By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It looked like we were going to have a cool overcast ride today and I could only hope it didn’t rain. I posted a flat ride just in case and headed for the bike shop to see who woud be joining us. Digger and Earth Dog were already there and it looked like that was going to be just about it. As we got ready to leave Huntress rode up making it four riders. We decided that we could toss the planned ride and just head out and see where we wanted to go. The first part was as posted as we headed to Acacia and over to Kirby to jump down to Cypress and head west.

We moved out onto Johnston and stopped at Sanderson to wait for the light. When the light changed we went straight through the intersection and made our way to Cawston to ride out to Stetson and by the airport. I managed to lead but I could tell my beta blockers were working all too well today and I would never be able to ramp up and speed today so short spurts would be about as good as it gets. So I pulled to Warren and gave up the lead heading to California. Huntress was on fire today and quickly pulled away and gapped the rest of us. I pulled Digger and Earth Dog to California and then onto Stowe. As we headed west towards Winchester I found myself halfway between Digger and Earth Dog and Huntress but I wasn’t closing on her at all. It took us a little while before we got to the parking lot at Winchester farms and took a break before heading south on Winchester. Once again I took my turn at the front and pulled us towards the Dump road. At this point we were still on the original route and stayed on it as we turned west towards Leon. As we rolled by the Wild West Arena and headed for the rise just before Leon we dropped Digger and and decided to alter our ride and head for Briggs and north.

Huntress got to Florida at the High School first and we all joined her at the light. Digger hit then light perfect and pulled through to lead part of the way to the Elementary school. I fell back a bit after the stop sign hoping to let Digger catch me and watched Huntress and Earth Dog turn onto Mapes and head towards Menifee. They were gone by the time I got to Mapes and Digger didn’t catch me before I Had turned onto Menifee and headed north. I stayed out front of Digger till I got to the stop sign before Central where I pulled over to wait for him. As we pulled up onto Nuevo and got ready to turn towards Evans Huntress was coming back west from making a wrong turn towards Lakeview. I pulled up onto her wheel and we headed for Evans and once again it looked like we had dropped Digger. When we got to Evans it looked like Digger had picked up Earth Dog somewhere and we discovered he had made a wrong turn as well. Once we were all back together I rode with Huntress up to Rider and headed east towards Ramona Expressway. I got caught at a light and she got away. Earth Dog rolled by me as the light turned green and I watched the both of them turn onto the Expressway as Digger was closing on me from the back. I got onto the Expressway and headed for the Nuevo Market looking for a regroup before heading for home. We did regroup and decided to ride back to Warren together before Huntress would leave us and head for home. It didn’t take long before I noticed digger wasn’t going to stay with us into the wind so I pulled up to Huntress and said falling back and would see her next time. She rode off with Earth Dog and I picked up Digger. Digger had enough energy to pull by Bridge and we stayed together till Warren where we picked up Earth Dog and headed south towards Cottonwood.

I had to stop at the little lake market to refill my water bottle and we headed for Sanderson and turned for home. We stayed together till Menlo where Digger headed for home and I took turns with Earth Dog riding down to Devonshire. We turned for Lyon and got back to the Bike Shop about 11:00 am. I finished my extra water bottle and headed for home looking forward to lunch and a nap. How well did my beta blocker work? My heart rate never got over 134. A bit like having clogged fuel injectors.