By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Fridays haven’t been good to me for quite a few weeks. I feel pretty good on Monday and my legs co-operate. By Wednesday I am still doing ok but by Friday I am pretty worn out. Today was a bit different as I headed for the Bike shop I was looking forward to the ride. I got to the shop to find Minotaur waiting and talking to Digger. Earth Dog wasn’t far behind me and we stood around talking till Anaconda and ME-109 arrived. We were waiting for Bulldozer and Cutter and we didn’t have long to wait. Ferret and Tax Man rode up so I knew we had a pretty good A group and I had a text telling me that Ben would be driving to join us at State and Soboba. Barracuda pulled up last making it a strong A team and a B team. As we got ready to leave Earth Dog took off and pulled us to State and Lyon till everyone joined us at the light. We let Earth Dog pull us past Devonshire and all the way to Esplanade while the rest of us caught up on socializing in the pack.

As we pulled away from Esplanade the pace picked up a bit and a long pace line started to form and the conversation started to die down. We had Earth Dog still leading until we got close to Ramona Boulevard where he let me make the turn before Tax Man took over and pointed us at Sanderson.

It was time for me to take a back seat on the bus because I could just feel that my planned easy ride was going to turn into a power drive once we got to Sanderson and the Expressway. Even Tax Man seemed over energetic to me as we rolled along towards Sanderson and he led us to the light on the Expressway. Once the light changed Cutter took off a bit too fast as he headed west towards Warren and that simply tweaked the interest of the A riders and soon the caught and came around us in a pace line. Cutter, Tax Man and I were left to ourselves as everyone else took off and left us. They did start to splinter before they got to Warren and soon we saw two riders falling off as we started to close on them. We ended up catching Earth Dog and Anaconda before Bridge street where we regrouped with the well rested A group.

Once we got started again Ferret and Minotaur quickly pulled away and soon Bulldozer and ME-109 took off after them. I thought I would have to just watch them fade into the distance till Barracuda pulled by me and I dropped onto his back wheel. We pulled away from the rest of our group and I followed Barracuda all the way to Gilman where the As has stopped to wait for us. We collected everyone and I mentioned that we were supposed to meet Ben on Soboba and State as we took off east back towards Sanderson on Gilman. I pulled till we crested the rise on Gilman and Earth Dog took over from there till we got to the last downhill before Sanderson where Tax Man and I took off of the underpass before soft pedaling till everyone was back in tow.

My group got to Soboba to find most of the A riders waiting with Ben before we started back east towards the Golf course and the rollers. Earth Dog, Tax Man and I followed Ben to the driving range. After the last little climb I stopped to collect the stragglers before heading towards the River Bridge and Ramona Expressway.

Once we were back on our way I led us around the corner and towards the Expressway only to find the As waiting for us at the light. Ferret had gone home so we were joined by the rest of them and we headed east on the Expressway. We were coming up about an hour and forty-five minutes and that is where I normally start to tire out but today I still felt fine. My goal is to push a bit longer and develop a bit more stamina each week. Maybe this week I could get 2 hours in before going into survival mode, you never know. We headed for Cedar Street expecting to lose Tax Man at Hemet Street. Sure enough he turned on Hemet and we continued on towards Cedar.

We finally turned on Cedar and headed towards Fairview and Florida. I fell back with Cutter and we followed the rest of the group to the fire station where Bulldozer left us. Cutter and I just about caught the rest of the group at Florida and the light where we turned east and headed towards Cranston Station. Up in front I could see Ben heading for the trees in front of the fruit stand but I didn’t see where Minotaur and ME-109 were. We did see Anaconda and Earth Dog pull into Cranston and we followed a few moments later.

I was thinking the ride back down to Carl’s Junior would be an easy one but that wasn’t in the cards either as Earth Dog took off for the trees and Minotaur took off after him. That drew ME-109 after the both of them and left me to chase after Cutter and Earth Dog. Ben had stayed with Anaconda and Barracuda once again came up to save my bacon as we closed in on Earth Dog and pulled away from Cutter. We caught Earth Dog and headed for Fairview where I noticed Minotaur waiting. I guessed ME-109 had left for home on Fairview but I didn’t know Minotaur was waiting for Ben. Finally we slowed down as we past Casino and headed to Carl’s for coffee. Minotaur, Anaconda and Ben joined us and we had a good visit before having to leave for the west side of town. Anaconda left us to go back to Fairview and home while we headed for Lincoln and west to Park. Barracuda left us next and Cutter and I rode behind Earth Dog and Minotaur until San Jacinto where Earth Dog took off after the light and we didn’t catch them again at State because we hit the red. Cutter left us at the bike shop and we all headed for home after a good ride in great weather.