By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It was good to look forward to three rides in one week and all of them in the 40 mile range. There are some drawbacks to recovery for me, like leg fatigue and endurance but so far the joy of riding is still with me. So I decided to set up an easy Friday ride and do everything in my power to make it and enjoyable one. I have lost most of my fitness and spin so now I will have to slowly start over and try to get back to where I was last year. I have learned I will have to measure my efforts based on my improvements however slowly they may come. I got to Burger King to meet with Earth Dog, Dragon Slayer, Bugler, ME-109, Highlander and Minotaur. By 9am we were ready to head out onto Gilmore and head to Acacia.

It felt reasonably good to pull us to Acacia and turning west to Kirby. It was also a beautiful morning with little or no wind and reasonably warm. I took us south on Kirby and made it to Cypress before turning over the lead to Dragon Slayer and Minotaur. We made the turn onto Sanderson and ME-109 took the lead and ran up to Mustang ahead of us with Dragon Slayer not far behind. We then made the turn onto Domenigoni and reformed as a group before heading west towards Warren. I even managed to take a turn at the front as we moved at a constant 22 or 23 over the dry wash and towards Winchester only to notice Earth Dog falling off and ME-109 falling back to pick him up. The rest of us continued on till we got to Leon with Minotaur pulling for the Saddle. I tried to stay with them without spinning out and noticed we had outpaced Highlander so I went back to get him as we rode together over the Saddle and down to the Gas station on Menifee for a quick break.

We waited for quite a while till Earth dog and ME-109 arrived. It seems as if Earth Dog had a flat and it took time to fix it. Once they had recovered from chasing us we headed south on Menifee. The pace was a bit quicker than I like but we were soon past the park and headed to Holland and the climb up Revive. Bugler had decided to make a run at Revive and he tagged up on ME-109 at the bottom of Revive. I stayed back with Highlander and Earth dog while Dragon Slayer and Minotaur worked their way up Revive and waited for us at the turn out for a regroup.

We headed out again and moved towards Scott to make the turn east towards Leon. We made the turn and got maybe a mile before Earth dog flatted again. That repair took ME-109 out of the game because he was running out of time so he turned for home on Briggs and the rest of us made our way to Leon and had Minotaur pull us most of the way to Max Gillis. We turned east again and made our way to Winchester and then over the road and through the housing tract to Pouroy. We turned south and made our way to Benton before heading west again and making our way to the gas station on Winchester and another quick break. Once we were ready to head back towards home we got out onto Winchester and soon split into two groups. Minotaur, Dragon slayer and Bugler decided to make a run at the segments on Winchester while Highlander, Earth Dog and I set a more sedate pace north. We almost lost sight of or the first three as we got back to Scott Road but we expected to see them again at Winchester Farms. By the time we rolled by Holland they were already crossing Domenigoni and they decided to head to Chili’s for lunch. Highlander, Earth Dog and I stopped for a break at Winchester Farms and then headed back to Burger King and home to finish off a nice little Friday ride. I ended up walking the lactic acid out of my legs right after lunch and almost got a nice little nap in before running errands for my wife.

By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) The ride Monday encouraged me because I was able to draft Earth Dog all the way home on Ramona and hold a cadence of about 100 rpm from Lakeview to Warren. But my legs were pretty tired so I wanted something flatter for Wednesday. I tossed out a 38 mile west to east ride and started looking forward to an easier day. I got up and headed for the parking lot on a much nicer day than we had had in weeks. I got to Burger King to find Dragon Slayer and Minotaur already there. They were followed by ME-109 and Earth Dog. Highlander drove up and to my surprise so did Huntress. The last to arrive was Bugler and we were ready to go.

