So Much Darker

The weather has reverted to its normal level of humidity and temperature now. As I got ready to ride today I took a look out the window because if felt so humid that I though it might have actually rained. Although the streets were dry, I couldn't help but notice that it looked so much darker than it did just a week ago. I'm sure that was due in part to the scattered clouds that were visible only because of the reflection of the city's lights, aka, "light pollution." I had picked up a new little red blinky light after work on Monday, and even with the "included" batteries, its seven LEDs seemed blindingly bright as I headed off for the levee. The wind out of the ESE was really strong today and I figured we'd have a pretty fast ride out to the turnaround. I was right. The only problem was that quite a bit of it was in the dark. It can get a little sketchy up on the levee when it is that dark. Oncoming riders and runners seem to appear quite suddenly, not to mention the big drilling rig that forced us down onto the grassy slope of the levee. Anyway, I didn't turn off the headlight until we were all the way out to Kenner this morning.



Rob and Chad and perhaps a few others like Max and Matt seemed to be pushing the pace pretty hard up at the front, and so as usual, half of the riders in the group were content to stay out of the rotation and hang on nearer the back. I was one of them for a while, wondering if the guys at the front fully realized that we'd be fighting a headwind all the way home. Then, somewhere around the dip, I guess, Rob and Chad and a few others disappeared and the pace settled down a little bit. Still, it was hard enough that on the return trip, what was left of the group was happy to spin along into the wind at an easy pace for the first half hour or so. The rest of the return trip was done at a good reasonable pace that was quite fast enough.



So I think I have the final Road LCCS points finished. I'll hopefully get them up on the website this evening some time. I also need to put up the final Track LCCS, which I have somewhere but haven't checked over yet. The track LCCS is always confusing because there are too few riders and too many classes, so some riders are riding in multiple classes, and then in the team events you get the same rider riding on more than one pursuit or team sprint team in the same race. How are you supposed to score that??



So anyway, since it's been too dark to take pictures, I thought I'd put up a couple from last Saturday's Giro Ride. One is of Matt showing off his nice dental work, and the other is of Chad explaining the benefits of using Mr. Tuffy's to Rob.