By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Wednesday’s are mostly our distance or climbing days but I couldn’t get excited for a real long day and some of our riders aren’t back up to climbing after taking time off. The traditional Lake Perris ride came to mind and at least that comes out to about 50 miles. So that ride was posted and I was looking forward to the ride. I got dressed and had breakfast before mounting my new Garmin and heading for the parking lot. I tried to eat simply to avoid any acid buildup that might be causing me discomfort like last week. I got to Burger King to find Digger and Highlander already there. Tax man and Anaconda arrived next followed by Bloodhound, Gambler and Bulldozer. Minotaur joined us as well and that more or less gave us a quorum to start the ride. Bloodhound had to wait for his support team to bring his water bottle so I took the B group and headed for Acacia while the A group waited for the water bottle. As we got to Kirby and turned south I was very surprised to see Minotaur was riding with us. Normally he stays with the A group and hangs on for the chase but not today.

At this early stage I was feeling pretty good and rode with Anaconda over the railroad tracks and onto Cypress to head towards Johnston. Highlander and Tax Man were cruising in the back with Minotaur in the middle. We all may it to Johnston and over to the light on Sanderson. As the light changed Minotaur took us to Stetson and caught the light there. I got there just as light changed and ended up leading the group by Wally World and towards Mustang.

Once by Mustang Minotaur took the lead and pulled us to Domenigoni and started west. We followed him as a group to the top of the rise and then started to rotate through a pace line. I had a turn right after the dry wash and was coming up on my second turn when Bulldozer and Gambler caught us and pulled by. Minotaur and I closed on their wheel and the pace picked up with Anaconda joining us. I looked back as we closed on Winchester and noticed we had split the group. I was attempting to stay in zone three as much as possible to control my breathing trying to avoid another experience I had on the last hot day when it felt like I was inhaling hot salt so I fell back to collect the B group and Chase the fleeing As with Minotaur and Anaconda. Bloodhound caught us just before Leon and hit and rolled over the saddle just before we got there. I pulled Highlander over the saddle and to the gas station on Menifee for a regroup. After a short break I started the B group out onto Menifee and north. I thought the A group was with us but for some reason they didn’t follow us out of the gas station and we were two blocks away before I noticed.

I decided to keep to my zone three strategy and led the group north on Menifee and up the hill to Simpson before dropping down to McCall. Because we had already stopped on Menifee and Domenigoni there would be no stopping at the Am/Pm on Florida so we kept going expecting to see to A group any minute. Tax Man and Highlander too us to Mapes and I pulled us over the top of the rise and started us towards Central. We didn’t make the first stop sign before the As caught us minus Minotaur. The pulled away by Central and turned west on Nuevo. Highlander and Tax Man were going to leave us at Nuevo and head for home so they turned right where Bulldozer was waiting to head home as well. It looked like Bulldozer was waiting for Minotaur but we never saw him before Anaconda, digger and I headed west on Nuevo and headed for Dunlup and north to get back to Evans.

I pulled for a while on Evans before turning it over to Anaconda. It seems as if Gambler and Bloodhound had picked up MacGyver before they got to Lake Perris so the decided to go out the north side and head for Gilman while we were still workingour way to Ramona Expressway and into the park. The three of us worked our way up the climb into the park and stopped at the lake for our break and a cold drink. We should have filled the water Bottles but we thought we could make it to Lakeview and then the new store for a refill. So we headed back out of the park and turned east towards Rider and the rollers.

I made it over the rollers first and headed for the new market. When I got there Anaconda had joined me and we noticed it was closed. Not good for Anaconda who was low on water. I started a pull that took us east with the wind at our back at first. Digger was right with us till we rolled by Nutralife where he started to fall back. I let Anaconda pull till we got to Bridge before I took over and pulled her to Warren to wait for Digger. I gave her half of my water and we decided to turn on Warren and head to Seventh to cutback to a gas station. But Digger told us of this park on Cottonwood where we could stop for water. I pulled most of the way to Cottonwood and sure enough the park had a little office and small store with cold water and cold drinks. We filled up another bottle and header east towards Sanderson.

Once on Sanderson I started a pull into the wind and got us back to Esplanade pretty quickly. We already had 50 miles on the computer and I felt it was a good ride and everyone still looked pretty fresh. Digger left us at Menlo and I pulled Anaconda to Devonshire where she took over and got us to Kirby. The last pull was to Gilmore and then Burger King where we split for home. I will continue t take it easy till see my doctor but I am thinking my breathing problem may be allergies of a bit of bronchitis. Not much of a sign of it today.