By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Another Wednesday and another chance to play with cycling friends. It was still going to hot and the group was going to be small but I thought it was a good day to do the Goets road training climb. My friend Dragon slayer had call off and Quicksilver was going to cut the ride short but I was ready to ride anyway. I got to the parking lot to find Digger and Bloodhound waiting. We talked for a while before Hacker and Gambler showed up followed by Anaconda, Quicksilver and Joshua. Well as they say eight riders beats a sharp stick in the eye so we headed out onto Gilmore and down to Acacia.

As we got to Kirby we could see MacGyver waiting for us. After the light turned green we followed MacGyver towards the Railroad Tracks and Cypress. As we got to the corner MacGyver and Bloodhound were waiting for us and they fell in with us as we headed for Johnston. I kept looking back to see how Joshua was doing because this was his first ride with us and I didn’t have a clue how well he was going to do in a pace line. I shouldn’t have worried because he seemed to be doing fine and was with the group as we headed past Stetson and started towards Mustang. Bloodhound took off on us and Hacker decided to chase him. The rest of us missed a light and they got away before we ever got to Mustang.

We held together till we got Domenigoni and headed west. I started the pull but may have led out a bit too fast as we got to the rise about a quarter of a mile after the turn. I pulled up and let Gambler and MacGyver take the lead in a double pace line heading to Warren. They pulled us all the way to the dry wash and over towards Winchester. We noticed a rider on the side of the road fixing a flat and Digger lost the draft slowing because he thought the rider was one of ours. We then made the light at Winchester and stayed on Gambler and MacGyver’s wheel to the bottom of the saddle and a slight break out crossing over the top. We dropped down the back side of the saddle and rolled by Lindenburger to make our way to Menifee and a regroup at the AM/PM. Quicksilver left us at Menifee and headed back on Domenigoni as we got ready to head for the Freeway. Bloodhound took off on us again but this time Hacker opted to stay with us and save himself for the climb on Goetz.

We started to separate at Murrieta and Hacker went with Gambler and MacGyver as they started to chase down Bloodhound. Anaconda and Joshua had never been on this ride so I stayed with them to give them as much information as I could before turning on Goetz ourselves. As we passed Normandy I pushed the pedals around and picked up the pace to see if I had recovered from Bautista on Monday. It seemed as if I was feeling better even if it wasn’t my best climb. What was even more impressive was that Joshua was right on my wheel as we started the climb. He stayed on my wheel at least a third of the way up the hill and only faded a bit as we go to t Elks lodge where I crested first and hammered it to the next climb and the top of Goetz. I dropped down off of Goetz and headed for Ethernic and waited for the rest of my group to come off of the hill. First Joshua and then Anaconda pulled up and joined me as we waited for Digger. Both Anaconda and Joshua said they loved the climb and the downhill to the Stop light. I took as back to Murrieta and then south to Rouse to get back to McCall.

I was feeling even better as we took Bradley to McCall and headed east. I had no trouble with Hospital hill and once the rest joined me we headed to Heritage and finally to Simpson. I pulled all the way to Winchester and then to Winchester farms for a water break and the last stretch home.

We decided to use the ride east on Stowe as a cool down and more or less cruised it all the way to California and Stetson before heading east towards Warren. Digger started to warm up as we got by Warren and ended up pulling us to Cawston and then Industrial. I got us back onto Sanderson and then up to Lowes.

In fact I pulled us to Kirby and then back to Gilmore before Digger headed for the Barn only to get the light at Florida red. He did pull us to the parking lot where we split up and headed for home, lunch and a hot shower.