By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It was still going to be hot but at least we were supposed to get much wind o I thought a short ride would be a good idea. I was a little late leaving the house so most of the riders were already there when I got to the bike shop. I was happy to see six riders. By 8am Digger, Highlander, Earth Dog , Tax Man, ME-109 followed me out onto Lyon and headed for Acacia to start our move west on Acacia. Digger took us to Kirby and got us pointed south.

I fell in behind Digger and turned west on Cypress. We were planning on an easy cruise, or at least I was, as we made our way to Sanderson and crossed the street to head for Cawston on Industrial. Digger was still in the lead as we pulled out onto Stetson and he stayed there all the way to Warren. I thought Digger was pushing himself a bit this early in the ride but I had little interest in cranking the pace up so it didn’t matter much to me who was out front. Not long after we crossed Warren ME-109 pulled by and I fell in on his wheel. By the time we had turned onto California he had us up to maybe 22 mph and we had dropped the rest of the group. After the second time we pulled away I pulled up and indicated 18 would be a better cruising speed for this run. We backed down for a bit till we were about half way to Winchester and ME-109 picked it up. I didn’t chase this time and pulled the rest of the group west till Tax man pulled around and headed for the parking lot after him. We all regrouped at Winchester Farms before heading south on Winchester with me in the lead.

I took it as my job to get is to the dump road and head for Leon. I did make the turn west again on 9th and rode next to ME-109 past the Wild West Arena. We were cruising along fine till Earth Dog came around at the ramp before Leon. Once again I decided not to chase and waited till ME-109 pulled in front before falling in on his wheel till he caught Earth Dog. We then turned onto Leon as a group and headed for Simpson where I took over again and pulled us west towards Briggs. We rolled through the stop sign and headed for Lindenburger where I took us north towards McCall and Heritage.

Earth Dog pulled by us again on our way to McCall and we had to catch up to him at the light where we turned west to Menifee and headed north towards the AM/PM on Florida. ME-109 pulled us all the way to the gas station and we stopped to refill the water bottles and in my case fill up on ice. I then started the pull north past Florida and towards Mapes Street. I managed to pull us to the top of the rise and has a pretty good run past the Nursery when Earth Dog came around and I thought he was going to pull. However he didn’t seem interested in pulling and quickly gapped us. This time I decided to see if I has enough to give chase. Monday I had a chance to slowly push my Heart Rate up to something close to normal and hold it there while riding with Minotaur. Today I got to the same place and managed to catch and pass Earth Dog. He wasn’t giving up this time and he dropped in on my wheel as we headed towards the stop sign. I knew if I pushed it too hard I would hit the Beta Blockers so I kept it at about 85 percent and waited till he tried to re-pass me and got stuck out in the wind. I kept the pace up till his matches were gone and made a run for the stop sign and then to Central and finally to Nuevo and east. When I looked back I thought Earth Dog was still behind me even if it was about 100 yards back. When I stopped on Lake it was Tax Man than had chased me and closed the gap to within 75 yards. We regrouped and Digger took a head start heading to Ramo0na and the Lakeview Market. I pulled Highlander and Tax Man to the market where ME-109 headed for home and we regrouped and rehydrated. Digger once again had a head start and I did a lot of the work pulling the group up to him. Before I could close all the way Earth Dog once again came around us and closed and passed Digger. Tax Man ended up puling us the last few yards onto Digger’s back wheel. Tax man went of to chase Earth Dog and we followed to Warren and headed south with first Earth Dog and then Tax man pulling.

It took a few minutes to get to Cottonwood and head east. Digger started out leading and got to Sanderson first. Tax Man had circled the CVS and came out onto Sanderson in front of us. We then chased Tax Man through the light at Esplanade and headed for Fruitvale before Earth Dog flatted. The horse flies were eating us alive as we waited for the tire change and then headed for Menlo where Digger left us and we continued on to Devonshire and east towards State Street. Earth Dog went to State while Tax man, Highlander and I turned onto Gilmore and down to Florida before heading over to the bike shop and getting ready to head for home.

I took my time getting home before lunch and a shower. My legs were tired from the Menifee effort and I was pretty hot but I felt good about the ride and the improvement in my ability to push myself. I am looking forward to cooler weather but am pleased with my progress so far.