The ride out onto Gilmore was uneventful and my legs seemed to have recovered from Monday quite well. We all made the turn west on Acacia together and stopped at the light on Kirby. Once the light changed we turned south and headed to Cypress to continue our movement west. We were still in a talkative mood as we made our way to Johnston. Highlander led us over Sanderson and through the industrial center to Cawston. Dragon Slayer, Highlander and Earth Dog led us towards Warren until ME-109 rolled by us and started to fade into the distance. Dragon slayer got in front and started to pull us to California and an ever increasing pace that much to my surprise I felt comfortable with. I lost a place as we turned south on California and fell into forth as we made another turn onto Stowe and the run west towards Winchester. We were rolling along about 23 or 24 mph as we past the last house on the left and I was surprised my Garmin hadn’t warned me that I was getting close to zone 5. I reached up only to discover I had forgotten my chest strap so the heart rate wasn’t ever going to register one 5 today. I fell out of line and drafted Earth Dog to the parking lot at Winchester farms.

As we pulled back on Winchester Highlander started our pull till Minotaur took over and set the pace to the Dump road. We rolled by Chris’s and then Simpson and finally got caught at the light on Domenigoni. Once we got turned east ME-109 once again took off and Dragon Slayer once again took over and got us rolling after him. I fell back and for a while Huntress rode with me before she pulled up to the lead group leaving me with Earth Dog. We had to stop again when Minotaur flatted and I rested while the tire was changed. Once the tire was fixed but before he remounted it on his bike Huntress and I left for Warren and managed to get there before we were caught by the rest of the group. With the exception of a long gone ME-109 we all made the turn on State Street together and headed for Chambers. Bugler took us onto Chambers and over to Buena Vista before we turned on Thornton and took a snack break at the golf course. After downing an energy bar we were off again and headed for Santa Fe. I managed to get us headed east on Stetson and Dragon Slayer took over for me after the first block. I hooked onto his back wheel and stayed there till Highlander decided to leave us at Columbia due to time restraints. Once he left we strung out a bit and made our way past the High School and onto Fairview before heading north towards Florida. I took advantage of a long draft to launch a small sprint at the bridge only to be caught by Dragon Slayer. I was feeling better but not ready for a full on sprint to Florida. I ended up being one of the last ones to get to Cranston where we regrouped before heading back west towards Fairview. Minotaur was pulling as we got into the trees and I was tagged on behind Earth Dog and Bugler till I noticed Dragon Slayer and Huntress were late leaving Cranston so I soft peddled till the joined me and we started to give chase to the fleeing Minotaur group. We were closing till we got to the gas station where we pushed just a little too hard and broke our small group. Once we were reorganized we made our way to Fairview and got stopped by the light. Huntress pulled us to Carl’s where we took a very short break before heading back to Burger King and home. I got back with a much better average speed than I have been making for the last few weeks and my legs still felt better than they did last week on much shorter rides.

By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) To say the least I was disappointed when I couldn’t make the Palm Springs Century this year. The longest ride I had done since being in the Hospital back in October was 41 miles and to be honest that pretty much ran me dry. I had tried a short little ride where I could push a little in Cactus Valley on the 20th but that didn’t encourage me much even if Highlander and Anaconda stayed with me and paced me to Cactus Valley and back home.

So today I decided I needed to add some distance and some little climbing in a hope that I can work my way back to cycling health in time for the Ruff Ride in Redlands next may. I posted a short Lake Perris ride and headed for Burger King to see who would be joining me. I was surprised to see Centaur waiting for me when I got to the parking lot. We were talking with Digger who had driven over to visit with us while we waited for Highlander to arrive. Digger will be off of the bike for at least 6 weeks maybe more so he will be missed. Earth Dog and Highlander arrived almost together and digger left us just about 9am as we pulled out onto Latham and headed for Lyon to start the run north. Highlander did a lot of the pulling as we headed for Esplanade and then Ramona Boulevard and headed west towards Sanderson. Centaur took over the pull and got us to Sanderson and up to the light on the Expressway. Somehow Centaur got stuck at the light and we didn’t notice till we were almost to Warren. I might have noticed sooner but Earth Dog was pulling and I thought Centaur was in front of him. We pulled over and waited for Centaur and then headed past Bridge towards Nuevo and the rollers by Lake Perris. I didn’t realize Highlander and Centaur would be turning back at Lakeview but it didn’t matter because Earth Dog was ready to ride to Lake Perris with me.

