By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It was another good looking Monday as I headed for the bike shop and the group for our ride. I was feeling pretty good but I knew right from the start I would have to conserve my energy to finish the ride. I had tossed in a bit of distance and just a smidgen of climbing to test my recovery. It would remain to be seen if I could control my effort. I got to the shop to find Digger waiting for a short ride. We were joined by two new riders for the day, Ben, from Yucaipa and his friend Dafida from Pennsylvania. She was only out for one more day but she wanted to get in some saddle time. We were joined by Ranger, Anaconda and even Siren. I haven’t seen Siren for months so it was good to see her. Of course Siren got there at the last minute but it was only just after 9am. We headed down to Acacia and headed to Kirby to head south again.

Digger was staying with us pretty well as we got to Cypress and was still there as we turned west and cruised through the housing tract and got to know the new riders. It turns out Ben is an active Tri athlete and will make a good addition to our little group when he is able to join us. Dafida is only out to see him and has to go back to the frozen east tomorrow. They were up for a 40 mile ride however even after doing a long climbing ride yesterday. They were right with us as we rounded the corner on Johnston and crossed the street at Sanderson to ride down Industrial to Cawston.

I decided to take a turn at the front as we turned onto Stetson and got us moving at just under 20 as we passed the airport. It seemed easy enough to get us to Warren and shortly after crossing over that street Ranger came up and gave me a break. By the time we got to California Ben and Siren had the lead and I started to fall back with Dafida as we had lost Digger well before Stowe. Siren pulled me all the way to Winchester where we regrouped before heading south towards the dump road. Digger was done for the day and headed for home. I decided to change the route a bit and go all the way to the end of Grand just past Briggs and take the dirt road to Malaga and connect with McCall. Once headed west on McCall we rode close together as we got close to Menifee and the back side of Hospital hill. As we got close to the climb Ben and Ranger took off for the climb with Siren and Anaconda following after them. I still felt good and thought I had enough energy to get out of the Saddle and chase after Ranger passing Anaconda and Siren along the way to the top of the climb. I was maxed out however and slowed to pick up Anaconda just as Siren rolled by to Chase Ranger and Ben down the front side of the hill. Anaconda followed me to the stop light and we were joined by Dafida as we continued over the freeway and regrouped at the gas station on Benton. Our next move was west on McCall and heading all the way to the end of the road to turn south to Honeyrun and then west to LaLadera and finally to Normandy. I started us towards Goetz but once again Ranger had to take over for me. However once we turned south on Goetz the whole group turned early in front of me and I got to Newport first to start the run at the first hill on Railroad Canyon. This time Ben and Siren took off on us and we had to follow them all the way to Canyon Hills before turned back south east to get to Holland and work our way back to Murrieta and then Haun before riding over to Newport and taking a break at Jack In the Box before heading for home. We traveled together back to the saddle where Dafida started to fade a bit in the wind. We closed into a double pace line and worked as a team to get the group back to Sanderson against the wind. Once on Sanderson it was a quick trip north to Lowes for the cut over to Acacia.

I started to run out of steam as we got back to Acacia and was falling behind as we got close to State Street but I still managed to pull Dafida on the short cut to the bike shop before heading for home with 44 miles on the computer. I really was looking forward to lunch and a hot shower. My dog was looking forward to a walk so lunch and a hot shower had to wait. But it felt good when I had both.