to Simpson where he and El Cid made the light and the rest of us had to wait. We finally caught them at Domenigoni where El Cid took over pulling duties and took us almost all the way to the dry wash before giving it over to Hacker. By the time we were rolling past Warren again Siren took over and made Hacker chase her all the way to State street where we waited for Digger. Once he came by we headed north on State Street and I ended up pulling us to Chambers and over to Buena Vista and then to the Golf Course and a bathroom break. Digger rode by as we were waiting and we went after him about five minutes later.

We made our way to Santa Fe and headed east with Hacker, El Cid and Siren in front. They set up a small gap but got hauled back in at the High School because of the lights. Before we got to the little hill I pulled up next to Siren and we talked about the difference between spinning and mashing up a hill. I got up to demonstrate a standing climb when Hacker and El Cid sprinted by me standing. El Cid is coming along pretty quickly for as few rides as he has been on. I fell back to ride with Quicksilver and pulled her up to the group just before we got to Fairview where Digger was waiting. We collected everyone and sent Digger and Earth dog north while we waited till the got to the bridge before giving chase.

We moved at a pretty good clip past the elementary school and around the corner to head east and chase the fleeing Digger and Earth dog. Siren took off after them but ran out of steam a bit early and let Hacker pull the rest of us up to her. We caught digger before the RV dealership and we caught Earth dog before the trees. I drafted Hacker till he ran out of gear and made it to Cranston first. It only took a few minutes for everyone to regroup before we headed back west towards Fairview. We started a long pace line heading back to the trees and over the little hump and headed for the Baptist Church. First Hacker pulled in front and helped out until after the church and then Earth dog and Siren took over and pulled away as Hacker and I started to pull the rest of the group up to them. We almost caught them but I had to stop at Casino to see if new derailleur rollers would solve my rattle. They were replaced but that didn’t stop the noise. So we headed for Carl’s only to find it closed. Then we headed to Lincoln and started for home.

Quicksilver and I rode along trying to detect where the rattle was coming from on my bike and ended up getting dropped on Park. We weren’t that far behind till we got the light and San Jacinto. They made it and we didn’t so we fell behind. The same thing happened to us at State so we ended up getting to Burger King last. I rode over to see Robert and discovered the cassette was loose and that was making the noise. Jackal put a cassette tool on it and I headed for home on a quiet bike. First time in a week I didn’t have a rattle whenever I rolled over a bump.