By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) I was looking forward to a rather relaxing start of the week with a ride to Lake Perris and back. It was cooler than I expected and with less wind so I thought it would be a good day. I got dressed and headed to the bike shop to meet the group. Digger and Dragon Slayer were there and Earth Dog arrived soon after I did. A friend of Huntress, Ryan showed up and asked to ride with us just before Tax Man arrived. We were about ready to ride but at the last minute Dragon Slayer had to make an appointment so I thought we would wait for him. I thought wrong as Digger led Tax man, Earth Dog and Ryan out onto Lyon and north towards Ramona Boulevard. I stayed with Dragon Slayer till he was ready to go and we had at least five minutes to make up as we also headed north on Lyon. I wasn’t much help as Dragon Slayer worked hard pulling us north one block after another. By the time we crossed Fruitvale we could just see the other group in the distance. By Esplanade we knew we were closing and by Ramona Boulevard we were within striking distance of getting in their draft. Once dragon Slayer and I were with them we rode in a double pace line to Sanderson and then up to the light on the Expressway. Once we were headed west Ryan took over the pull got us to Warren. Dragon Slayer took over for a while and we had everyone till the split at the rumble strips where three of us went outside and three went inside. The inside group lost the draft and Dragon Slayer, Ryan and I pulled away towards Bridge. Somewhere after we passed Bridge Tax Man decided fighting the head wind was not much fun so he decided to head for home. Dragon Slayer, Ryan and I stopped at the Lakeview market and waited for the rest of the group. It didn’t take long before Earth Dog stopped to join us and we watched Digger ride by heading for the rollers. We gave him a big head start before giving chase and heading the way ourselves.

Earth Dog pulled us to the first roller and started up the hill. I decided to give it a shot and attack the roller and got out front rather quickly. I held on till my heart rate reached 90 percent of my new max and I ended up second to Bernsconi. As I leveled off for the run to the second roller the Beta Blockers kicked in and I had to gear down even as I still gained on Digger. The others got away from me as I climb the second roller and got by Digger. I dropped down the back side of the second roller and met up with the group while we waited for Digger. Once he joined us we headed for Lake Perris park entrance and the climb up over the dam road. I simply cruised to the frontage road and joined the lead three at the marina for a break and to feed the Raccoons. Went we got ready to leave Dragon Slayer took over leading us and he took us out the front side of the park to the road on the north side of the lake.

I was able to stay with the group back to Evans and we headed south back towards Ramona in a pretty tight group. We made our way to Ramona and stopped once again to wait for Digger before we could head east back towards home. I wasn’t interested in pushing back over the rollers and so I ended up riding between the lead group and Digger. We regrouped at the top of the roller and headed for Bernasconi chasing Dragon Slayer. This time I decided to push a bit harder and managed to pull Ryan up to Earth Dog at the bridge and he pulled me to Lakeview and a regroup with Dragon Slayer at the market.

Now all we had to do was make a run for home. Dragon Slayer left us and headed to his house and I rode with Ryan and Earth dog east towards Bridge Street. We did well to hold onto 21 mph as we moved to Bridge and each took a turn pulling. Earth Dog got the lead at Bridge and pulled us all the way to Warren where we once again waited for Digger before heading south. We worked together to get back to Cottonwood so that we could cut over to Sanderson and head south. We were all together as we moved east again and pushed ourselves into a slight wind.

Once Ryan got his pace going Digger started to fall off and Earth Dog decided to ride with him as I chased Ryan to Sanderson and south to Devonshire. I pulled to Devonshire and Ryan pulled east to Gilmore where we cut over to Florida and headed back to the Bike shop. Digger headed for home on Menlo and only three of us were left to say goodbye before heading for home ourselves.