Surgemeister

Almost ten degrees warmer this morning with just a light breeze. This is good. I hit the levee about a minute past the 6:15 starting time and saw only Luke up there. As I approached, he headed out and I figured we must have just missed the group, so I picked it up a bit. Just as I got close, though, he turned around, saying he didn't see anyone up the road. We waited for just a bit, but nobody showed up so we rolled, finally meeting up with the rest of the group, a couple of which had started out early. So we ended up with maybe a dozen today for the long ride. My legs, inexplicably, felt achey and stiff and, basically, it pissed me off. I had wanted a decent workout today, but the legs just weren't going to cooperate. Luckily, the pace wasn't ballistic today and most of the group stayed together all the way out and nearly all the way back. Even Howard and Todd were being good citizens today, which left the morning's Surgemeister duties up to VJ. I somehow found myself on his wheel a lot today and every time he'd come to the front he would just stand on the pedals and up the pace a couple mph. Ordinarily I don't really have a huge problem with that sort of thing, but today it was just making my legs hurt more. Anyway, it was still a decent ride and, for a change, my feet weren't cold.

Speaking of feet, my Sidi shoes that have been torturing my toes for the last 4+ years are finally starting to show some major wear where the velcro strap comes through the metal loop, and it won't be long before one of the straps breaks. Naturally it will happen fifteen minutes before a race. So the other day I thought I'd do my usual eBay search - the same one I've done every now and then for the last couple of years. This time I actually found a pair of Nike Poggios in my size. Since my size is 40.5, that's a pretty rare thing. They were unused and around half of retail, so I went ahead and got 'em. They arrived yesterday and the fit feels good, so I'll have to drop by the shop and pick up a fresh pair of cleats so I can go through the dreaded cleat-positioning ritual. I guess somewhere around 50 miles into my first long ride with them my feet will tell me if they're going to work out or not. I figure I should go at least 2 mph faster with the new shoes right? Meanwhile, elsewhere on the bike, the entire drivetrain has about had it and I think I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and upgrade most of it to 10 speed some time soon.

I should probably fix the roof first.

So Tulane Hospital re-opened this morning with a big media event. It was really pretty cool from what I heard. After the hurricane, when the city was flooded and they had finally evacuated all of the patients and staff from the hospital, one of the last people to get airlifted off the roof was apparently one of the security guys. Before he left, he took down the U.S. flag from the roof and brought it with him. This morning, a helicopter landed on the roof and the same guy brought the flag back. I think someone said that they had the flag hanging from the helicopter or something. Hopefully that'll make the evening news. Nice touch!