By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) When Friday gets here I tend to look for an interesting or easy relaxing ride. I posted just such a ride and headed for the bike shop to see how it would go. Digger and Earth Dog were there when I arrived and soon Barracuda arrived as well. Highlander arrived bringing with him Spartacus after a rather long sabbatical. It was rather good to have him back and I was interested to see how he would enjoy the group ride after being gone so long. My intention was to keep the pace reasonable and try to keep everyone together as long as we could. When Ferret showed up I decided that if he and Barracuda wanted to run hard we would just let them go and follow as best as we could. At 8am we headed out onto Lyon and I started a pull that would take us to Acacia and then south on Kirby to start the day.

I kept the lead as we turned onto Cypress and headed for Johnston with the group warming up behind me. We made the turn onto Johnston and headed for Sanderson and managed to catch the light just as it turned green. I pulled us to Stetson and we waited to cross fo just a second before I once again pulled us towards Mustang. Earth Dog was eager to try out his new 1x gear set and he followed me closely to Mustang and then the turn west onto Domenigoni. I stayed in front till we got to the rise and handed to lead over to Earth dog who took us up a bit to 21 mph. He pulled us all the way to Warren before giving the lead to Barracuda who pulled us over the dry wash and towards Winchester. Earth Dog went back to pick up Digger as we headed for Winchester. After the initial drop off of the dry wash Barracuda has us set on 22 like as if we had cruise control. We continued towards Winchester as Ferret took the lead and it looked like he was going to push us up to 25 but after a short stretch he backed off and we settled into a comfortable 23 as we crossed Winchester and headed for Leon. Ferret gave to lead back to Barracuda as we hit the Saddle and we broke up a bit going over the hill and headed down the back side to Lindenburger. Tax man caught me at Lindenburger and we joined Barracuda and Ferret waiting for the rest to regroup.

When we decided to leave it was determined that Barracuda and Ferret would leave us at Scott and Menifee while we turned east on Scott to head back towards Winchester. We pulled out onto Menifee and headed south. We rode easily as Ferret and Barracuda pulled us to Holland and the bottom of Revive hill and started up. Earth Dog spun by Barracuda and Ferret but they responded with a bit more speed and soon crested Revive first. I crested right after them and chased them to Scott where we parted ways with Barracuda and Ferret and regrouped to head east towards Leon. We stayed together till we hit the downhill just before Leon where we pulled away from Digger. Earth Dog took the lead from Highlander and Spartacus and pulled us to the hill before Winchester. I took that opportunity to push myself a bit and sprinted for the top of the rise and got to Winchester first. I was closely followed by Tax Man. Not far behind us were Highlander, Earth Dog and Spartacus as we waited at the light to turn north for the run back to Winchester Farms. Digger joined us a few seconds after we made or turn and we regrouped to get rest for the long straight run north.

I remembered that the run from Scott to Holland on Winchester was one of Earth Dogs favorite segments, even if he hasn’t made it a Strava segment. Knowing this I was happy to stay on his wheel as he crested the slight rise and wound up his new gearing and headed north. I have made this run several times and Earth Dog is a nice draft so I was comfortable just hanging on his wheel as we headed for Holland and the last little overpass just before Domenigoni. I pushed it again and headed for the light at Domenigoni. Tax Man chased me again and we got to the light only a few seconds apart. We were joined by Earth Dog and had to wait for a long time for the light to change. When the light did change Highlander and Spartacus blew by us and I had to push hard to catch them before the Elementary school. Tax Man did the same thing to us as we waited at the light on Simpson and it took us to the dump road to catch and follow him to Stowe and Winchester farms for our last break. Once we had refreshed ourselves and relived the ride so far we gathered ourselves up and headed east on Stowe to make the ride home. So far the pace had been faster than I expected so I was pulling for a more relaxed pace heading home.

As we turned onto California things were going according to plan with Digger leading the way to Simpson and part way to Warren. After giving up the lead he fell off the pace a bit and we rolled by the airport about 100 yards in front of him. As we got close to Cawston I noticed the light was turning red and the left turn arrow has gone away so I started to slow but Tax Man, Highlander, Earth Dog and Spartacus seemed to have no intention of stopping and even dropped onto the wrong side of the street to beat the light and head for Industrial. I waited for a green and by the time Digger joined me the rest of the group was long gone. At Sanderson I decided to head for home thinking of a protein shake and a hot shower. I left Digger at the light and headed east on Johnston towards my neighborhood. I felt pretty good as I pulled up to my street and turned for home. When I downloaded my ride I noticed I still had a 16.9 average even with the slow cruise home from Cawston. It is a strange result from what I had posted as just a fun little easy Friday ride.