By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It has been a long week it seems and I was glad to see Friday come at last. I knew it was going to be hot and muggy so I proposed an easy ride of about 38 miles with very little climbing. I was looking forward to finishing the week easy. I had breakfast, dressed and headed for the parking lot. Digger was waiting as was Highlander and Earth Dog as I rode up. Soon we had Bugler and Hacker drive up followed by Gambler and Ferret on their bikes. Just before we got ready to leave ME-109 and Barracuda arrived and joined us as we pulled out onto Latham and headed for Lyon. Once on Lyon we turned south and headed for Acacia.

I wasn’t planning on leading or pulling much today but as we headed south I knew I would deviate from the map when we got to Johnston. We would be heading east to Gilbert before returning south towards Thornton. Looking down the road from Stetson we could see a police road block. When we got to Thornton we were forced to turn east to State Street and head south towards Chambers.

Finally Digger and Earth Dog took over pulling duty and got us to Domenigoni where we were stopped by a red light. I was feeling pretty good but my legs were tight as I fell into the draft after we crossed Domenigoni. Ferret pulled around and picked things up a bit as we rolled by McSweeney and then Newport. As we crossed Newport I could see we were stretching the group a bit so I fell back and told Gambler that he should take the A group up to Sage and Climb Saint John’s grade while I took the B group up Sage to Mento Way for a regroup and a turn round. As we got to the little hill on the corner of State and Cactus Valley Highlander and digger fell back while I drafted Barracuda over the rise and towards the Golf Course. I dropped off of Barracuda’s wheel and fell back to pull Highlander. He was quickly running out of matches so he decided not to make the turn on Sage. I then had to try and catch the fleeing B group and was able to catch up to Earth Dog just before we got to Mento but Bugler had crested already and we headed for the beginning of Saint John’s while I was pulling away from the rest of my group. I stopped and Called Bugler to turn him back as we got ready to head back north. We picked up Hacker on the way to Cactus Valley and then rode together back to State Street to get to Dominigoni.

Once we were back on Domenigoni and headed west we settled into a pace line with Hacker starting us off. By the time I had rotated trough we had reached Sanderson. Each rider taking a turn at the front seemed to be working harder than we normally do but I think it was because we could almost feel the A group rushing towards us. Once we left Sanderson Bugler took the lead and pulled us at about 22 or 23 all the way to Warren for another red light. He left the light at Warren a little hot and we ended up dropping Digger. As we crested the dry wash I took over bit Bugler fell off and we worked our way towards Winchester. Hacker and I soft pedaled till Bugler caught up. After resting a bit Bugler was sticking to Hacker’s wheel pretty well before I gave up the pull just before Leon. Hacker pulled for a while before it was Bugler’s turn again. Bugler took us to the saddle with me in the second slot and Hacker on my wheel. I got out of the saddle and managed to keep Hacker from running over me on the Saddle sprint. We paused at the top of the saddle and then dropped down the back side still feeling the tingle on the back of our neck knowing the A group was on a mission to cut us down before we could get back to Winchester.

We were making our way east on Simpson when we got to Leon and decided to cut over to ninth street. Hacker, Earth Dog and I pushed it a pit as we got to the D V V flag sprint and headed to Winchester and Stowe for a break and regroup. We found Highlander waiting for us. We only had a minute to wait till Earth Dog and Digger joined us and maybe another minute before Barracuda arrived followed by Ferret and ME-109. It seems as if Gambler had returned home with a bee sting to the face so we were all of the two groups that were left. Highlander left first and was soon followed by Earth dog before the rest of us pulled out onto Stowe and headed for California.

I stayed with the B group as first Ferret took off finally followed by ME-109 and Hacker. Digger, Bugler and I stayed together till we got to California and turned east on Stetson to head home. We made it to Cawston and worked through Industrial to get back to Sanderson and ride back to Acacia. I did lead us to acacia and Kirby and then onto Gilmore before stopping at Burger King to watch everyone load up their car. I got home for a well deserved shower and lunch before taking my wife shopping. It was a good Friday for those of us that didn’t get stung by a bee.