Strange Bedfellows

A bit of cooler, less humid air has finally wandered down this way, and everyone is all excited about the prospect of a few days of clear blue skies and lows in the 60s. Hopefully it will hold out through Sunday's Rocktoberfest race here in New Orleans. As usual there have been lots of emails back and forth this morning working out some of the usual race-day details, but the fact is that although this year's race will be expensive, the actual organizational needs are fairly easily met by our more experienced club members, so as long as we get a good turnout of both riders and volunteers, all should go pretty smoothly.

The morning levee ride had a nice turnout this morning and once we got past the bridge the pace picked up quickly. That cool north wind was largely behind us until we hit the bend in the river at the country club, followed by a little cross-country to circumvent a drilling rig (I thought they were finished, but I guess not). The rest of the way out was mostly crosswind and we lost a few riders along the way. For the return trip Chad organized a circular paceline that took a long time to stabililze. Different people were wanting to go different speeds, but eventually the group settled on a consensus speed and everybody figured out which riders were going to be in the rotation and which were going to be taking it easy at the back. I wouldn't say it was the smoothest paceline I've ever been in, but it could have been worse.

So after arriving at work I was noticing the great diversity of bikes that are in the bike room. There's a nice Bianchi Pista that I haven't seen much lately, along with a sweet Specialized Langster that I really like. In fact, I talked briefly with the Langster's owner the other day because it's one of the Public Health students and she was at a desk in the hallway selling tickets or something with her bike leaning on the wall behind her. I thought it was kind of funny to see those two bikes right next to a Wal-Mart "Next" bike. Strange bedfellows indeed.