Morning Call

The Morning Call parking lot was quiet at 6:30 am. I took another sip of coffee and stepped out of the car. Quentin had already spotted me and was walking over. I told him to put his stuff in my car and looked up at the sky. "It's going to be a good day for a ride," I said. For some reason I was really looking forward to a nice training ride in the hills north of the lake. Missing two weekends of racing in a row will do that, especially this time of year. We headed across the long causeway, zipped through Mandeville and Covington, and arrived at the Lee Road school a little bit early. There were a few guys already there and by the time we were on the bikes we had a nice group of 13 riders for the morning's 65-mile ride.

Indeed, it was a good day for a ride. The air still felt cool as we headed north and met the first of the low rolling hills. Steve was there with his brand new carbon Cervelo superlight, having recovered from his recent crash that smashed the top tube of that bike's predecessor. There were some early signs that this ride wasn't going to stay under control. After about an hour there was a little attack that split the group. I ended up on the wrong side of the gap and Jorge, Shane and I started working hard to close it. I think we finally made contact shortly before the next intersection where we waited to regroup. There were a number of efforts like that today, and I have to admit I was enjoying every one of them, even though I did miss a couple of the sign sprints. After the usual stop at the Enon store, we headed south toward the Watchtower hill and I warned a couple of the guys who were new to this route that it might get hard. As we approached the climb I watched carefully from the middle of the paceline to see who was going to jump first. Surprise! Nobody did. We rolled over the top completely intact, which almost never happens. I guess that left a little extra in the tank, because by the end of Tung Road I was pushing the pace and soon it was just Keith, Steve and me. We kept the pressure on all the way back to the cars. Nice ride.

So after I got home I finally broke down and hopped on the commuter with my discount coupon to get a quick haircut. It was a beautiful day with a nice breeze and occasional clouds to keep things from getting too hot. I hate getting haircuts, and pretty much never like the outcome. Today was no exception. As I was waiting my turn I was watching a guy get his head shaved. His daughter, who was bald from chemotherapy, was with him. Wish I'd taken a picture, but somehow it just seemed too personal a moment to interrupt.