A Little Tired ... of it all

A few of us got together last night for a few beers and dinner with Realdo before he departs for Eurasia on Friday. The Rogue Chocolate Stout at the Bulldog was good as usual, and we followed it up with a trip farther uptown on Magazine Street for some good Mexican fare at Taqueria Corona, where we walked in at precisely closing time, after which the owner locked the front door and took care of us all in fine style. Despite the two pints of stout, I was still hungry enough to clean my plate. I ordered "numero uno y medio" from the menu, partially because I thought it was a clever name and partially because of the aforementioned two pints of stout. Anyway, it was a nice evening, I took a few photos, and I hated to say au revoir to Reo. Who knows? Perhaps we'll run into each other again. You never know. I mean, I just got an email from Randall Holmes the other day. He started racing around when I did, only he was a few years younger. I have vivid memories of him with his long legs on his oversized Pugeot PX-10 riding the old Novice Races in City Park where he would always, always finish. He's the one in the photo in the NOBC Archives. Time flies, eh? I think it's about time he got back on the bike, don't you?

The morning training ride was an easy one with only six or seven guys riding in the double line that facilitates conversation. I think we got the last sliver of cool morning air because now the wind has shifted more to the south, the clouds are building up, and rain is predicted for the foreseeable future.

The news about the Tour de France and Vino and now Moreni and both their entire teams is really starting to get me down and, frankly, I'm getting a little tired of it all. Although I certainly have no inside information, there's the strong and undeniable scent of high-level cycling politics being played out among the various organizations like ASO, UCI, WADA, etc., and although it's always a good thing when the drug cheaters are caught and the cases are proven, I can't help but feel that the pro cyclists are, for the most part, Pawns on this particular chessboard and that the chessboard in question happens to be going up in flames at the moment with Le Equipe working the bellows from the peanut gallery. Maybe I'm just too trusting and inclined to grant "benefit of the doubt." Lord knows, I've suffered for that fault before...