By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It was not just Friday it was Veterans Day and it was going to be nice. We had a new rider planning on joining us, Otis and I made an easy flat ride for him, and Tax Man and Highlander. I had breakfast and headed for the bike shop to join the group. Digger and Earth dog were there as was Dragon Slayer. Tax Man and Highlander arrived followed by Barracuda. Otis was there with his Felt Titanium bike. As we pulled out onto Lyon and headed north we were joined by Ferret. We moved smoothly towards Esplanade and stopped at the light. As I crossed Esplanade at the light I looked back to see Otis was hanging with us and I was impressed, Otis is a big boy and he had never been on the particular bike for more than 9 miles.

Because it seemed like he was holding his own I led the group north going by Seventh and Cottonwood trying to get to Ramona Boulevard. It is hard to change old habits so as we closed in on Ramona we had picked up the pace to about 18 or 19 MPH. That was a bit more than Otis was comfortable with and so Digger had to fall back and keep him company. They hadn’t been dropped so much as gapped a bit as we turned west on Ramona. I planned on pulling to the left side of the road to capture the whole line but the group decided to mess with me and follow as I moved left and laugh as I looked to see where they had gone when I turned to take a picture. Once they moved back to the right side I did get a shot however ad rejoined them heading to Sanderson.

Ferret led us to Sanderson and the Expressway and we waited for the long ride west to Nuevo. It was on this ride that Otis was going to be tested the most. As we headed west Ferret headed for the front and Earth Dog went after him. I let them go trying to hold on to Otis and Digger. Dragon Slayer came by in a chase of Ferret and Highlander joined him. I held my pace and Tax Man stayed with me as we pulled Digger and Otis to Warren. The slight rise just before Warren was too much for Otis and he fell off the back of our wheel and Digger stayed with him. Tax Man and I Stopped at Bridge and waited till Digger and Otis joined us. We then headed for Nuevo and joined the rest of the group waiting for us.

Digger had to head back for home to get his car fixed and Dragon slayer had to ride home after riding to the shop for only about two blocks away for the market we were stopped at. So Otis and I headed for Lakeview and south towards Nuevo road. At first Otis was doing fine but soon he fell back and Highlander stayed with him as I pulled us towards the Post Office and Nuevo.

Earth Dog, Tax Man, Ferret and Barracuda rode by me and most of them waited till we joined then at the corner. Well except for Earth Dog who had gone on. We then rode over to Central and dropped down to Menifee. Barracuda and Ferret rode with Tax Man and headed south on Menifee before we got there with Otis. Highlander and I took turn pulling towards the Nursery and the little hill before dropping into the flats heading for 74 and the AM/PM station. Otis had suffered quite a bit with that little climb and we discovered that his back brakes had been dragging so we fixed than and discussed the importance of checking your wheels before every ride. We took a short break at the AM/PM where Barracuda and Ferret were waiting but without Tax Man or Earth Dog. We decided to head for McCall and head to Simpson rather than the dump road to get back to Winchester. We needed to spread out as we headed south on Menifee so as to not hit the pot holes at the railroad tracks. Last time we came this way we got two pinch flats because of the pot holes.

As we moved to the tracks Highlander informed me that had was going to take Heritage to get to Simpson whole we rode to Briggs. By now Otis was feeling pretty good because he didn’t have to deal with dragging breaks. I knew we could stay with Ferret and Barracuda so I said I would stay with Otis and they should go ahead. I wanted to get a picture of Barracuda’s 80s cruiser before he left however.

I have to admit I don’t understand the name of the bike however. I learned it was made by Bridgestone but I am not sure how they came up with Charlatan. Not sure how a con artist trickster or con artist fits. Unless it has another definition I don’t know about? Anyway we watched Ferret and Barracuda rode off and I rode with Otis to Briggs and then to Simpson as we headed back towards Winchester. Otis was really looking towards getting to Winchester Farms. By the time we got to Winchester we had got farther than he had ever been on this new bike and he was getting tired. So we stopped at Stowe and refilled his Gateraid and had a banana and some nuts. Once we had rested it was time to get back out onto Stowe and head east. The problem was we had about 6 miles to go and Otis was starting to cramp up. I tried to slow the pace as much as possible and we even cut the route by taking the airport road. Just as we got even with Hanger 1 Otis was finished. His leg was cramping up and he had to stop. I got his keys and rode back to the shop and got his truck and picked him up. I then drove back to my house and watched Otis drive away and telling him to ice his leg and take it easy for the rest of the day. I went I feeling pretty good about the ride and the effort Otis had put out to get as far as he did. When someone might say he only did 30 miles I would answer that he did 30 miles more than someone sitting on the sofa watching TV. Not a bad day at all.