By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It was a bit nicer this morning than it has been for the last week or so, cooler but also more humid. It was going to be ride west and should be about 40 miles. I only knew that Digger and I would be there but I headed for the bike shop hoping for more riders. True to form Digger was there when I arrived and we sat alone more or less till almost 8am when Highlander and Tax Man arrived to join us. We headed out towards Lyon only to see Bruin pulling in to the parking lot so we waited so he could join us. We finally got out onto Lyon and I took us down to Acacia and over to Kirby. I started us out south towards Cypress before giving the lead to Digger and falling back with the rest of the group.

We moved through the housing tract and came out onto Johnston to stop at the light on Sanderson. Digger took off as soon as the walk signal came on even if it was red for those of us in the turning lane. He was almost to Stetson before the rest of us got the green and gave chase. We were closing in on him at the first light past Wally World but once again he blew the red knowing the turn signal would have to change before cross traffic could come through the intersection. He also admitted later he didn’t want to let us catch him once he had such a large lead. Still we chased and crossed Mustang about 100 yards behind him. We got around the corner onto Domenigoni and zeroed in on the fading Digger. Bruin and I took turns and pulled up on Digger’s wheel shortly after Warren and made our way over the dry wash with Digger in tow. At the top of the dry wash I gave to lead to Highlander and we headed for Winchester. We didn’t get far however because I flatted with a cut tire. While I replaced the tube and added a boot to take care of the cut Digger headed for the Saddle and the Gas Station on Menifee. I have no idea how far Digger was ahead of us but we didn’t see him as we headed for the saddle with first Tax Man and then me taking the lead and pulling hard for the saddle. I crested the saddle with Bruin on my wheel and we made it to the gas station to find Digger waiting. We regrouped and I discovered Highlander and Tax Man were leaving us and heading back for home.

I took us back put onto Menifee and headed south for Holland and the hill we call Revive. It was down to just the three of us as we headed south and I thought Bruin was the strongest ride left in the group. I was thinking he might drop me on Revive but I have been doing pretty well climbing it in my big ring the last few weeks and I managed to hold my own as we made our way over the hill and to Garbani to take a run to Scott. Bruin wanted to wait for Digger so I told him we would wait around the corner on Scott. We did wait and allowed Digger to ride by and had to chase him to Antelope and then over the freeway to Haun before heading back north. Digger slowed at the corner and Bruin took off at a pretty good pace heading for Holland. It took me about a quarter of the way there to catch Bruin and dropped Digger. I led Bruin onto Holland and west where we waited once again for Digger. Once again he rode by and headed for Bradley and the climb over the hill to Murrieta. I caught him at the bottom of the hill and rode to the top to wait for him before following him to Murrieta and north towards Newport and a break at the gas station on to corner. We took a short break and then headed north some more with Bruin pulling us towards McCall for the turn east towards home.

We moved north to Cherry Hill at a pretty good clip and managed to stay together all the way to the turn east on McCall. We almost had a tail wind as we headed back to Bradley and got a look at Hospital hill. I was pulling harder going back over the freeway and managed to put a light between Bruin and Digger and myself. I got past the Valero station putting another light between us and managed to get to Hospital hill all by myself. I was able to easily spin over the hill and drop down to the light on Menifee where I planned on waiting for a regroup. Once we were back together we took Bruin to Briggs and headed north to go to the Dump road through the dirt, something Bruin didn’t know about. We rode east past Leon and headed for Winchester with Bruin leading the way. We all pulled into Winchester Farms and I grabbed a banana while we talked about the day’s ride. Digger was getting antsy so we got back out onto Stowe and headed east. Digger had been riding strongly today or at least he had been starting out strongly and he did so heading towards California Street. It took us all the way to the little rise to catch him and pull him with us to the corner.

We got down to Stetson together and Bruin pulled away towards Warren. I pulled Digger to Warren myself and we found Bruin waiting for us at the stop sign. I then took over and pulled the small group all the way to Cawston and then to Industrial before cutting over to Sanderson and waiting for the light. At least the wind was coming out of the south as we headed for Lowes. I took us around back and out onto Acacia where Bruin took us to Kirby and the light there. We came off of that light together and Bruin pulled us to the street behind the Bike shop and back to his car.

I picked up a replacement tire for the one I cut out on Domenigoni and then headed for home, lunch and a hot shower. It was a good day for a ride even if it was a bit muggy.