By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) This was a hard week for me because I had decided to push things out a bit on distance and effort. The hard part was the pollen on Monday really kicked my sinuses and I had to take antihistamines all day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. If the question was does that make me sleepy the answer is yes? My breathing was only slightly better than Monday or Tuesday. I could breathe today so I put together another longer ride and trusted that I could hold up to the ride making it a three day effort to stay with the group. I headed out with a small dose of Benadryl to ride to the Bike Shop and see who might be riding for distance with me. Digger and Minotaur were already there as was Earth Dog. Papillion got there about the same time and I noticed Bugler was with us. Dragon Slayer joined us after riding in from his house. Abacus arrived as did Barracuda, Huntress and Anaconda. ME-109 and Ferret showed up and we moved outside to get ready to go. Bulldozer and RCMP were waiting as we exited the bike shop. It was time to hit the road so I took them out onto Lyon and down to Acacia before heading west. It was pretty easy going getting to Kirby where we first caught the light and then made our way south towards Cypress.

Once again my intention was to draft as much as possible and stay with the group as long as I could. As we approached Cypress it didn’t look like my plans were working as well as I liked and I ended up close to the front as we traveled through the housing tract and headed for Johnston. Digger was up with me and that was no place for him to be either even this early in the ride. But it was what it was and we led the group onto Johnston and got us pointed towards Sanderson and the light there. For a change we made the light and headed west on Tanya and turned onto Industrial to get to Cawston.

Lucky for me Abacus and Earth Dog pulled onto Cawston first and made the turn onto Stetson to start the run to Warren. I never like pulling to warren because I get too tired to keep a good pace going all the way to California. That becomes important because the pace always picks up as we head to California and if I can’t stay close to the pack I have to work too hard to get to Stowe. Stowe is where the pace picks up again and I wanted to be close as we turned the corner. Today I was close but was too tentative when we turned west again and I got dropped early. I was stuck between groups till Bugler and Earth Dog caught me but that worked to my advantage because I fell in on their wheel and recovered enough to pull by Bugler before the Winchester Parking lot. We had a short stop to regroup before heading south on Winchester.

Dragon Slayer led us down Winchester and headed towards the dump road. Even in the wind it felt pretty good as we quickly made the turn and headed west again. When the pace started to pick up I offered to let Bulldozer out to chase the rabbits but he waited till Dragon Slayer fell out to lead the B group past the Wild West Arena and towards Leon. It was a good steady pull and everyone but Digger was solidly in the A or B group as it headed west on Simpson. The A group waited at Briggs and Simpson and we joined them there to watch Ferret fix a flat and collect Digger. Once the tire was replaced we got a chance to chase Digger west on Simpson and south on Menifee. Once again there was a split between the A and B group and we had to chase the A group all the way to Menifee and then to Newport where they caught the light. Digger decided to ride to Scott and then head over to Winchester rather than hold out for the whole ride so I knew the Menifee run would be one of the last times we saw him. The pace was still rather brisk and we headed for Holland and the attack on Revive before the long straight to Scott.

Bulldozer, Ferret and ME-109 got out front and for a while Dragon Slayer and Minotaur went with them. But they finally let them go and I fell in behind them and rode in the back. Huntress, Anaconda, Earth Dog and Abacus were between Minotaur and Dragon Slayer and me so no one expected me to push the climb but I did and managed to almost catch Papillion sleeping before the top of the climb at the stop sign. I had burned too many matches however so I had to back off and follow most of the group to Scott for a regroup and something to eat.

We started east towards Leon and still the pace was faster than normal with Anaconda moving up front to pick things up as we got to the down slope where Bugler took over and led us south on Leon. The big dogs started a pace line and soon were pulling away at the top of the slight grade. I pulled up next to Minotaur to see how he was doing only to discover he was saving his effort for the ride on Los Alamos. Minotaur, Huntress, Earth Dog, Anaconda and Abacus made the turn towards Los Alamos and I was safely in third. We made the first drop on the rollers and I hit the first climb a bit harder than Abacus and Earth Dog. By the second climb Abacus caught me and led us to the top and I took over and got us to Whitewood and started the climb north. I got about halfway to the top of Whitewood and was right on top of the gear when I got a Call from Minotaur saying they stopped at Taco Bell. We were too close to the top to wait so I figured we would ride to the Hospital and wait there. I never could get back on top of the gear so I had to spin a smaller gear. I felt Ok but was starting to run down a bit as we made our way to the Hospital. We regrouped at Antelope before starting towards Keller and back over to Menifee.

I was pretty much running on fumes as we headed north towards Scott again and Huntress stayed with me to make sure I was ok. We made it to the gas station on Menifee and Newport and only Huntress, Anaconda, Abacus and I stopped to get water before heading east on Domenigoni and over the Saddle. We split up as we got over the saddle and then Winchester. By the Dry wash Earth Dog and Abacus were well ahead of us and I got stopped again for a call from my wife. I followed Huntress and Anaconda to Johnston before heading for home and an appointment. I was empty but had made two PRs today so it was worth it.