The Smell of Summer

Summer is getting so close I can practically smell it. Or maybe that's just the West Bank I smell because of the South wind? Anyway, it was above 60F this morning and although I went out wearing arm-warmers, they didn't stay on too long. I had gotten up a little early, so I stitched a little boot into one of the nicer used tires that Robin had brought over and put that one on my rear wheel. We had a a baker's dozen on the ride this morning and the pace was pretty good. Over the last five miles or so I dropped off the back a few times to do some short jumps back up to the group. The warmer weather always makes me frisky!

Malcolm Schuler e-mailed me about a gig of photos yesterday that go back all the way to Rouge-Roubaix. Some are really awesome and hopefully I'll find some time to get them up on the website soon. The one above shows some of the lead riders cresting one of the killer hills on the last dirt road section around 80 miles into the race. If you look carefully on the larger version (click the image) you can see a rider falling in the gravel.