By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) To tell the truth I was tired this morning. I wanted to ride but I also wanted to sleep in even though I had gone to bed early. Still I had a simple ride on Backwards Soboba mapped and I knew it would be a lightly attended day. So I had breakfast and got ready to head to the parking lot and see how the day would go. Digger was already there as usual and we visited for a while till Highlander and Bugler arrived. I already knew none of the Bling Team would be there so I was pretty sure that when Tax Man arrived we were as much of a group as we were ever going to be. We got ready and headed down Gilmore to Acacia.

I didn’t plan on doing much pulling today so I was a bit surprised that they let me lead to Acacia and head towards Kirby. I thought that at least in the early part of the ride Digger would pull maybe to Cypress and maybe to Johnston. He decided not to and it was Tax Man that took us to Johnston and to the light on Sanderson. When the light changed I was in front and took us to Stetson. As we went through the light I ended up starting one of my longest pulls of the day, first to Mustang and then to Domenigoni.

I did get us to Domenigoni and had to wait for the light. Digger got the jump and started us east but I caught him before Searl and took the lead all the way to State and then to McSweeney and the cruise through the housing tract. By the time we came back out onto State we were all back together and heading for Domonigoni again. As we crossed Domenigoni the group fell in on my wheel and followed me as I accelerated towards Chambers. Now I started to feel a bit tired but my legs were strong so I pulled us up the rise and to Chambers just shy of zone 4. We then made our way to Buena Vista and turned north.

Once again I set the pace and dropped things down a bit as we turned east on Stetson and headed for Fairview. It may be harder pulling than drafting but at least I could keep things down a bit and save as much energy as I could with a reasonable pace. With no A riders to chase I was cruising in zone 2 and breathing rather easy. I was still pulling at the High School and I was still pulling at the bump after the High School and even to Lake Street. Highlander pulled the rest of the group up to me at Lake and I pulled them to Fairview where we decided to ride to the Fire station before taking a break. After getting back on the road I took us once again west towards Ramona and then to Main and over the river bed. Highlander and Tax Man pulled us to the light and started us west on Soboba.

Tax Man took a long pull past the driving range before Bugler relieved him and pulled us all the way to the little kicker at the last roller. I jumped around on the little climb and led the group to State Street where we waited for Tax Man and Digger only to learn the Tax Man had flatted at the climb and Digger had stopped to assist him. Once the joined us we headed south on State and back to Ramona to get back to Carl’s for coffee and a snack. Tax Man got a big jump as we started and I had to work a bit to pull the rest of the group up to him before we got back to Main. For some reason as we rolled by Hemet Street I started to feel like it was getting harder and harder to keep a pace going. Buy the time I got us to New Chicago I was having a hard time holding 16 MPH and still I took us to Carl’s only to discover my back tire was down to about 50 pounds of pressure. It looked like I had a slow leak so I figured I would deal with it after our break. We came back out and I aired up the tire and figured I could make it back home without changing the tire. We rode back up to Lincoln and headed west to Park. We worked our way on Park to get to Devonshire.

Digger decided to stay with us as we headed to Santa Fe and this time Highlander did the leading and took us around the corner and down to Latham. He also pulled us west towards State Street and into a sprint to catch the light green so he wouldn’t have to stop at State. Digger left at Palm and the rest of us rode back to the Burger King before heading home. I go home in time for lunch, a showed and time to walk the dog. By the time I got back home and sat in my easy chair I simply fell asleep or as I like to say, checked for pin holes in my eye lids