Cast of Characters

The Wednesday morning levee ride seems to be developing its own unique personality lately. Since it's sandwiched between the longer and faster Tuesday and Thursday rides, it is becoming popular as a mid-level day -- easier than the long rides but faster than the Monday and Friday rides. It is also attracting a somewhat different cast of characters, especially since it's a good ride for people who are just starting out with group rides and are understandably uncomfortable with the less forgiving pace of the Tuesday hammer sessions. This is a good thing in many ways, since it provides a nice entry point for riders who want to get into racing. On the other hand, it means that you can't necessarily make the same assumptions about the riders in front of you as you might make otherwise. So this morning the air felt a little cooler than usual and there were a few people in the paceline who I didn't know too well. There was also Boyd Fink, who I haven't seen in the group for quite a while. At first I was a little worried about the guy with the baggy blue shorts and running shoes. When we started out, he was staying up near the front doing a lot of work into the morning's unusual northwest headwind. Although his bike handling was fine, I was wondering if he was going too close to his limit and would abruptly blow up at some point. As it turned out, he did fine, so somebody needs to find that boy some proper riding gear.

So anyway we're rolling pretty steady into the wind at a reasonably comfortable pace and I'm noticing the guy on the Bianchi. He looks a little unsteady, and every now and then he would make this kind of panic move to one side or the other. I guess he was just staring at the wheel in front of him and so when the pace would slack off for a second he'd roll up on the guy ahead of him and have to take emergency evasive action. For those of us behind him it was rather frightening. After seven or eight miles of that, Donald rolled up alongside me and asked "When you have nightmares, are they in black and white, or Celeste??" I replied, "Celeste, and I think I'm having one right now." Then Donald rolled up next to the Bianchi rider, said something to him about his riding, and sprinted off into the distance.

Anyway, we all survived both the ride and the random heart rate spikes, although a few people did drop off the back when we got close to Jefferson Playground. In fact, the return trip, aided by a nice little tailwind, was pretty nice, even with the occasional disruptions in the paceline. I guess I should have stopped with the riders who dropped off and been sociable and at least asked their names, but there was this sweet tailwind and Scott and a couple of others weren't slowing down so I stayed with them and even took the long way home in order to prolong my tailwind time. Sometimes I can be so anti-social! Hopefully they'll be back and we can have a conversation about random things like, say, shorts, shoes, and straight lines.