By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Sometimes Mondays are just hard to get started. Today was one of those Mondays. It was supposed to be hot and so we had a short flat ride planned. I rolled out of bed, had breakfast, got dressed and headed over to the parking lot to get the day started. Digger was there and Earth Dog wasn’t far behind. Bugler arrived followed by Highlander and finally Tax Man. It was a small group but we were eager to get started and back before the weather got too hot. Right at 8am we headed out onto Latham and rode over to Lyon to head north with me pulling.

We kept the pace easy and even made the light on esplanade green for a change. I stayed in front and pulled us past Seventh and then Cottomwood. Our next move was to turn on Ramona Boulevard and head west. I ended up pulling all the way to Sanderson and then to the light on the Expressway. I wasn’t looking to pull west towards Warren so I was relieved when Earth Dog and Digger took that position. By the time we had reached Warren Bugler had moved to the front with Earth Dog and Digger was sitting in third. We had just passed the first driveway when Highlander flatted. Tax Man and I watched him change the tire and started to move up to where Earth Dog, Bugler and Digger were waiting. They started to roll as we got close but Highlander flatted again and by the time he fixed it again I had to pull us to Bridge where we joined Digger and Bugler. Earth Dog was long gone by the time we got there so we let Bugler and Digger pull us most of the way to Hansen where we finally found Earth Dog waiting. We took a minute to collect ourselves before getting ready to head over to Lakeview. They may have fixed up the building on the corner on Hansen but it has been closed the last two times we have stopped there. We headed over to Lakeview and I pulled us towards Nuevo.

Earth Dog took over as we made it to Nuevo and pulled us the Central and west to Menifee. I decided to chase Earth Dog to Menifee and we made the turn south together. I decided to push it a bit and pulled away from the group with a 75 yards lead to the stop sign and pulled away to the rise at the Nursery thinking it would be a slight drop all the way to Florida. It turned out to be bad thinking because as soon as I crested the rise the wind hit me right in the face. It got even worse by the time I got by Mapes and I could see the group was working hard to close on me. I managed to get to the AM/PM first and we all took another break while Highlander fixed his third flat. Once we left the AM/PM Bugler and I got stuck in the driveway by a string of cars and had to chase the group all the way to the Railroad tracks. At McCall Digger took Highlander and Tax Man over to Heritage while I took Bugler and Earth Dog straight up to Simpson on Menifee. We got to Lindenburger first and crossed the light so that the Highlander Digger group had to catch us as we got back to Briggs. We dropped Digger somewhere about Leon and we headed through the next stand of trees and headed for Winchester.

Bugler pulled us through the trees and onto the flat heading for the second set of trees till I came back to the front to pull to Winchester. Highlander made a last chance dash towards the light but we caught it red and everyone regrouped except Digger. As we headed north Earth Dog took an early lead and Highlander was left to chase him down. We caught him by the dump road and followed on his wheel app the way to Winchester Farms for water and a bathroom break. Digger was about a minute behind. After a cold drink we were ushered back on the road by Highlander and Earth Dog. We headed east on Stowe and I ended up chasing Highlander and Earth Dog all the way to California. I made a hard run north on California and got to Stetson about 100 yards in front of the group. They caught me shortly after I turned east again and we headed towards Warren.

I fell back at Warren and had to chase Bugler, Highlander, Tax Man and Earth Dog to Cawston. I missed the light but managed to catch them before they turned onto Sanderson. I made a fast north on Sanderson and beat the following group by heading straight to Acacia as they went around the building. I made it onto Gilmore first and Tax Man and I turned onto Florida and into the parking lot next to Red Robin to get to the cars first. Once everyone was accounted for we headed for home where I had lunch and a shower s I could take the rest of the day relaxing.