We said our good byes as Earth Dog and I headed west and Highlander and Centaur headed east. I decided to draft Earth Dog to the first roller and try to keep my spin steady and follow him over the hill with a nice easy spin. I was right on his back wheel as we rolled by Bernasconi and headed for the second roller. I had a constant 90 rpm going as we started up the second roller and slipped past Earth Dog when he slowed slightly. He stood and came back around me but lost ground again when he sat down so I came back by and pulled him over the hill and down the back side towards Rider and the front entrance to Lake Perris. I knew the climb to the dam was coming up and I explained to Earth Dog that my plan was to simply gear us to hill and head for the Marina. This was his first trip to Lake Perris so he waited for me at the first gate and we rode to the Marina together. We took a short break before heading back out of the front entrance to the park and headed east towards Rider once again. Once we got over the hill and back to Lakeview we decided to set a steady pace all the way back to Warren before turning for Cottonwood. Earth Dog set the perfect pace for a 52x16 gear and a 100 RPM spin. I was able to stay on his wheel all the way back to Warren where we backed it down a bit before turning onto Cottonwood and stopping to get the blood flowing back to my hands. Long finger gloves often seem to cause my hands to go numb when I am on the hoods for 10 miles at a time. We got back to Sanderson and headed south and we took turns pulling back to Devonshire before heading back to the parking lot to finish the day. I got home a few minutes later with my longest ride since October in the bag and the most climbing since then as well.

By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Well the weather wizards predicted that today would be warmer than Wednesday and I was looking forwards to it. I put together a new shorter ride so that people that wanted to could get home and stop by Quicksilver’s house before she moved up to Redding Saturday. Still when I got up it didn’t feel warmer so I dressed in layers and headed for the parking lot to get ready for the ride. Digger was there when I pulled up and he looked ready for a cold ride. He was talking to Centaur who we haven’t seen for months. Highlander drove up and he was dressed for the cold. Metric Man joined us not quite as ready for the cold as we were but warmer than he normally dressed. Earth Dog was dressed for the cold as was ME-109 and to a degree Ferret. About 9am we all headed south towards Acacia to get the show on the road. It didn’t feel one bit warmer than Wednesday. We made the turn on Acacia and then stopped at Kirby to wait for the light. As we turned south I took advantage of one of the few times I could get in front to get a picture. It seemed like we were either very cold are heading to rob a bank with our masks on.

We made our way to Cypress and headed towards Johnston and Sanderson. Once we were pointed towards Domenigoni Digger took the lead and started a very long pull. That pull turned into a big mistake on his part because he pulled us all the way to Domenigoni and then west till we crested the rise heading to Warren. Once he fell off of the lead it was clear he had pulled too long and he quickly fell off of the pace. Soon Ferret and ME-109 took off for the front and quickly left us. Highlander took us up and over the dry wash before Metric Man took us all the rest of the way to Warren. Centaur and Highlander took turns when Metric Man pulled away after Winchester. He slowed for us but left us again at Leon and he stopped to wait for us at the top of the Saddle. We rolled by him and shouted that we regroup at the gas station on Menifee and that is where we found ME-109 and Ferret. We took a snack break at the gas ststion before heading back out to Menifee.

We didn’t get far because the light turned red on Domenigoni and Highlander was the only one to make it through. It took a long light before we were able to give chase to the quickly fading Highlander and we fell into a loose pace line as we headed for the stop sign at the park where Ferret and ME-109 caught sight of Highlander and gave chase like hounds to a rabbit.

