Pretty

Went out to eat last night at an Italian restaurant on Magazine Street that's part of Semolina's but has a different name - Bistro Italia. Magazine street was really lively and we ate al fresco at a table out on the sidewalk next to a couple and a big German Shepherd. It was windy, but quite nice, and I spotted Kenny B. heading into the same restaurant. He said he'll probably get back on the bike soon. I don't doubt it. Anyway, I started out with a glass of wine, and then we (there were four of us) sprung for a bottle. We polished off the wine, but the food was too much and we brought some home in those styrofoam to-go boxes. The
Pasta e Pollo Arrosto (Fire-roasted chicken, tossed with angel hair pasta and marinara,
garnished with provolone and sun-dried tomatoes) was pretty good.

A little cool front has left us with some really nice weather today, if you don't mind the stiff wind that came along with it. Figuring it would be a pretty day, I stuck the expendible camera in my pocket and stepped out into the semi-darkness to ride out to the lakefront. I've found that lately I keep comparing my rides through the city with what they were like a year ago when we were just returning after Katrina.

Shortly after I stopped to try and take a photo of the sunrise (it didn't come out, did it?) I saw Realdo already heading down Lakeshore Drive. I started to go after him, but then I saw Tim coming up behind. I could see the Giro Ride group a bit farther back. So I rode with Tim until we got to the Casino Bridge. At the top I stopped to wait for the group while Tim continued on after Reo. I took a few pics of the group as it came up the bridge, and a few more once we were down on Hayne Blvd. The pace on Hayne was pretty nice. Not too fast, but not too slow.

There's one spot on the Giro Ride where we have to cross over a couple of lanes of Interstate to get over to an exit ramp. It's sometimes a little sketchy there, but this morning was really bad. There were a whole bunch of cars and trucks coming, but the front half of the group went anyway. That left the rest of us kind of stranded. A couple of the cars slowed down and waved us over, but by then there was a big gap and riders were spread out all over the place. We were all lucky that a truck of something didn't come flying around that curve behind the trucks that had slowed down to almost a stop. Anyway, we had to chase and a number of people lost contact, and it wasn't until we got to Chef Highway that the front of the group got the message and slowed up so people could regroup. It was otherwise a pretty typical Giro Ride, except that the last half of the ride back in was pretty easy. It was fine with me, though. When the weather's this nice at this time of year, it's nice to look at the scenery a bit.