Hump Day in the Big Easy and on the Galibier

There was a small crew out this morning for the Wednesday training ride, and that kept the pace quite civilized. On my way down to the basement to get the bike, I picked up my cheap little digital camera so I could snap a few photos of the ride for the website. It's always kind of difficult to explain to visiting riders exactly where the group meets, and I figure a few photos might help. As usual, I'm a little disappointed with the quality of the photos, but then what do you expect from a fixed-focus camera being used by someone riding a bike? My "real" camera is really too heavy and bulky to use while riding anyway. I ended up doing a couple of camera intervals, sprinting ahead of the group so I could slam on the brakes, whip out the camera and snap a shot or two as the group approached. I would then have to get going again and chase the group down. This is why I took pictures on a Wednesday when the pace is slower instead of a Tuesday when the pace is ballistic!

So I see that NASA had to delay the shuttle launch. That's a real shame. The folks here in New Orleans who built the new tanks must have been disappointed. Brian, one of our club riders, works at Lockheed-Martin. I don't usually know exactly what he works on, which is probably why I'm still alive. Suffice it to say that I'm quite sure the Space Shuttle fuel tank isn't the only thing they do out there.

The Tour de France was pretty interesting today. One thing I love about the Tour are the names of the mountain passes. I have a set of wheels named after the Sestriere, and you can have breakfast at La Madeleine here in N.O. (three locations, I think!). Today the TDF went over the Madeleine, Telegraphe, and Galibier, finishing after a nice downhill from the latter. I was surprised and impressed by Vinokourov and Botero, both of whom, I suppose, had something to prove today. Discovery seemed to ride a well-controlled race with most of the team working hard to keep Lance protected. In the end they narrowed the gap to the Vino/Botero duo to just over a minute and even set up a leadout for Lance to sprint for the 3rd place bonus (he ended up 6th though).

On the home front, I was all set to drive over to Ft. Walton tomorrow with my dad to sort out the hurricane damage at his house, but as it turned out he got someone over there to clean things up today so (a) we don't need to go, and (b) his birthday party will be here in town on Sunday afternoon, which means (c) I get to do the Biloxi races this weekend. There are no results up yet from yesterday's Superweek races, so I don't know how that went. I wouldn't be surprised if it rained up there, though. Speaking of rain, it looks like the new Tropical Storm will be moving into the Caribbean soon, if it's not already there, and we're all hoping it takes a more southerly track than Dennis.