It's been warm around here lately! This morning I headed out to the Lakefront to catch the 7 a.m. Giro Ride. Riding down Carrollton Avenue from Uptown Island to the Lake, about 8 miles, felt kind of strange. Most of the major intersections are still without functioning traffic lights, and as I rode through the Mid-City area I got a close look at all of the flooded houses and businesses. Many were being repaired and the streets in some areas are coated with the white powder from all of the sheetrock that has been torn out and hauled away. I had to ride a bit faster than I would have liked, though, because I had forgotten that my spare wheel didn't have a magnet on it and it took me a while to find one.
The actual spot in the parking lot on the lakefront where we usually meet for the Giro ride is currently occupied by a bunch of trailer homes, presumably housing construction workers, so the group is meeting a bit farther down in the same parking lot. We ended up with a respectible group of almost 30 riders, and the pace was fairly civilized most of the time. As we started, a Levee Board police car rolled up and the officer said that Lakeshore Drive was closed to bicycles because of the construction. Bullshit. There is essentially no construction, or traffic for that matter, on Lakeshore Drive right now. So we smiled nicely, waited for him to leave, and rode the five miles along Lakeshore Drive without further harassment. Even though the pace wasn't particularly fast, my legs were definitely feeling it. When the paceline got up to about 26 mph, I decided it was time to get my sorry butt out of the rotation and seek shelter at the back if I was expecting to do a long ride in the hills tomorrow. Reo and Tim showed up somewhere on Hayne Blvd. as we were heading back, and I noticed that Realdo is on a new carbon Fuji. I rode home along Canal Blvd. through Lakeview where there was much flooding. Lots of the houses have already been gutted and stand there empty awaiting rebuilding. This wasn't a low-income area. In fact, real estate prices were very high, despite the fact that most of the homes are typical 1060s ranch-style brick-veneer types. With around 60 miles by the time I got home, this was probably my longest ride in a month. Anyway, it was nice to be in the Giro again, and I found out that a few other guys are planning on doing the Northshore training ride tomorrow, so we're meeting at the Morning Call around 6:30-6:45 tomorrow morning.
After the Sister-in-Law called to say she wouldn't be coming over until tomorrow, I did some work around the house, climbing up on the roof and slathering some more roofing cement where I think the leak may be coming from. I also went over to the local Supercuts, which has just re-opened, for a haircut. I hate getting haircuts, and this was my first post-Katrina trim. After cleaning up outside around the house, trimming hedges, etc., I decided after dark to take a little ride around the neighborhood, so I broke out the old commuter, pumped up the tires, clipped on the lights and headed down toward Tulane and St. Charles Ave. First, I rode down Maple St. to see if perhaps PJ's or Starbucks was open yet, but they weren't so I then headed over to Magazine St. It was quite lively there. Although CC's was closed, there was some sort of art showing going on and lots of people out on the sidewalks drinking wine and talking. Across the street, the Magazine St. PJ's was just closing for the evening. They must have just opened this week.
Gina called from Sacremento where she's doing a rotation. She had done a nice ride to Napa and said it was really great, but that it's starting to get pretty chilly over there at night.
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