By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Monday is almost always my best riding day. I have had a weekend to rest and my legs feel pretty good. That being the case I put in a 40 mile ride and headed for the bike shop to join my friends. Digger and Dragon Slayer were there right after me and we waited for a while for Tax Man and Highlander to arrive before we were ready to hit the road. As in most west rides we moved down Lyon to Acacia and headed over to Kirby with me pulling. The first part is normally pretty easy and I had found a gear close to what my Peugeot has so spinning was pretty easy on the legs anyway. I got us to the light and headed south towards the railroad track and through the houses. I pulled out onto Johnston and got caught at the light on Sanderson before getting to head south towards Stetson behind Dragon Slayer.

Dragon Slayer and I talked while we headed for Mustang and he indicated he might have to leave a bit early if things went a little too slow. I indicated I wanted to keep Digger with us today so if he had to leave early I would understand. So when we pulled onto Domenigoni and headed west Dragon Slayer set the pace. We started out easy and slowly moved up to 19 or 20 mph and everyone stayed in line. It was the perfect speed for me as well because I was able to spin at about 95 rpm all the way to Warren road. I wondered as we started up the dry wash rise is the group would hold together and to my surprise it did. We dropped down the back side and headed for Winchester with Dragon Slayer pulling all of the way. At Winchester we were still in a easy pace line and now were moving along at about 21 or 22 mph with almost as little effort as a normal day with 18. We were still together at the bottom of the saddle and started towards the top. Only four of us crested together and started down the back side of the saddle. My ID tag got caught on the stem as we coasted to the light at Lindenburger and flew off into the dirt somewhere. We regrouped at the Gas station on Menifee and Dragon Slayer went back to look for my tag. Highlander and Tax man couldn’t wait for Dragon Slayer to get back and left for home. Once dragon Slayer did get back the three of us headed out onto Menifee and south towards Revival and Scott Road.

At the top of Revival I noticed a rider that had joined us a few weeks ago, Randy, coming in our direction. He met me at the stop sign and started back towards Garbani and then to Scott. When we turned west towards Antelope Dragon Slayer was hiding behind some trees and pulled in behind us and caught up before we got to the light at Antelope. We crossed over the freeway and turned onto Haun and headed north. Randy started us north but soon Dragon Slayer pulled around him and I fell in on his wheel as we pulled away to Holland and turned west. We waited for Randy and Digger before heading to the little hill just before Murrieta.

We turned north on Murrieta and headed back to Newport. We took a break at the gas station on the corner and learned a bit more about Randy. Once we were refreshed we headed north again and Randy left us to head for home, seeing as we were riding right by his house. Dragon Slayer was back with Randy as Digger and I headed towards Cherry Hill. Dragon Slayer caught us and took us to McCall before we turned east and headed back towards Bradley. We were ready to climb Hospital hill after crossing over the freeway and we had separated a bit at the Valero before starting up the hill. I was determined to take it easy and save my legs for Wednesday so I cruised over the hill and met Dragon Slayer after we crossed Menifee. Once Digger joined us we headed to Briggs and north towards the dump road.

We made short work of the Dump road and came out onto Winchester and headed up to Stowe and the Winchester Farms for a coffee break. Dragon Slayer was still in a bit of a hurry so he had us leave and head towards California. I was trailing both Dragon Slayer and Digger as we headed north on California and towards Stetson. Dragon Slayer came back to check on me and ended up pulling me to Stetson and towards Warren. We caught Digger before Warren and I got pulled all the way to Cawston where digger joined us at the light. We worked our way over to Sanderson and I went home on Johnston looking forward to lunch and a hot shower. It was a good 40 mile ride.