By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) Another good day for a ride and I had a simple easy one planned. I know not everyone like heading east but it just seemed right to put an a few miles with light winds heading towards the mountains. SO I headed to the bike shop looking forward to a nice little group. Somehow I got to the shop first and Digger was not far behind. He was followed by Earth Dog and then Centaur. A few minutes later Tax Man and Highlander arrived and we had a little time to visit before heading out onto Lyon and down to Acacia. Highlander and I chatted lightly as we headed to Kirby and I was feeling a bit more relaxed than last Friday. We caught the light red but once it turned green I moved out to lead us towards Cypress and over towards Johnston and Sanderson.

I was ready to give up the lead by the time we got to Sanderson and when the light changed Centaur did look like he was interested in pulling but as we turned onto Industrial and headed for Cawston I think he didn’t realize where we were going so I got the lead back and turned onto Cawston and then Stetson and headed west. I pulled all the way to Warren and still no one was interested in pulling so I stayed out front all the way to California and turned south to get to stowe.

Just before I turned onto Stowe Highlander took a turn at the front and pulled till Centaur decided to take over. I was more than glad to let him pull all the way to the Metal Barn before pulling up next to him and pacing him to the parking lot where we had planned on a regroup. Centaur had set a pace that was just a bit too fast for Digger and Earth Dog so early in the ride. Both of them take some warming up before they can add to the pace line. I decided to start us south on Winchester and somehow got out quite some distance in front of the group. They didn’t catch me till we got to the railroad tracks and had to stop at Simpson. We then moved on past the elementary school and onto to Domenigoni to head back east.

I pulled till we got to the flag pole before Centaur took over and ramped it up a bit as we headed towards the dry wash. We stayed together except for Digger and Earth Dog to the dry wash and over heading for Warren. Just before we got to Warren the light turned red and Centaur stopped us at the light. While we were sitting there Earth Dog decided to roll the light and he was followed by Highlander. Centaur and Tax Man gave chase just as the light turned green but U could see so reason to push hard to State if we didn’t have to. So I stayed about 100 yards behind the group and followed them to Searl where we waited for Digger. As we waited I plotted my next move to get back for being dropped at Warren and the red light. I had a feeling the State Street mile was going to be a good place to ramp things up myself and so as we headed east towards State I got ready for a one mile sprint. I slowly picked up the pace till we were on the incline at the end of the State Street mile and Highlander stayed right on my wheel. I picked up the pace again and he still stayed on. At the top of the incline I saw Highlander sit up a bit and I made a run at Chambers and got a good sized gap on the group. Centaur and Tax Man caught up with me on Chambers but I got away again on the bump on Santa Fe and took off for Stetson. I headed east on Stetson and pushed hard for the high school and the lights there. Centaur had pulled back up almost to me till we got to speed bump where I attacked once more and got away to Lake Street before once again Centaur clawed back my gap and I started plotting once more. I rested my legs till we regrouped on Fairview. Highlander and Tax Man decided to head for home early and Digger was too tired to head for Cranston so we headed for Florida before heading east again and making our way to Cranston before riding back to Carl’s. We joined Digger at Carl’s and were joined by Bruin for coffee before heading for home by heading north ion New Chicago and then heading to Park on Lincoln. We lost Digger at the jog over to Devonshire and then had to chase Earth Dog to San Jacinto and back to Santa Fe.

Once we were on Latham you would have thought we would be able to cruise to Lyon and home but that wasn’t the case. We ended up pushing thing all the way back to Lyon and then down to Florida where I joined traffic and headed west to the driveway and into the shop. After a short break I headed for home and lunch. A lot more tired than I expected.