By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It was supposed to rain sometime Friday and with the record of our weathermen I was in no way sure when it might start. With that in mind I planned a short ride with the intention of having the wind at our back heading to Cranston Station and a slight downhill into the wind coming home. It was clear and reasonable warm on the way to the bike shop and I discovered Dragon Slayer waiting for me when I got there. The riders started showing up before I had a chance to have even a half of a cup of coffee. Tax Man and Minotaur were there as was Tax Man, Earth Dog and Cutter. Once Huntress showed up we were ready to go. I took us out onto Lyon and headed north.

It was not my intention to pull all the way north but everyone was so busy talking that they were happy to let me lead, even at my pace. For some reason I felt pretty comfortable today and didn’t mind pulling all the way to Esplanade where we had to wait for a red light and everyone pulled up and waited together. Once it turned green I once again took the lead and headed for Seventh street. It didn’t take long till we were rolling by Cottonwood and I still had a reasonable spin going so I kept us going north all the way to the Expressway. After making the turn east at the Expressway I was about ready to give up the lead but the conversations were still going strong and no one was interested in taking over.

Dragon Slayer and Minotaur finally pulled out front and got us to State Street and headed north with little or no fanfare. I followed the group till we got to the College and resumed the lead as we headed towards the River Bridge and Soboba. I managed to pull us up and over the bridge and turned us east on Soboba before calling for a short stop and a quick drink of water. WE weren’t there long before we got ready to head for the rollers and the golf course.

As we got close to the first roller Earth Dog jumped around me and started to pull away. I decided that it was a short enough ride that I could safely chase him and so I got on his wheel. Just as we neared the top of the first roller Dragon Slayer pulled around and started to pull us after Minotaur. Just before the top of the Second roller I jumped around Earth Dog and got on Dragon Slayer’s wheel. His pace was a bit into the red zone for me so I had to back off and save some matches for the last hill before the last hole on the golf course. Dragon Slayer caught Minotaur and headed for Ramona and Main and Minotaur came back to do the hill again while I waited for Cutter and Huntress. We then headed for the river crossing and the light on Main and Ramona with Huntress leading Earth Dog towards the overpass. I attacked and burned my last free match catching them and making it to the top of the overpass. By the light I was cooked and had to downshift to recover as we met up with Dragon Slayer and headed for Cedar. I had to trail everyone all the way to Fairview and Florida where I was once again picked up by Dragon Slayer and pulled towards the trees chasing Earth Dog. Dragon Slayer pulled me up the grade to Cranston where we regrouped before heading back down Florida to Carl’s Junior. We took a very short break and then headed up to Lincoln and west to Park to head home.

We made the turn onto Park and around to Devonshire. We cruised past Yale and headed for San Jacinto were once again we got stopped by the light. Tax Man and Earth Dog were way out front as we got back to State Street and they made the light while we didn’t. The last four of us rode back to Santa Fe together and Cutter left us at Latham. The rest of us rode back t Lyon and then south to the bike shop before heading for home, lunch and in my case a hot shower.