By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Fridays normally have been pretty laid back. Lately we have moved our laid back days to Monday and have made Friday a free for all. I have us starting our training ride for August so Friday this week was going to be a climbing day. It is just one more chance for the Bling team to run over me. I looked outside and it was overcast with a threat of rain but I got dressed to ride anyway and put on my old Wool Jersey so stay warm before heading to the parking lot and get a cup of coffee. Digger was talking with Dragon Slayer as I pulled up but he came over and got some coffee with me and we waited for Dragon Slayer to get his bike put together. I thought News Boy was going to join us but he never showed up but MacGyver did. Siren drove up as did Minotaur and Jonathan from CAS. Shooter drove up just before Quicksilver and we had to wait to see if that was it. Minotaur said Polaris was supposed to join us but the weather may have kept her home. So just after 9am we headed onto Gilmore and started towards Acacia to begin the day.

It was looking like it might rain so we decided to shorten the ride a bit and rather than heading for Winchester we simply planned on taking Sanderson to Domanigoni. MacGyver and Jonathan were leading the way as we made it to Acacia and Kirby and Digger took us to Cypress. I was more than happy to set in the middle of the group and try to steal some warmth to get my legs working. As we came out onto Johnston Minotaur pulled out front and then took us south to Stetson and past Wally world. Dragon Slayer moved up towards the front and by Mustang was one of the lead riders. We caught the light at Domenigoni and then made the turn east towards Searl and the Marina. I fell to the back to ride sweep and wait for my cold legs to realize we were on a bike ride today. Jonathan and Dragon Slayer turned onto Searl followed by Quicksilver, Minotaur and Siren. MacGyver and MacGyver teamed up next and I trailed with Digger till we got to the entrance to seven Dollar hill. I was still close to last through the gate but I did close on Dragon Slayer and Jonathan but I started to think about the next climb and geared down when we flattened out a bit. Shooter and MacGyver passed me at the last big left turn, right after finding Gambler coming down the hill, and five of them headed for the guard shack. I turned around at the crest and took the Bling team and Minotaur with me. We waited for the rest of the group at the bottom of the hill.

Once we were all back together we headed back out to Domenigoni and started the fun part of the ride. Just about everyone seemed eager to get to State Street and start up the road at Gibble. We were pretty much together till we got to the first rise were we started to spread out Dragon slayer pulled up next to siren and I fell back to ride with Quicksilver. Digger rode sweep. After the first rise we got a chance to pick up speed a bit before hitting the first climb of about 6 percent. Once over that the second and shortest climb is about 7 percent and finally the last climb has a maximum kick of between 8 and 10 percent. We all made it even if some looked worse for wear. We met Closer at his house at the top of Gibble before dropping back down to State to begin our ride north and east. Quicksilver, Digger and I got to the group last but continued on to State and headed for Thornton before being caught by Gambler and the rest of the group heading to Buena Vista and working our way back out onto Stetson and east. I had the group ride all the way on Stetson to Fairview before we headed north to Florida and west to Carl’s.

A good portion of the group today is made up of riders from CAS that we have been associated with for quite a few years. Some of the riders hold a dual citizenship with our group. Their club is a bit more racing oriented than we are but it is always good to have them with us to help lead our riders. We stopped for coffee to help warm us up and spent a few minutes having coffee and conversation and planning future rides together.

We moved back out into the cold and headed north on New Chicago and west on Lincoln. We dropped Gambler off at his street and watched Siren take off for Park with Minotaur not far behind.

Quicksilver and I were talking as we got to Park and got seperated from the group heading to Devonshire. We were slowly closing till we got to the light at San Jacinto and had to watch the rest of the group fade into the distance. We cruised along by ourselves till we got to State Street where the rain caught us and stayed with us till we got to Pep Boys and made our way back to the cars. I said some quick good byes and stopped by the bike shop to look at a new crankset before heading for home and lunch. Yes we got rained on but we lived and have a ride planned for tomorrow to get together again and ride to the beach for lunch.