Highlander was halfway up revive when ME-109 and Ferret crossed Holland and pulled quickly away from the rest of us. Ferret seems to have caught Highlander before the stop sign but ME-109 flatted and we had to wait for him at the wide spot after the stop sign. Once we were all back together we headed for Scott and got in the left turn lane. We say Barracuda and Papillion as we waited at the light but the were heading for Starbucks and didn’t join us. We made the turn east on Scott and formed a slow pace line heading towards Leon. Ferret and ME-109 left us once again but Metric Man took over pulling duty until just after Leon where Highlander took a turn. As we headed for the grade leading to Winchester I noticed Digger was slowing again so I decided to back off myself rather than chance of wearing myself out because of the cold that the weather wizards had assured me would be gone by now. We ended up stopping and regrouping at Winchester where ME-109 discovered a damaged chain and called for a ride. The rest of us headed for Holland and points north.

We were pretty much in cruise mode as we got back to Domenigoni and broke into two groups heading for Winchester farms. Metric Man had to wait for us as we crossed Domenigoni and we were separated by a light all the way past Simpson and headed for the dump road. Metric Man pulled us to Winchester Farms where we took a break and talked for a few minutes. Some of our group got cold and started for home and we more or less split into two group as we headed east on Stowe to California. I had recovered well enough to ride with Highlander and Centaur back to Sanderson where we parted ways and I headed for home and a hot shower.

By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Today I was planning on trying the longest ride I have taken since last October before I had my bypass surgery. So far 35 miles has been my limit before I ran out of energy and I was afraid I wouldn’t be ready for a 50 mile effort at the TDPS. So I was eager but also nervous about today’s ride. I got to Burger King in time to see Digger and Dragon Slayer and then talked till Highlander and Minotaur arrived. Just before 9am Huntress arrived and we were ready to head out to Latham and head north on Lyon. My plan was to stay in cruise mode and save as much energy as I could to make sure I could finish 40 plus miles. I might try to push a little but nothing to run my energy dry. Pacing myself is exactly what I did as we followed Digger down to Esplanade and caught the light red. I didn’t even try to get in front for a picture till after we past 7th street and hit a bit of a downhill so I could build up some speed.

It was a lot colder than it had been on Monday and I didn’t know at the time that Huntress was struggling with the cold. I thought she was dressed as warm as the rest of us but later I learned that wasn’t the case. Highlander and Dragon Slayer took us to Ramona Boulevard and headed us west towards Sanderson. We made our way to the Expressway and waited for the light to change before heading west again towards Warren. Dragon Slayer finally took the lead and set us on a simple cruise of about 18 mph and got us past Bridge and a bit farther along before Highlander took over. The group got to Hansen and stopped at the little store to take a break.

It was here we learned that Huntress was freezing and was going to break off and head for home. She had to go into the store to warm up and insisted that we go on while she headed for home. Dragon Slayer offered to stop by his house to get some warmer base layers but the damage was done and she decided to leave us. As soon as we were sure she was warming up and her bike was inside of the store we headed for the rollers with Minotaur and Dragon Slayer took the lead. As we hit the roller I did a reasonable job of spinning up the first one and took my time setting myself up for the second one. It felt pretty good even if I knew it wasn’t even close to how I took those rollers last year. Still I crested the last roller with Highlander and headed for Rider and the turn towards Evans. We then moved down Evans and headed for Orange before cutting over to Nuevo and making our way to Menifee for the next run south.

I was starting to tire a bit or the beta blockers were kicking in so I decided to back it off a bit and rode with Digger as the other three pulled away from us as we headed towards the nursery and down to Mapes so we could cut back over to Briggs and avoid some of the traffic on Menifee. One thing that was easy to notice was that Mapes is one of the more dog populated streets we ride on. It seemed like even house had a pack of four or five dogs barking at us as we rode by. Finally we made it to Briggs and headed south towards Florida.

I like the long downhill off of Mapes on Briggs and it gave my legs a chance to rest as we made our way to the elementary school. Minotaur was well out in front of us and in fact had crossed at the light well before we got there. We made it to the light and regrouped on the other side before heading south once more to get to the Dump road and head east.

