Fête Nationale

Happy Bastille Day! One thing I always miss about Bastille Day is the little Bastille Day Criterium we used to have around the statue of Jeanne d'Arc, The Maid of Orleans. The annual race was held downtown near the old Rivergate which was torn down to build the architecturally devoid Harrah's Casino. In the process, they also moved Joan's statue, which was a gift from France, down into the French Quarter. The race was part of the Bastille Day celebration, hosted by the local France-Louisiana organization. It was always rather loosely organized, but for all its faults, it was quite unique. The course was probably about 600 meters around and included two U-turns. There was nowhere on the course where you could really get up to speed, since you were always either entering or exiting a turn. From the last U-turn to the finish was probably less than 100 meters. If even the smallest gap opened in front of you, which of course happened regularly due to crashes, it was nearly impossible to close it. If you made it to the finish anywhere near the front, you automatically earned a doctoral degree in bike-handling. Anyway, it was a fun little race that I still miss.

Yesterday was a very full day that started with a fast Thursday levee ride and ended with half a bottle of Merlot out on the front porch with The Wife and her sister and a couple of the neighbors who came over to try and talk us into adopting a couple of stray dogs that they had rescued from the levee. Someone must have abandoned them there in the area that has become an unofficial "dog park" figuring that someone there would take care of them. Looks like they have been house trained as far as we can tell. They are going to get both of them all brought up to code at the Vet., but need to unload them since they are already pretty well stocked dog-wise (one of them does a lot of dog-sitting and in fact took care of a whole menagerie immediately after Katrina since she worked at some kind of dog place before the hurricane). These look to be young dogs. One maybe a year or year and a half old, and the other younger but obviously related. Maybe part Dauchsund? Anyway, they want them to be able to stay together and live inside and if anybody can adopt these guys PLEASE let me know before The Wife adopts them!! As an added bonus, I'm pretty sure one of them can fly, given a favorable wind and a good push.

So today's ride was the usual easy Friday ride, but for some reason we picked up a whole lot of riders along the way. Dan and I were talking at the front most of the way out and when we turned around we were shocked to see a good dozen riders who had latched onto the group. Realdo rode with us most of the way. He's starting to do some serious training in preparation for the Tour of French Guyana (Tour Cycliste de la GuyaneTour Cycliste de la Guyane) which I think is in August 20-28.

So the local TV station has a special notice on their website: "Actor Brad Pitt will be at Gallier Hall to address environmental solutions to the city's housing problem." Huh? We should be taking advice from Brad Pitt now?? He's an expert on urban housing in his spare time? I mean, the guy doesn't even go by his own name.