Digger strikes again

By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It looked like another hot day as I looked outside for the another day of competition called the Hemet-Elsinore infamous out and back. I knew Digger was the favorite in after winning the Classic Monday but I also knew Quicksilver was gunning for him and we had some late starters that had a lot of time pride at stake. I dressed lightly and headed for the start finish line to get ready for the start. I was early and Digger was already there ready to defend his winner’s status. Dragon Slayer drove up followed by Minotaur, Gambler, Bulldozer and CJ. Quicksilver, Huntress and Anaconda, the Bling Team, arrived next. And finally we had Bloodhound ready for the ride to Domenigoni and west. We left as close to 8:30 am as we could and Digger made it look like he had every intention of defending his Yellow Jersey.

I will admit I was a bit nervous because so many good riders were with us today as we headed to Acacia and over to Kirby. I also knew the Bling team was a force to be reckoned with even if I were up to the task. Normally I have Dragon Slayer as my wing man on these rides and we work together. Today I thought he looked a bit too much like competition and thought he would be Joining the A group and forcing me to chase and burn all of my matches early. Dragon Slayer soothed my mind as we headed towards Cypress and headed west. Bulldozer closed down Bloodhound’s break and kept him from gapping the group by Johnston. There was only the Peloton at Sanderson and they were all together as we crossed Stetson and headed for Mustang.

As we neared Domenigoni Bloodhound took his traditional place at the front of the group and took us onto Domenigoni and headed west. I pulled onto his wheel and determined to hold on as long as I could. Bulldozer took over the lead for a while and the whole group came together at Warren and stayed that way over the dry wash as Bulldozer gave up the lead and Bloodhound took over again. As we dropped down off of the dry wash and got to the stretch before Winchester CJ flatted. The peloton followed the example of the Grand tours and waited till CJ could rejoin us. Digger however must have been a fan of Astana because he didn’t stop and kept going on to Winchester and beyond. Once CJ rejoined us the Peloton gave chase led by Bulldozer and sipped past Winchester where Bloodhound was given the lead and took us to the saddle. We didn’t see Digger but we all had to stop at Tech inspection on Menifee before heading west towards Murrieta.

There would be n stopping on this leg of the out and back and we were headed for the freeway and then Murrieta. Once over Murrieta it would be time to get our head around Railroad canyon and make a run to Elsinore. Somehow I was off the pace and pulling the Bling Team with CJ and Dragon Slayer between us and the rest of the group. We got separated by a light much like what happened at the Paris-Roubaix train crossing incident but that didn’t make is quit on the run up on Railroad Canyon. We caught Dragon Slayer and CJ shortly after Murrieta and I took the lead at Goetz and made a hard run at the rollers. CJ chased me over the first roller and most of the way to the Stater Brothers shopping center but I got through a yellow and got away from him. I attacked the canyon and ended up with a PR today for that run. I got to Mickey Ds just as Minotaur was parking his bike. As we talked with the race directors we discovered Digger was in first place again with a three minute lead on the rest of us and only the run back to Hemet to make up the time. This time however Digger got a head start with his three minutes and we had to give chase back through Railroad Canyon. I pulled us to the climb and Bloodhound took over. Gambler and Shooter got by me but I was still working on pulling the rest of the group over the hill past the Fire station. We did catch Digger and were on our way to the top when Quicksilver, Dragon Slayer and CJ attacked me. I dug down deep into the pain locker and pulled away and dropped down the hill towards the second roller. I made it up the roller and got stopped at the light only to let CJ and Dragon Slayer get away. I picked up Quicksilver and the rest of the Bling Team and headed east to try and close with the main group. Just as we got close to Murrieta Quicksilver had an equipment failure and we all stopped to see if we could get her back on the road. We were in luck and were right across from a natural repair site, Menifee Bike, and had the repairs done. Once again Digger pulled an Astana on us and headed for Sanderson while we waited for Quicksilver. Finally we were ready to give chase again.

By now it was getting hot and we were splitting up as a group. Shooter left us at Menifee and a gap developed between two of our groups. Gambler and Bulldozer took Bloodhound and Minotaur to make a hard run at chasing Digger. Dragon Slayer and I pulled Huntress, Quicksilver and Anaconda within sight of their fleeing group. Quicksilver started to fade a bit from the heat but we still did rather well heading for Sanderson. he lead chase team my a navigation error and rolled on to State Street giving Digger a chance to take the lead once more. I came around the corner with our group about a quarter of mile behind Digger.

I managed to pull up next to Digger at Johnston and was right with him all the way to Lowes where Dragon Slayer and I missed the driveway allowing Digger the inside track to the ride over to Acacia. The Bling Team followed after him while Dragon slayer and I were forced to ride to the race commission at the healthy Pub and take a smoothie test. Minotaur was already there and Huntress joined us after finishing the ride. Once again Digger finished both legs of the out and back first and now has another first place jersey. I have one more day of racing left on Friday and I will get revenge on Digger for sand bagging us for so may weeks.