By: C. Kent, aka (Superman) It was still cool Monday morning and my legs are still sore for some reason but I managed to drag myself out of bed and head for the Bike Shop to take a short ride to Cactus Valley and east to coffee at Carl’s. I knew it would be a small group because some were gone and at least one was staying home to recover from sore knees. Still Highlander and Digger were at the shop and we headed out for the short ride right at 9am. I took us out onto Lyon and to Acacia to get things started. I got to Kirby and took us south towards Cypress. At this point I was more than willing to pull and there was little or no wind. However I was bundled much like a skier as we headed towards Johnston and the light at Sanderson. One thing I planned on working on today was a nice easy ride so I knew as long as I was leading there would be no segment PRs today. I got us out onto Sanderson and headed south again. We made it to Stetson and had a brief wait till we got another green. I pulled to the street to the south of Wally world and zeroed in on Mustang where Highlander took the lead. Highlander pulled us to Domenigoni. We made the turn east towards Searl and once again I took the lead. I stopped at the light and removed my glove liners and wind mask. Highlander then pulled us to State Street to turn south towards the curve at Cactus Valley. I took the pull at State and pulled all the way to the curve and headed east towards the golf course. Highlander took over at the golf course and pulled to Sage and started up the hill by the Baptist Church. I caught him at the crest but slowed to wait for Digger to close and then pulled to the end of the road where we would regroup and get ready to head back west towards Sage.

The ride back was somewhat easier then the ride in and Digger was the first to crest the rise on the way out. He burned out however and Highlander took over till I got the lead back and dropped down to sage and headed for State. I rounder the corned on State and headed for the ride through the housing tract at McSweeney. Highlander and I rode through the tract and we met Digger as we came back out onto State. As we headed for the light on Domenigoni I shouted to Digger that we had planned on Stopping at the Golf Course on Thornton for a nature stop before heading back out to Stetson and moving east. Digger fell off at the rise just before Chambers while Highlander and I rode over to Buena Vista and turned the corner to stop and wait for Digger at the Golf Course. We only stayed for maybe five or ten minutes before heading to Santa Fe to continue east on Stetson.

Once on Stetson we started east towards the High School with me in the lead once more. I took us by San Jacinto and then to Columbia before starting the pull to Yale and head to the speed bump. I pulled over the bump and headed for Lake Street and east. Digger fell back at Speed bump and was at least 200 yards back by the time I had pulled Highlander to Lake and headed for Fairview. We would be regrouping at Fairview and I knew we had a few minutes to rest before Digger joined us. Once Digger joined us and rested he started north towards the bridge and Mayberry. We gave him a pretty good head start and it took me well past Mayberry to catch Digger and pull him around the corner and west towards Carl’s. I pulled to Carl’s and we stopped for coffee and a chance to warm up. Once back on our way we headed to Lincoln and west to Park at a more relaxed pace than normal for one of our group rides. I took us to Park and around to the jog over to Devonshire where Digger left us. We picked it up just a bit heading west to San Jacinto and then to Santa Fe before dropping down to Latham. Once on Latham we quickly move by State and onto Lyon before heading back to the Bike Shop. We talked with the shop people for a little while before heading for home and in my case lunch.