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.