By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) The week seemed to rush past us and here we were ready for Friday. I wanted a longer ride and it has been a while since we rode to Lake Perris because of the construction on the bike trail, so Lake Perris it was. I got up had a bit bigger breakfast and took out two water bottles before getting dressed and heading for the parking lot. I was early but still Digger got there before me. We had a lot of time to get coffee and talk before Siren arrived. Gambler and MacGyver arrived next followed by Ferret and Bulldozer. ME-109 joined us just as Tax Man and Quicksilver pulled up. We were heavy on the A group and rather light on a B group. Tax Man informed me he was doing a different ride and wouldn’t be going to Lake Perris. So right about 9 am I moved us out onto Latham and we headed for Lyon and north. Siren and I rode side by side all the way to Esplanade before we caught the light and everyone pulled up next to us before we started off again.

The group was perfectly happy to allow me to lead all the way to Seventh and then Siren took over and I followed her to Cottonwood. I got back in front and the blind stop sign and pulled us north all the way to Ramona Boulevard. Digger was still with me as we moved west towards Sanderson.

Siren got us to the corner and I got us to the Expressway. I knew that once we got headed west on the Expressway t pace would pick up and I knew I would have to stay with Siren, Quicksilver and Digger. But today I was in luck and MacGyver decided to pull the B group after the A group pulled by us and headed for the Valero and Lakeview. I worked with MacGyver as we pulled the other two riders at a rather steady 22 or 23 mph past Bridge and finally to the regroup at Lakeview. While we were there Gambler said he was taking the A group to the Marina and then out of the north gate and over to Gilman to head for home. While we talked Digger rode by and headed for the rollers trying to see how long it would take for us to catch him. Quicksilver slowed at the bridge before the first roller and I went back to get her and pull her past Barnesconi. Siren pulled by us on the downhill side of roller one and we pulled by her at the beginning of roller two. Much to my surprise Siren kicked in an extra spin and caught us and past us at the top of the second roller. She then took off on chase of Digger and the long gone A group. Quicksilver and I pulled onto the road to Lake Perris about 200 yards behind siren and about 100 yards behind Digger. I pulled Quicksilver up to Digger and then kicked it to try and catch Siren as she started the climb up the Dam road. I caught her and pulled past to the frontage road gate leading to the marina. I stopped to make sure everyone made the turn and then we all rode to the Marina for a break and a water stop. The A group was long gone and more than likely already on Alessandro buy the time we were ready to head back out to Ramona. We got to the light and headed east towards Rider and the climb back to Burnesconi.

We got over the hill and headed for Lakeview where Siren pushed herself to set up a good pace back the Hansen for another regroup. I started us east and pulled for a long time before Siren rolled by and kicked things up a notch. She got in front of me and set the cruise control at 22-23 all the way to Bridge. When she fell off I got back out front and held her pace till she recovered and we made the run to Sanderson for a regroup. Quicksilver had let us escape leaving Hansen but she wasn’t going to make that mistake on the way to Lyon so we pulled onto the Boulevard and headed east with me pulling.

We had pulled away from Digger this late in the ride but I knew he would keep coming so I didn’t worry. We were doing pretty well when I was informed that Siren had a flat. There was no panic because we had extra tubes and she wanted to learn how to change a tube anyway. I pulled over with her and we had digger ride with Quicksilver back to the cars. Siren got the wheel off and replaced the tube easily enough but we ran into one small problem. The tube stem was too short and I couldn’t get enough air into the tube. We got back to Cottonwood and decided I should ride back to her car and bring it to pick her up. Tired or not I rode back to the parking lot and drove her car back to her. We loaded bot bikes on her bike rack and she gave me a ride home. She promised she would get some new tubes with longer stems and left me at my front door. I was happy because I got in my weekly 120 miles and I think she was happy because she had done the whole expressway at over 22. As they say a good time was had by all.