By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It was supposed to be another one of those hot summer days that I don’t really enjoy so I thought seriously of staying in bed. But I have developed a new outlook on cycling, I simply enjoy being out on my bike with friends. I may or may not ever get back into the cycling shape I was in before last October but it can ride and that put me way ahead of a lot of people. So I posted a shorter ride and headed to the bike shop. I got there to meet Digger and waited expecting Earth Dog, but he never arrived. Highlander and Tax man did arrive as did Dragon Slayer so we had a good group considering it was already hot. We headed out onto Lyon and then Acacia to Kirby as we often do to get to the south side of town for a west ride. Digger pulled us to Cypress and through the housing tract to Johnston and Sanderson where we caught the light. When it turned green I pulled us south towards Stetson and past Wally World before Dragon Slayer took over with Highlander on his wheel.

When we turned onto Domenigoni Dragon Slayer and highlander held their pace a bit higher than the rest of us and started to pull away. Tax Man went after them and I spent the extra time pulling Digger up to the group. Once there we formed a pace line and stayed together all the way to Warren. We hit the dry wash overpass at a steady pace but lost Digger off of the back before the top of the overpass. Dragon Slayer kept us rolling along at a pretty good clip so there was very little chance that Dragon Slayer was going to catch us. We stayed on Dragon Slayer’s wheel all the way to the bottom of the saddle where he pulled the group to the top. Tax Man and I followed his wheel to the top of the saddle and waited for Highlander, who was only a few bike lengths behind. Digger got there about two minutes later. We dropped down the back side of the saddle where I learned Highlander and Tax Man would be deserting us and heading back at Menifee. The rest of the group would be turning in Laguna Vista and back to Briggs. Dragon Slayer would end up doing a lot of the pulling for the rest of the ride.

When we turned onto Laguna Vista and then on Newport we headed back towards Briggs with Digger well out front. We followed him to Briggs and chased him down by Holland. After Holland we headed for the grade at Garbani where we planned on heading west towards Menifee. Digger said if he fell off this time he would be turning on Menifee while Dragon Slayer and I headed for Antelope. As we started up the rise to Garbani my right leg started to cramp up and Dragon Slayer gave me some electrolyte gel that he got during the TOU. It seemed to work in just a few minutes and by the time I followed Dragon Slayer to Antelope my legs felt pretty good. We made our way north and then we turned east on Newport to get back to the gas station on Menifee where Digger would be waiting.

We all rode from the gas station to Simpson and headed east. Dragon Slayer rode down to Leon and I followed till we got back to the dump road where we split up and Digger and I headed for Winchester while Dragon Slayer headed back to Briggs and north on Menifee. Digger and I rode to Winchester and then to Winchester farms where we took our break, this time for a piece of fruit and a cold root-beer. We got back out onto Stowe and headed for home. We stayed together to California and then Stetson before turning onto Cawston and working our way to Sanderson. I headed for home on Johnston and Digger went north on Sanderson. I got home a little tired from the heat but feeling pretty good about the ride.