Once again Minotaur pulled us towards the dump road and once there got us started towards Leon. I had to hang on as we rolled up on the rise before the D V V flag sprint and I knew I was toast if a sprint started. Sure enough Minotaur took off and Dragon Slayer took off as well. There was no chance that I was going to catch them but at least I was able to get up and gave chase. After the flag I backed off and Highlander hooked up on their wheel as they headed for Winchester. Dragon Slayer came back to get me and pulled me to Winchester and then north to Winchester Farms for coffee. After coffee we headed east on Stowe and I rode with Digger as the other three pulled away and we didn’t catch them till we found them waiting for us at Warren. We then worked our way through the Industrial tract and back to Sanderson. I decided to head for home and Digger rode with me as we moved east on Johnston and north on Palm. Digger left me at my street and I got home with just short of 42 miles on the Garmin. My longest ride to date this year.

By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It was still cold but I was looking forward to today’s ride, at least from a physical point of view. My legs felt good and my energy level seemed to be up so I got up a bit early and had a good breakfast before heading to Burger king to meet the crew that would be riding with me. Digger and Dragon Slayer were already there and Highlander had just arrived. It took a few minutes before Earth Dog arrived but once he did we were ready to head out onto Latham and work our way to Lyon to get this ride on the way, As we headed north I looked back and thought that we looked for all of the world like a band of bank robbers riding into or out of town.

Cold or not I was feeling pretty good about the course today and fell in towards the back of the group as we moved towards Esplanade with Highlander in the lead. One of the benefits of being the rider than is still recovering from surgery is I am not expected to do much of the work in the group. So for a while at least there are very few long pulls in a pace line where you will see me in the front. Today was no different as I never moved up to the front even after we left esplanade and headed for Ramona Boulevard and west towards Sanderson.

Once again Highlander did a lot of the work getting us to Sanderson and the Expressway. We caught the red light but we didn’t have long to wait till we were headed west towards Warren. This time Dragon Slayer took over the lead and promised to hold things down to just under 20 mph so I could be sure to have the energy to finish the ride. Sure enough we were cruising along just about 19 mph as we crossed Warren and came to the first driveway and dairy farm. It was the perfect speed for me to hold a 90 rpm spin and not push too big of a gear. It was also a pace that seemed to work for the rest of the group as we passed the second dairy and made our way to Bridge and a turn to the north east.

We worked our way to the dip on Bridge just before we veered to the north east and pointed our bikes at Gilman. The road was a bit wetter than we liked but by going slow we avoided getting soaked or sprayed by the bike in front of us. Highlander, Earth Dog and Dragon Slayer took turns pulling and we made it to Gilman and stopped to refuel, at least I did before heading east on Gilman. Earth Dog got us started and slowly got us up to speed on the long slope the climber at about 2 percent before the decent to the last dairy before the downhill leading back to Sanderson. We had decided to stay on Gilman all the way to Soboba so we rode under Sanderson and Dragon Slayer pulled us to the little hill in front of Golden Productions. I felt comfortable enough to stand up and push the hill and Dragon Slayer was good enough to pull by me and pull when it didn’t look like I had the energy to finish the climb off. I stayed with him and held his wheel all the way to State and Soboba where we turned and regrouped before continuing east towards the golf course. Once we were headed over the rollers I still held Dragon Slayer’s wheel till we got to the rise before the driving range. I knew it was time to start conserving my energy if I wanted to make all of the ride and get home without having sore legs so I backed off a bit and ended up following the group to the light at Ramona and headed east towards Hemet Street and Carl’s for coffee.

Dragon Slayer pulled in front of me and we worked together to maintain a good pace that would allow me to train and not tire to much as I work towards getting to 50 mile rides before the TDPS ride on the 23rd. We decided to bypass Cedar and head straight to Carl’s and get out of the cold for some coffee before heading for home. Earth Dog took us to Lincoln and New Chicago and then south to Carl’s. We took about a 20 minute break before heading back to Lincoln and west towards Park t get home.

