By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It sometimes feels like Friday gets here faster than other days. I know it doesn’t work that way but this Friday simply showed up before I was ready. I had posted an easy ride feeling it would still be a bit hotter than we like and went to be to rest my legs as much as possible after a rather lack luster ride on Wednesday. Once I got up I had my normal breakfast and headed for the bike shop riding my Klein. Digger and Minotaur were waiting when I arrived and not long after than Earth Dog showed up. A few minutes later Anaconda walked through the door and it looked like we had a group. Just before we had to leave Ferret arrived and we headed out onto Lyon and moved down to Acacia. I was surprised how well my legs felt as we made our way to Kirby. I was in no hurry as the light changed so I let Digger start us towards Cypress west towards Johnston and Sanderson.

I started us south on Sanderson and pulled easily towards Stetson and then Mustang. We got a lot of the lights green and soon we were headed west on Domeniogoni with me out front. I slowly ramped it up to about 20 mph before Minotaur and Ferret past me and headed for Warren. I settled in to pull the rest of the group to Warren and to the overpass at the dry wash. At the climb Digger and Anaconda fell off a bit while Earth Dog stayed on my wheel and down the back side of the overpass heading for Winchester. As we flattened out Earth Dog pulled by me and kicked things up to about 24 and held it there. Just before we came into sight of Winchester I slipped by and tried to pull Earth Dog up to 26 while in the aero bars. We must have been running into a head wind because Earth dog fell off and I pulled away all the way to Winchester. I pulled through the light at Winchester before Earth Dog and Anaconda could catch me and headed for Leon at a steady 23 or 24 and wondered about how different today felt from Wednesday. I hit the saddle well before I could see Anaconda and Earth dog passing Leon and rolled over the top and down towards the gas station on Menifee. I found Minotaur and Ferret waiting and we regrouped there.

After we were rested a bit we headed back out onto Menifee and south towards Holland. Dogger managed to make the light while the rest of us had to wait. Digger made the best of his head start and tried to get to revival hill before we could close on him. I told Anaconda I planned on staying with her on the climb and I did as Earth Dog spun up and chased Digger. Ferret and Minotaur were just in front of Anaconda and I as we crested the hill and headed for Garbani.

I was rolling along pretty good as we got close to Garbani and I hit the Garbani to Scott run pretty hard. Once again I wasn’t wasted as I got to Scott and turned west before Minotaur and Ferret could run me down. We met a new rider on Scott as we headed for Antelope who said he had been trying to hook up with DVV for weeks and joined us for the next few miles. We regrouped on Haun and then headed for Holland. I dropped to the back to make sure everyone was rolling along pretty well and pulled Anaconda to Holland where we picked up Earth Dog and followed Minotaur and Ferret to Newport and a stop at the gas station on the corner. We refilled our water bottles and headed for Bradley and north towards McCall.

The new rider left us before we started up Golf Cart Racing and I fell in on Minotaur and Ferrets wheel as we climbed the grade to the stop sign. We made our way to McCall and headed back east towards Hospital hill. I was behind Ferret, Minotaur and Earth dog as we started up the hill after Antelope. After Hillpoint I jumped the gap up to Minotaur before backing off after seeing my heart rate was at about 173. Why I didn’t slow down more I had no idea but it allowed me to cruise over the hill and drop down to Menifee and wait right behind Ferret and Minotaur. When we were all back together we headed for Briggs and up to the dump road. As we headed east to Winchester Minotaur and Ferret got away and headed for Winchester Farms while Anaconda and I followed a minute or two behind. Digger and Earth Dog were about the same distance behind us as we got to Winchester and then headed to Winchester farms for a break and a cold drink. Minotaur and Ferret left first and the rest of us followed them a few minutes later. Ferret was heading for home and Minotaur was heading for the bike shop. We got out onto Stowe and headed east to California.

I pulled to Stetson and then turned east to Warren. We headed by the airport and to Cawston before working our way to Sanderson. I pulled us towards Lowes but Earth Dog made a run to the parking lot and we didn’t catch him till we got to Kirby. I pulled us to the street leading to the bike shop and we closed out things there meeting Dragon Slayer before heading for home and a hot shower.