Sand Surfing

When the alarm went off this morning I looked over at the clock and thought I'd get in just a few minutes more of sleep before getting up to ride. The next time I looked at the clock it was 6:30. Hmmm. After a mad dash to the levee, I was surprised to find the group still there. I think they were waiting for me. Damn, I'm predictible. Being a Friday, the group was small and the pace was easy. When a 3-rider group of women passed us, Donald and I, who were at the front, matched their pace but hung back two or three bike-lengths. They were only going 19 or 20 mph, but it was convenient not to have to check our speed, and besides, the view was nice. Up ahead we saw Elliot turn around and as usual he was going just a bit faster than we were. A couple of the women caught up to him and latched on. Anyway, the women stopped at Williams Blvd. as they usually do.

I knew it would be a slow day at work because of the upcoming long weekend, so I rode back on the levee all the way to the Corps of Engineers building and ended up riding down Pine Street to the house. After I rode past Lusher school I was looking at all of the parents walking their kids to school under the oak trees and smiling to myself at the Norman Rockwell images when all of a sudden I'm sand-surfing! Apparently the streets folks had torn up a big section of street and then filled it in with nice, soft, invisible river sand. Geez. I hope none of the cute little schoolchildren heard the four-letter word that came out of my mouth when I started to go sideways. Somehow I managed to stay upright until I hit nice solid asphalt again, but it was close.

So tomorrow we'll hit the road at, theoretically, 5 a.m. to make the 14-hour drive up to Iowa City. It's a good thing I like to drive! The new clips for my old Saris roof rack arrived today just in the nick of time, so I put it on the new car. That way I can take both my bike and The Daughter's bike without having to fit them both inside. Yeah, I'm still holding out hope that I'll be able to get in some riding on Sunday. Maybe even a short local criterium. I don't know if I'm quite ready for low temperatures in the 50s, though!