By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Another great looking morning and I was feeling pretty good after a hard ride on Monday. I put up a reasonable ride with lots of long flats and one set of rollers for about 42 miles. I wasn’t sure who would be there but I eagerly headed for the bike shop to get the ride on the road. Digger was waiting as I pulled up to the shop and we were soon joined by Dragon Slayer. Cutter was well and rejoined us after his bout with a cold and Earth Dog was early. In watched as Huntress pulled into the parking lot and ME-109 rode up. We also had Karl, (Bruin) join us followed by Highlander and Tax Man. Lastly we had MacGyver and we were ready to go.

As we pulled out onto Lyon and headed north I felt like pulling so I did and we quickly moved past Latham and Devonshire into a very slight breeze. To me that was a good thing because the weather wizards had said we would have a morning breeze from the north by north east making the ride on Ramona and Menifee a slight tail wind. The only drawback was the weather wizards had lied to me for the last two weeks and I wasn’t sure today would be any different. At least we were starting out with it coming from the right direction. The breeze was light enough that I was able to pull the group almost all the way to Esplanade to catch the light red. Once we left that light Dragon Slayer moved up to help me and he pulled us most of the way past Cottonwood and then to Ramona Boulevard.

At this point I was content to fall in line and let someone else lead us west towards Sanderson and then to the Expressway. By the time we were all lined up at the light on Sanderson and the Expressway I was pretty sure it was going to be a good day and a good ride. I was pretty content to stay towards the front of the pack as we headed for Warren but fell back to see who was still with us and discovered Cutter and Digger were well off of the pace. Tax Man and I decided to set it on cruise and fill the gap between the lead group and the trailing two and did so till we came up on Dragon Slayer and a flat tire. While it looked like Dragon Slayer had everything under control we decided to send Digger and Cutter on towards Bridge and Tax Man and I gave chase along with Highlander. By Bridge Street Digger dropped off and headed for home and we waited for Cutter to catch us. Once he caught up he ended up pulling us all the way to Hansen and the Lakeview Market for a regroup where we waited for the rest of the pack.

As we got ready to head west again MacGyver said he was planning on leaving us because he had an appointment. Highlander and Tax Man had decided to cut the ride short and head south on Lakeview so MacGyver went with them as we headed for the rollers and Rider. We went back out to the Expressway and headed for Burnesconi while the other three headed for Nuevo. I pulled to the bottom of the first roller and let Dragon Slayer chase Earth Dog as they started the assent. Soon ME-109 picked up the pace and rode to the front. At first Dragon Slayer and Huntress past Earth Dog but Huntress started to bog down a bit so I hit is hard and caught and passed her feeling I had enough for the climb and enough to finish the ride as well. At the top I slowed to make sure Cutter made the turn onto Rider and the two of us caught the group once again when Dragon Slayer had his second flat. Once the second flat was fixed we headed for Evans and made the light for a turn south towards Nuevo. Once onto Nuevo we headed back east and directly into a head wind. That wind stayed in our face all the way to Menifee where we regrouped one more before heading towards Central and then to the rise at the Nursery. I was sitting at the back of the pack till Dragon Slayer picked me up and pulled me up to some of the stragglers. We drafted Earth Dog and Huntress up the rise and then pulled around to chase ME-109. I stayed with Dragon Slayer till we got by ME-109 but looked down and noticed I was deep into zone five. I backed down for a minute to recover and then had to chase Huntress and Bruin by myself. I held the spin till I got past Bruin and pulled up behind Dragon Slayer and ME-109. We split up a bit at the light but Earth Dog and I pulled Cutter all the way to Simpson and then Lindenburger where we regrouped once more.

Earth Dog, Cutter and Bruin rolled on when I joined Huntress, Dragon Slayer and ME-109 so we chased them all the way to Leon before taking over the pull. I finally attempted a short sprint just before Winchester where ME-109 left us and headed for Domenigoni. Dragon Slayer pulled the rest of us to Stowe where most of us stopped for a break while Huntress and Dragon Slayer headed for home. After a short break we headed east on Stowe where we broke into two groups with Bruin and I slowing the pace down and talking while Earth Dog and Cutter headed on and pulled away from us. Bruin and I talked all the way back to Sanderson before heading to Lowes and onto Acacia before heading east once more. We got back to the bike shop and said our good byes before heading for home and a hot lunch. It was a great day for a ride.