Windy Weekend

Saturday morning, 6 am, it's cooler than it's been and the streets are wet. To Giro or not to Giro? That was the question. Fire up the laptop and check the radar and there's practically nothing there. Search around for the arm-warmers I haven't used since Spring and head out to the Lakefront. Cool, dark and very windy.

The Giro ride was fast and fragmented. On the stretch down Hayne I was sitting toward the back when a gap started to open a couple of riders ahead of me. By the time I realize the those riders aren't going to do anything about it, the gap is large and growing, so I go around with Lawrence and we chase our butts off until they finally ease up around Paris Road. A mile or so later we have to cross the interstate and the front of the group cuts across in front of a couple of cars going 70 mph around a curve. Another long chase all the way to the service road. Finally things regroup on Chef Highway and I think things are going to settle down for a while, although we're still going pretty fast. A couple of miles before the turnaround there's a big surge and another gap opens, I think the guy in front of me is going to close it, but all of a sudden he sits up and pulls over. I chase but the sprint to the turnaround has started and I finally blow up. Oh well! Got the LCCS rankings all updated and posted, filled out the post-event forms from Rocktoberfest, and just need the check to arrive from Laura so I can forward it all to the USAC.

Sunday morning the streets were wet again and there were only a dozen or so on hand for the Giro Ride. It was also even more windy than Saturday because a cool front had just come through. A small group on a windy day means only one thing: hard ride. Other than the flat I got on Chef when a bent nail punctured my tire, it was a pretty good ride, but the wind really made it hard. The rest of the day was pretty nice, so I even broke down and replaced the disintegrating aluminum screen on the porch door.