Back in Line

Late last night, for reasons that still escape me, I indulged in some sort of feeding frenzy. Tempted by a 'fridge full of leftovers from the weekend, and despite a late lunch of pizza, I decimated the supplies, inhaling ice cream sandwiches, italian ice, leftover salad, soft drinks, pretzels, watermelon, and wine as I sat on the couch watching some movie that I'd already seen a thousand times. I seem to go through these kinds of "hungry phases" every now and then. Deep-down I suppose it was really all just a futile attempt to delay the inevitable return to routine that awaited me this morning.

I was at least happy to find that it wasn't raining when I awoke, but since the weather around here has been extremely unstable lately, I checked the radar before I left. There were big storms already out to the west and heading my way, but it looked like the morning ride would be in the clear, so I headed out to the levee to meet the group and insert myself back in line.

The first part of the ride got pretty fast, with Eddie, Matt and Rob pushing the pace quite a bit. I knew Eddie would probably have to turn back early, which he did, and then for some reason Matt disappeared as well, so the pace settled down to a more sustainable 26-27 mph. The legs felt pretty good, thanks to all the "recovery time" they've enjoyed lately, although I'm sure they will be paying the price by tomorrow. It was a good ride, anyway, and I even arrived back home a few minutes earlier than usual. Not quite enough minutes, as it turned out. The sky was already turning dark and grey as I rolled the bike into the basement, so I didn't waste too much time getting ready for work. Unfortunately I needed to iron a shirt, and somewhere around the left sleeve I heard the rain start. This was a good southern-style summer deluge of monster raindrops that instantly sent torrents of runoff down the streets into the storm drains. I sighed, packed my messenger bag, and walked down the dark hallway to the study to fire up the laptop where I spent the next hour waiting for the rain to stop. On the plus side, the ride to work was cool and breezy and other than the water still dripping from the oak trees I stayed pretty dry.

So one of the Juniors from Jackson, MS, Ben Gabardi, won two stars and stripes jerseys (Junior 13-14 Time Trial and Criterium) plus a silver medal in today's road race. His MMW teammate Mike Olheiser is also on a roll in the elite events, placing 2nd today in the road race. Ben, who recently won the LAMBRA Cat. 4 and Junior road race championships and is now a Cat. 3, moved to Tennessee about a year or so ago and has been riding for Memphis Motor Werks (ACCM), so he's listed in all of the results as being from Tennessee. As it turns out, I hear he moved back to Mississippi a couple of months ago, so I think we can claim a little bit of credit for his wins! One thing I'd like to investigate with LAMBRA for the 2008 season is whether we might have enough revenue to budget for a little grant program for riders who want to go to Nationals -- maybe enough to at least cover the entry fees. Something to think about, anyway. I've always felt we should have more participation at Nationals.