Redemption

By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Monday brought me back to reality after a disappointing Friday. Friday I had no stamina and no power. Friday I thought my recovery was over and I would have to settle for solo riding because I wasn’t going to be able to keep up even with the B group. I took a look at the wind patterns for this week and put together some shorter rides with the winds in consideration. Today’s ride was a simple ride east and the winds were supposed to be light. I headed to the Bike Shop checking for any sign of fatigue or soreness left over from last week. As I pulled into the parking lot I could tell I felt better today. We ended up with a rather small group that included Tax Man, Digger, Abacus, Minotaur, Bulldozer and me. We waited till 9am and headed out onto Lyon and headed north with little or no wind in our face. Minotaur pulled up next to me and we chatted as we headed north past Devonshire and Menlo on our way to Esplanade and the light there.

I knew it was better today and riding with Minotaur felt good and I was able to spin a bit. In fact when I would fall in on his wheel I would try to pick the same gear as he did and get my revolutions as close to his as I could. It just felt good to get over 90 rpm and still have room to go as we headed towards Seventh Street and through the stop sign. After we crossed the street Abacus took the lead and we followed him through the sign at Cottonwood and made the dash towards Ramona Boulevard. As we got to the turn we did get just a bit of wind in the face but so far it wasn’t bad.

Our first move west was pretty nice for me as Minotaur and Bulldozer took the lead and pulled us towards Sanderson. With a head wind the two of them created the perfect draft and I was able to almost coast all the way to Sanderson and the turn north to the Expressway. Minotaur and Bulldozer made the light but the rest of us had to stop and wait for the next green. Once we were headed west on the Expressway I took the first pull and got us to halfway to Warren. Minotaur took a turn and got us to Warren and gave the lead to Abacus and Tax Man. They pulled us towards Bridge and somewhere before the first driveway we lost Digger. The pace still seemed perfect to me and I was easily able to stay with the group as we past dairy after dairy and finally made the turn onto Bridge and waited for Digger. I knew Minotaur and Bulldozer were going to leave us at least by the time they got to Gilman so I told them to feel free to leave on Bridge and we would wait for Digger. They decided to stay and would leave us later.

Once we were on our way again Bulldozer and Minotaur pulled us towards the curve and headed towards Gilman while Tax Man and Abacus stopped at the Pheasant club to take a nature break. Digger kept going and I stopped to wait till Tax Man and Abacus got back on the road. We headed for Gilman expecting to see Digger waiting at Gilman and Bridge. He wasn’t waiting so we rounded the corner and gave chase heading back towards Sanderson. Sure enough way in the distance we saw Digger and Tax Man pulled around to start giving chase. We closed on digger just before the last decent and we made our way to the underpass to wait for him to catch up. When we left the underpass Digger was a bit slow on the start and we dropped him well before the first downhill and we made it to the little kicker in front of the Scientology center without him. I jumped the hill and headed for State and Soboba with Tax Man and Abacus in full chase mode. We turned onto Soboba and waited once again. Digger headed east first and once again we gave chase and Abacus seemed intent on catching him before he reached the golf course driving range. And catch him we did and headed for the last hill before the 4th green at the golf course and waited once more. The next run was for the riverbed crossing and the Expressway so we could head east once more towards Cedar and the turn to Fairview and Florida. Tax Man and Abacus pulled us to the Fire station where Tax Man stopped again and I continued on to Florida. When Tax Man caught up with me on Florida Abacus headed for home and an emergency and Digger headed for Carl’s. Tax Man and I rode to Cranston and returned to Carl’s to join Digger for coffee. After coffee and conversation we got back on the road and headed to Lincoln and west towards home. We got quite a way west before we made the turn onto Park.

As most cases we lost Digger at the Devonshire jog and headed west on Devonshire to Santa Fe before dropping down onto Latham. Tax Man and I rode together all the way back to the Bike Shop and separated to go home. I got back in time for a hot shower and lunch feeling a lot better about my recovery and the chances of getting better or closer to how I was before heart surgery.