By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It was the day before Thanksgiving and we had Centaur’s son joining us so I wanted a short ride with just a little climbing because I didn’t know what distance Brandon was used to. I headed for the bike shop with a easy 36 ride posted and a plan for lunch at the shop. Digger and Dragon Slayer were waiting as was Earth Dog when I got there. Centaur arrived with his son and Highlander wasn’t far behind. I was a bit surprised that ME-109 joined us but I was glad to see him. We order a sandwich for lunch and headed for Lyon to get the ride started. I was energetic at first and pulled us to Kirby before heading south towards the railroad tracks.

I was looking for Dragon Slayer to do a lot of pulling today and I was planning on drafting as much as possible. ME-109 can pull as well but he is harder to draft and so I don’t look forward to him being in front. Still I pulled us through the housing tract and out onto Johnston and the light at Sanderson with the group tightly grouped behind me. When the light changed I took us towards Industrial and over to Cawston. Once we were ready to turn west on Stetson Dragon Slayer took the lead and pulled us towards Warren. At that point I was still feeling pretty good and held on to Dragon slayer’s wheel. We crossed warren and headed for California and ME-109 pulled up and rode with Dragon Slayer. Once on California the pace picked up and we were headed for Stowe. I figured the run west on Stowe would be a quick one and it started to turn onto just that the closer we got to the metal barn. Dragon Slayer pulled around ME-109 towards the end of the road and just before the parking lot where I caught him and pulled by him by tugging on his jersey. We took a break at the Winchester Farms parking lot and Earth Dog indicated he needed to leave first so he could stop and get his water bottle. We gave him about five minutes.

As we started south Digger let me know he would be leaving early because he was having trouble keeping up today. I pulled the group to the dump road and got us headed west again. Once we were on the dump road ME-109 and Dragon Slayer took pulling duty again and we were soon rolling by the Wild West Arena. As we zoned in on the rise before Leon ME-109 kicked up the pace a bit and we all pushed through the climb and headed for Leon.

I got around the corner and headed for Simpson first and we could just see Earth Dog turning on Briggs as we started west. I got us about halfway to Briggs and my legs started to get sore, or at least my calves were sore. So I backed off and saved myself for the climb on Simpson and again for the climb on McCall. Highlander bypassed the Simpson Climb and headed onto Heritage. I was the last to make it to Menifee and came out onto McCall behind Highlander heading for the back side of Hospital hill. I had enough in my upper legs to catch Highlander before the top but not enough in my caves to spin down the front side. Still I got to Hillpoint and joined the group waiting to head for Antelope. Highlander didn’t stop and we waited to see if Earth Dog was going to join us. After about five minutes we headed for the Antelope climb and down the back side to Jack In the Box on Newport. We found Highlander waiting. Finally Earth dog joined us and we headed for Garbani and Earth Dog led the way. We turned east and headed back towards Menifee where Dragon Slayer and Centaur took the lead and pulled towards Briggs. I got a jump before Briggs and managed to push through the pain as we headed back to Holland. Dragon Slayer relieved me and pulled once we rolled by Holland and the Brandon went by with Centaur on his wheel. I followed them with Dragon Slayer on my wheel and soon we were headed for the Turkey pens and Newport to try and get to Laguna Vista and a regroup. At the regroup my pain came back and I wasn’t looking forward to the ride back to Hemet. We regrouped at the summit of the saddle and the headed for Winchester and another fast pace line. Just before we got to Winchester Highlander flatted and we stood around while he fixed it. When we started out again I stayed with the group till we came upon a rider on the side of the road. When I fell off to see if he was OK I lost the draft and simply didn’t have to legs to get back on the group. Dragon Slayer came back to help me but I was riding on upper legs completely and so it was all push and no pull. We finally made it to Sanderson where Earth Dog was waiting and he joined us till we got to Stetson where we picked up Brandon. We rode back to Acacia together and then Earth Dog and I missed the light at Kirby so we had to ride to the shop by ourselves. We had lunch together from a local sandwich shop and cookies from Earth dog’s wife. Once we were finished I got back on my bike and headed for home. It was a good ride by I had just ridden ten or fifteen miles with sore calf muscles and they were not any happier about riding home. Still a hot shower went a long way into making me feel better even if the walking of my dog was more of a chore than normal.