By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Friday came pretty quickly for me this week because I missed riding Monday. It was a good ride Wednesday and I had put together a simple ride for Friday. I headed to the bike shop on my Klein looking forwards to a relaxing cruise. I made it to the bike shop to meet Digger and see Minotaur walking in. Dragon Slayer followed with Earth Dog close behind. Tax Man showed up with Highlander and Doug. Lastly we were joined by one of our original riders, Centaur. By 8am we were ready to head down Lyon and get the ride on the way. We made our way on to acacia and then to Kirby with Digger jumping out to an early lead. We followed him to Cypress and I took us to Johnston and Sanderson. By the time we crossed Sanderson and headed towards Cawston we were all in a pretty good formation and started to form up into a pace line. Once we moved off of Cawston and onto Stetson I took the first turn pulling us towards Warren. I was a bit surprised how easily I was able to hold 19 or 20 mph as we got to Warren where Dragon Slayer took over with Minotaur and Highlander on his wheel. As we got to Stowe and turned west Highlander pulled up behind me and we picked up the pace going around the corner. Dragon slayer gave up the lead and Minotaur took over as we moved west past the two houses and zeroed in on the Metal Barn. Doug pulled out and took off as we reached the flat past the houses. Feeling pretty good I dropped onto my Aero Bars and chased Doug till I caught him. I considered passing but I was worried about over doing it and kicking in the beta blockers. Dragon Slayer and Minotaur caught us to me and we paced Doug till he tired a bit and then the other two pulled around. I wanted a moment longer and pulled around as well and followed Minotaur and Dragon Slayer to Winchester Farms.

Whe it was time to get back on our way Dragon Slayer once again took the lead. He pulled us at a reasonable pace south past the dump road and Chris’s to the light on Simpson. We turned east towards Warren because there was construction work being down on Domenigoni and no bikes were being allowed. Highlander started us east but soon I got another chance to pull.

I held up reasonably well till we got to Warren and then cut over to Domenigoni and headed east again. I pulled briefly before Dragon Slayer and Minotaur got out front and we formed a double pace line. Once they got us up to speed it was like having a machine up front. I stuck to dragon Slayer’s rear wheel and Highlander got on Minotaur’s. We stayed that way running at about 21 mph all the way past Sanderson. I noticed we were two riders short at Sanderson so I pulled up to Dragon Slayer and asked for a regroup at Searl. We waited for quite a while and still Digger and Doug were nowhere to be seen. Finally we got Digger on the phone and discovered Doug had a flat. Highlander went back to get Doug and Digger moved up to join us. We made arrangements to head for Cranston and planned on having Highlander and Doug join us either there or at Carl’s. So I started us towards State street and Tax Man finished it off turning north. We had to chase Tax Man all the way to Chambers and then over to Buena Vista and Thornton. Seems he needed to stop at the golf course. Once everyone was ready to move on we headed over to Santa Fe and then east on Stetson to get to Fairview. Dragon Slayer took us to Columbia and over to Thornton and Crest to cut through the pld homes there.

We traveled through the houses and headed towards Lake street with Digger falling back as did Centaur. I rode with Centaur and he informed me that he would be turning back at Stetson and Lake and that Tax Man was going with him. I left the two of them and chased after Dragon Slayer, Earth Dog and Minotaur. We regrouped on Fairview and once Digger joined us I discovered he was cutting the ride short and heading for Carl’s while the remaining four of us headed for Cranston. Earth Dog fell behind after an encounter with a bee and I drafted Minotaur and dragon Slayer all the way to Cranston where we waited for Earth Dog. We watched the firemen doing some training before heading back west towards Fairview in a rotating pace line. We took turns all the way to Fairview and then Dragon Slayer and Minotaur stopped at Casino while Earth Dog and I joined Digger at Carl’s. We had coffee and conversation before heading for home on Lincoln.

We were moving along together till we got to Park and had to wait for some cars at the stop sign. Earth Dog and Digger slotted through some oncoming cars trusting their turn signals while Dragon Slayer, Minotaur and I had to wait for the all clear before chasing after them. We caught digger at Columbia and pulled onto Devonshire with Earth Dog well out in front and heading for the barn. We decided to give chase and it took us almost all the way to Santa Fe to catch Earth Dog and led him to State Street. I stayed with the group till we got to Palm before I headed for home and a few chores before I would get a chance to rest.