By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) After a rather timid start on Monday I wasn’t all that interested in a hard ride for Wednesday. It was still going to be hot and I expected my legs were still going to be sore. Still Wednesday is supposed be our energetic day and I headed to the bike shop to join the rest of the group. I got there to see Akira working on his Peugeot and a few minutes later Digger showed up. We thought the het was keeping others away till Earth Dog arrived and I got a message that Huntress was on her way. That would have given us five until Tax Man and Highlander arrived and we got ready to leave. Digger and Earth Dog left right at eight but the other four of us waited till Huntress arrived before heading out onto Lyon and giving chase. I took us to Acacia and Kirby before heading south on Kirby and pushing it towards Cypress.

I worried about the pace this early in the ride because Highlander and Tax Man often left us early on east rides. Akira was still getting back into Bicycle shape and had planned on leaving early so I wanted to keep him with us as long as we could. I took us to Cypress and then moved through the housing tract and caught up on the Back Packing trip just finished by Huntress. This early in the ride I was able to keep the pace higher and talk at the same time so we quickly made our way to Johnston and over to Sanderson. Once we were headed south again I followed some of the group to Stetson before getting back in front to pull us to Domenigoni and make the turn east. We didn’t have to wait long at the light before I could turn us east and head towards State Street.

I kept the lead till we got to Searl and caught Earth Dog and where Huntress moved up to give me a break. It was good to get a chance to draft someone as we worked our way down to State Street and turned south towards the housing tract at McSweeney. I looked back and it seemed as if we had lost Akira and at first I didn’t see Earth Dog. We headed through the housing tract and back out onto State Street where I noticed Akira and Digger heading north towards Domenigoni. As we headed north oursekves I got ready to start a chase by pulling the whole group to Domenigon. We missed the light and that gave Digger and Akira a bigger head start. Once we got on the way I got us up to speed and by the rise we had pulled up on the other two’s back wheel. Tax Man wanted to stop at the golf course so we regrouped there and refreshed ourselves before heading back out onto Thornton and headed for Santa Fe. Highlander and Tax Man took us to Stetson and Earth Dog took us east towards San Jacinto.

Highlander and Tax Man separated themselves from the rest of us at the light on Columbia and were past the high school before we got there. They also made it over speed bump where Akira led the way over the top and Huntress and I had to chase him down. By Lake it was clear that Tax Man and Highlander were at least a hundren yards in front of us and I wanted to close with them before we got to Fairview. I was withing 20 yards of Highlander before he saw me and actually got out of the saddle to make a run for Fairview where we would regroup. So I just missed catching him and had to wait for everyone to join us at Fairview. As we headed north on Fairview Tax Man started the pull and I fell in at the third slot slowly building speed as we headed for the bridge. I was up to speed at the bridge and took over for Tax Man even as he and Highlander fell off. I noticed Akira had decided to get out of the saddle at the bridge but it was too late to get on my wheel and I pulled away and made it to Florida without him. Tax Man caught the light with me and we got through it jut before Highlander joined us. We lost Huntress and Akira at Florida and the rest of us regrouped at the fire station. As we headed for the expressway and Lake Street Digger decided to forgo Soboba and head straight to State and the Del Taco. Highlander and Tax man stayed on Ramona as well while Earth Dog and I headed for Soboba and the long way to State. I got us to state and Earth Dog pulled us to Del Taco where everyone else was waiting. After a short break we decided to head back on Ramona and take Lyon all the way back to the bike shop. Digger was with us till we turned south but fell off by Cottonwood as Earth Dog pulled like it was the beginning of the ride to Seventh where I took over to get us to Esplanade.

We moved quickly from Esplanade and made our way back to Latham and finally to the bike shop to say our goodbyes before heading for home. I finished off my second bottle of water before getting back on my bike and heading for home and a hot shower.