By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Normally on holidays I try to toss in a long ride but I wasn’t really up to it today so I wanted to get in a quick trip to Lake Perris and back. I didn’t think the Bike shop would be open so I was surprised to see the door open when I got to the shop. It turned into a good group with Minotaur, Barracuda, Digger, RCMP, Papillion, Dragon Slayer and me heading north out of the shop right at 8am. Minotaur and Dragon Slayer got out in front of us and stayed there as we moved north towards Ramona. The rest of us were riding a bit more relaxed as we finally caught the other two at Esplanade. Once the light changed Minotaur and Dragon Slayer took off again and once again we followed about a block behind. We got by Seventh Street and then Cottonwood and finally followed the other two, west on Ramona Boulevard towards Sanderson.

We didn’t catch Minotaur and Dragon Slayer at the light on the Expressway so they had to wait for us to round the corner and head towards Warren. I took the first pull and got us to Warren Road before turning things over to Barracuda. He pulled us all the way to Bridge Street. It wasn’t long after Bridge that Dragon Slayer came back to the front and pulled us all the way to Lakeview Market for a regroup. We left the market and headed for the rollers in front of Lake Perris. I took us to the bottom of the roller and stayed with the group about halfway to Burnesconi before I backed off to make sure I saved my legs for the ride home. I crested at Bernesconi and headed for the second roller losing sight of Dragon Slayer and the lead group. When I got to the entrance road to Lake Perris I got passed by a whole line of cars before I got to the gate. I rolled by the same line at the gate and beat most of them to the boat launch ramp where I joined the rest of the group and took a break before heading back. We decided to go out of the north side gate while Digger headed for the west gate and the Expressway.

Once again I went into save my legs mode and got to the north gate after the rest of the group before heading west to Evans and leading the group south towards Ramona. Minotaur and Dragon Slayer were planning on stopping at Dragon Slayer’s house and the rest of the group was in chase mode seeing if they could catch Digger. I stayed with them almost to Rider where my Beta Blockers kicked in and Dragon Slayer had to wait for me at the top of the hill. I followed him to the Valero where he and Minotaur left and then we started east on the Expressway with me pulling for reasons only known to God. I gave to lead to Barracuda and followed on his wheel till Bridge where RCMP took over and headed for Warren Road.

Everything was going great till I got slammed by the Beta Blockers again and Papillion had to fall back and stay with me till we got to Sanderson and over to the Boulevard. I then followed the group to Lyon and I struggled a bit heading south towards Florida. We decided to stop at Starbucks in the mall where I got something cold. Once we were refreshed we headed back to Ly0n and down to Acacia where I joined Barracuda and Papillion till we got to Palm and I headed for home. I was tired and had ridden farther than I had planned but I wasn’t wasted and was able to take my dog for a walk without being in too much pain.