By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It looked like the perfect Wednesday for a ride at least weather wise. I knew my doctor had a test scheduled for me Thursday and I wouldn’t be riding Friday so I thought we needed a good route. Double Dutch came it and I posted it so that was where we were going. I got to Burger King just after Digger and we had coffee while waiting for ME-109, Minotaur, Brian, Highlander, and Bugler so we could take off on Gilmore and ride down to Acacia. I did lead to Kirby but we caught the light and Digger took over with Minotaur to get us to Cypress and west towards Johnston. We caught the light at Sanderson and waited till we could ride to Industrial and head towards Cawston.

Brain and Minotaur led us out onto Stetson and headed us west towards Warren. The whole group stayed together pretty well till we crossed Warren and headed for California. Minotaur led us as we rounded the corner onto California and pointed us towards Stowe. Normally Stowe turns into a sprint but Minotaur kept us in line and we made our way to Winchester and the parking lot on the corner. We took a short break before ME-109 was ready to lead us out onto Winchester.

As soon as we could we started south with ME-109 leading and I was slotted in behind cruising in the draft and enjoying the day. Cruising has become relative because now 21 to 22 mph is cruising. ME-109 was taking it easy on me and the rest of us because he is one of our A riders and maybe to only one with us today. He got us to Grand and made the turn west when we noticed ME-109 had a skipping cassette and so Minotaur took over the pull and headed for the Wild West arena. Bugler took over as we past the Arena and headed us towards the slight rise. Brian rode by and we made our way to Leon and south.

Once again we followed Minotaur to Simpson and started west. Once again were took turns with Bugler and Brian assisting in moving the group towards Briggs and heading towards Lindenburger. We decided to reroute and bit and turn on Lindenburger and head for Heritage to cut back on at least one little climb. With ME-109s defective cassette he didn’t object all that much. We rode north on Heritage and headed for McCall and the turn towards the back side of hospital hill. Minotaur was looking forward to attacking on his new back and I was concerned about being dropped if I couldn’t keep up and keep my heart rate down to make my doctor happy. Bugler attacked the hill first but Minotaur closed and passed him. I held onto Minotaur’s wheel but in a lower gear and higher rpm. Once Minotaur closed on Bugler and got by he powered down just a bit giving me a chance to roll by and head for the top just as I was nearing zone 4. I got to just before the top before I hit zone 4 but the beta blockers shut me down. Not enough to get caught by Minotaur but I was caught by Brian and at the very top by Bugler. We dropped of of the hill and made our way to the gas station on Bradley for a regroup before heading to the end of McCall and down to Honey run and finally to LaLadera.

As we got past the park Minotaur took us onto Normandy and over to Goetz. We then turned south and headed for Newport and the first of two climbs on Railroad Canyon. Minotaur left us and I noticed ME-109 was gone as well. Once again Bugler hit the first hill first but this time I ran him down all by myself and held off a counter attack by Bugler and Bryan. And this time zone 4 came right after I crested. I made it to the Stater Brother’s mall and turned south east to wait for another regroup. By the time Digger got to us he and Highlander took off while Bugler, Brian and I got stuck at a light. The three of us chased them almost all the way to the middle school before heading down the rollers towards Murrieta. I got there first and took us left back to Holland and right towards Haun. We regrouped once more before making it to Haun and heading north towards Newport.

Highlander took us to Newport and east to Jack in the Box on antelope where we stopped for coffee and a break. Digger was dragging a bit and was the last to pull into jack in the Box but we went inside and spent some time telling storied before packing up and heading back out onto Newport and heading east. I pulled to Menifee and there Bugler started to think about the next two segments on the saddle and all the way to Winchester. He hit the saddle hard but once on top realized the wind had turned into our face so he thought better of attacking the next segment. We had to wait for digger at Leon because he flatted. He joined us but his flats experiences were not over.

We pulled him most of the way to the dry wash where first Brian pulled away and then Bugler left us. Digger dropped back while Highlander and I chased Bugler all the way to Sanderson. Highlander and I chased Bugler all the way to Stetson before we caught him and then we rode together to Acacia and back to Gilmore. Digger flatted again at Gilmore and walked his bike to the bike shop to see what the problem was. We left for home from the parking lot and I enjoyed lunch and a hot shower. I will be looking forward to getting a clean bill of health from my doctor after this Thursday but till I do my riding may suffer.