Once again it seemed as if Earth Dog and Highlander were getting more energy the closer we got back to Burger King. By the time we turned onto Devonshire and lost Digger we were getting back to 20 mph like we did on the Expressway. I joked with Dragon Slayer and said I had to head for home by the time we got to Palm and could only hope he had the energy to stay with the two as they headed for the barn. He assured me he had a plan and I left them as we crossed Palm and I headed for home. I did get home in time for lunch and a hot shower and fortunately my legs felt fine.

By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) After the beginning of the week I wondered if I should have started building an Ark rather than a bike. But by Thursday the sky started to clear and it looked good for a ride for Friday. I needed some saddle time to try and get ready for TDPS so I put together a easy but longer ride than I had been able to do to date and headed for Burger King to see if anyone else was up for a ride. I ended up with Digger and Earth Dog by 9am so we hit the road heading south towards Acacia and turned towards Kirby. I figured I could take it a little easier with Digger and Earth Dog and as we moved south on Kirby to Cypress I was conserving my energy to make the whole ride. We made our way to Johnston and crossed the light at Sanderson to work our way over to Cawston and then headed West on Stetson.

As we crossed Warren we noticed Ferret had joined us and we talked as we cruised to California. Ferret was the strongest of the group so he took us to Stowe. He was still leading as he took us all the way to Winchester and a short stop at the Winchester Farms parking lot.

I don’t seem to do real well in the cold and it was cold this morning. I had to take on fuel this morning because I was burning energy at a pretty good rate. Digger was getting cold so he took off south on Winchester and we had to chase his all the way down to the dump road. I was hanging on pretty well as we got to the Wild West Arena, after navigating some mud and water, and headed for Leon. I stayed with the group up the rise but decided I was burning energy far too quickly so I fell back and digger stayed with me. We followed Ferret and Earth Dog all the way to Briggs rather than turn on Leon because Earth Dog had warned us that Menifee was flooded or covered with mud from Florida all the way to Mapes. We didn’t get back together as a group till we got to the High School and crossed Florida. I tried to stay close to Ferret as I could and we got to Mapes fairly quickly where I stopped to remove my jacket. Earth Dog took off on us and Ferret joked about giving him a head start so we could chase him down. I simply don’t seem to have the stamina yet to mount much of a chase so I just smiled as we headed for Menifee. Ferret, Digger and I turned onto Mapes together and Digger led us to the top of the grade where Ferret started to ramp it up as if he indeed wanted to chase down Earth Dog. It was here I made a rather foolish move and attempted to draft him north on Menifee. He got us up to 26 or 27 mph and I was burning matches I simply didn’t have to burn. We did catch Earth Dog at the stop sign and we led him to Nuevo and then up to Lakeview before waiting for Digger at the corner.

Once we were back on our way Ferret had us moving sharply towards the Expressway and the turn east. Digger and I chased as best as we could till we got to the stop sign by the post office and I could tell my batteries were draining. I backed off as Ferret took Earth Dog up to the Valero Station and turned on the frontage road. Digger and I went all the way to the Expressway and headed east. We passed them as the were waiting at the store at the light and they started to give chase. I simply couldn’t pull at anything over 19 mph and we were caught by the time we had made our way to the Nutrilife warehouse and Ferret passed us and pulled away with Earth Dog in tow. Digger and I found Earth Dog waiting for us at Warren where Ferret had left him when he headed for home. Earth dog and I took turns pulling back south to Cottonwood and then headed est to Sanderson. By this point I was running on low power and had to draft Earth dog most of the way to Devonshire. Digger left us at and headed for home before we got to Devonshire and I followed Earth Dog back to the driveway at Burger King before heading for home myself. I was tired, almost drained in fact, and my legs were sore but I had put in a mile more than my longest ride to date. I have a long way to go but if I take my time I am sure I will get back into shape my this summer.