Picture Day - Updated

Well, all the recent e-mail about the hazards of training on the levee resulted, rather predictably, is a large turnout this morning for the long levee ride. Here's a pic of the early arrivals at the first meeting spot around 6:15 a.m. We picked up a whole lot more along the way. I must say, though, that the group was especially courteous (to others, yes - to those at the back - no) to the other bike path users today. My legs were feeling better than yesterday, which isn't saying a whole heck of a lot, and the fact that the group's speed rose very smoothly this morning certainly helped. We must have had a bit of a headwind on the way out, because it was a job to hold 25 mph at the front once the 25-rider paceline really got rolling.

I brought along the cheap little camera this morning. I guess about 25% of the pictures were minimally acceptable for blogging purposes. None were what you'd call "good," but hey, taking pictures from within a paceline going 25-28 adds a whole new element to the photojournalism experience!

After the turnaround, the pace picked up quickly and we zoomed along at mostly 27-29 all the way back. I didn't do much pulling on the way back, mainly because I got stuck at the back and wasn't willing to make the 31 mph trip up the side to get ahead of wherever the short-circuit was in the paceline. When we went down the "dip" on the way back, a bunch of gaps opened ahead of me and since I was near the back at the time I had to do a little bit of chasing to reclaim the group. I think that a few people never made it across that gap and lost the paceline at that point. There was a pretty good surge over the last mile or two, and it all made for a pretty good ride.

So yesterday I found one of the front tires on the car was nearly flat and after bringing it back up to pressure (which means driving around until you find a gas station with a minimally functional air pump) it was almost flat again last night. Couldn't find a nail or anything - bad sign! The Wife brought it over to good ol' Al Usner's Shell Station, which still has a full-service lane and a mechanic on duty, early this morning.

The diagnosis, however, was that it was terminal. Something about leaking through a seam or something and not being repairable. Sounds kind of fishy, but since those guys aren't really in the tire-selling business and the tires are getting pretty worn down, I guess I'll have to go make another donation to the local Sears Automotive this afternoon for some new rubber and a front end alignment. Figure on $350+ by the time I pay all the disposal fees and new valve stems and all the other add-ons, and that's if I escape buying the Road Hazard Insurance. I'm supposed to have a meeting this afternoon, though, but the person calling it can't seem to settle on a time which is really starting to irritate me. It looks like Sears has some Goodyear's on sale, which means they're only about $100 or so. We'll see. Usually the ones on sale just happen to be out of stock but they always seem to have lots of the "slightly" more expensive ones on hand. Funny how that works, huh?

I just noticed in CyclingNews a note about Gina Grain who is the injured rider that Gina V was caring for until the paramedics arrived at the Bank of America Criterium last weekend. Basically, the story says that she doesn't remember much, broke a bone in her face and fractured her skull and the base of her thumb and of course had a concussion. Looks like an early end to her season, as the doctors want her off the bike for a couple of weeks.