Spray in the Face

We got home late last night from the gymnastics meet up at LSU, where the team lost but actually turned in a pretty good score (The Daughter made the podium for Beam). The forecast for Saturday called for rain, rain, rain, and when my alarm clock went off this morning I hardly needed to look out the window. I could hear the sound of wet car tires on the road outside, so I rolled over and figured I'd ride another day. When the phone rang a little while later, I was surprised to hear Charlie D on the other end. He said he thought there would be a little break in the rain and that if we went out now we should be able to get in a couple of hours on the bike. So naturally I agreed to meet him up on the levee around 8:00. Since I knew it was going to be wet the whole time, I decided to ride my old Pennine, completely equipped with nice solid steel fenders. I didn't regret it, either. For the entire ride there was water spraying off of everyone's wheels, except of course mine, and for the most part I found it better to be in front than in back today. The Pennine is circa 1972. Steel Reynolds 531 with Simplex derailleurs, Campi cranks, and a mix of other obsolete components. It's a nice ride on a day like this, and despite the ever present spray from the other bikes, my feet didn't feel really wet until the ride was almost over, and it was a nice change not to have cold gritty water being sprayed up my ass the whole time.

Later in the day, The Daughter and her entire team from Iowa came over to the house so I could lead them on a tour of some of the key areas impacted by Katrina. Thanks to Kenny B, I had a good idea of where to go, and we visited the areas around three of the biggest floodwall breaches. As we drove through Lakeview and then down Bellaire Drive alongside the 17th Street Canal, it became very quiet inside the van. Like most people, they soon realized that this was much, much bigger than they had thought. Anyway, a valuable learning experience for all.

A rider from Ohio is in town and is planning on meeting me at the Morning Call tomorrow to do the Northshore ride. Hope the weather cooperates!