By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It was another Wednesday and another perfect day for a ride. Little or no wind and it was sunny but cool. It was going to be a bit longer than some of the rides over the last few weeks but I didn’t mind because for a change it looks like I can get in two days worth of rides with relatively fresh legs. It remained to be seen if they would last for 45 miles but as I left the house it felt like they could. I got to the bike shop to meet Digger and Dragon Slayer. I knew Minotaur was going to be there and we were soon joined by Abacus. Huntress arrived followed closely by Bulldozer and Tax Man. Not a big group but a good one anyway. At 9am we pulled out onto Lyon and headed towards Acacia.

I got us to Acacia and headed for Kirby with no trouble and we stopped at the light briefly. Abacus took off as the light changed and headed for the railroad tracks and Cypress Street. We followed him around the corner and headed west as a group, still in chat mode. Cypress is almost always were we warm up for the ride north on Sanderson and the dash over Stetson to get the ride going. As soon as the light changed on Johnston we headed for Stetson but caught it red and had to wait till we could once again try to wind it up past Wally World and head for Mustang.

I managed to fall in line as we came up on Mustang and followed the group onto Domenigoni in third place behind Huntress and Minotaur. Normally about here I would be measuring my energy level and watching my heart rate to make sure I was well into my approved zone for a long run to the saddle but today it didn’t feel like any of that was necessary. I rotated through my turn at the front with everyone else as we crossed over the dry wash and gave it up on the downhill side as we headed for Winchester. I had one more chance to pull as we closed in on Leon and separated into two groups just before the hill. Minotaur got us started and Bulldozer and Dragon Slayer pulled us to the top and down the back side headed for Lindenburger and then the gas station on Menifee. We regrouped at the gas station before heading south towards Holland the little climb called Revive. Bulldozer and Dragon Slayer made the climb first followed by Minotaur and I. Huntress and Abacus made the climb next and somewhere in there we lost Tax Man and Digger. It didn’t matter because I knew they both may cut the ride short so I followed Huntress and Abacus onto Scott and caught Minotaur and them at Antelope. We made the climb on Scott to Murrieta where I waited for Huntress tomake sure she made the turn after taking a phone call. We followed Abacus to Holland for another regroup and the climb through the rollers and back out to Railroad canyon. I managed to hold onto Dragon Slayer’s back wheel as he followed Minotaur almost all the way to the light at the top where I almost lost the draft till Bulldozer gave me a shove to get back on the wheel. With that I was back in contact and doing pretty well.

Because of time restraints once we made it to Railroad Canyon and headed east we would be separating into three groups with Bulldozer and Minotaur heading for Bautista Canyon and Dragon Slayer with Huntress going to Sanderson and home. Abacus and I would cut over at Menifee to Simpson and head for Winchester. Abacus and I got separated at a light right after Goetz but caught back up at Murrieta. Dragon Slayer and Huntress continued on towards the freeway. We caught dragon Slayer and Huntress just before Haun and rode over the freeway together. Dragon Slayer tossed a chain at Antelope and we picked up a rider while he was fixing the chain. Dragon Slayer caught us before Menifee where he, Huntress and the new rider continued towards the Saddle and Abacus and I headed north to Simpson on Menifee. Once on Simpson Abacus and I took turns pulling all the way to Winchester where he stopped at the post office and I rode on to see if Digger and Tax Man had stopped at Winchester farms. It turns out that I caught them just before they were leaving and we waited for Abacus before heading for home on Stowe.

I took us to California Street and made the turn onto Stetson and took us to Warren. Tax Man took over and pulled us to Cawston. We all turned onto Industrial and headed for Sanderson only to once again catch the light red. I decided to head straight east on Johnston and head for home. I ended up a bit faster than I had been riding over the last few months but not as tired as I expected.