Impatience

The weather today was nearly perfect, especially when you consider it's still early February. By the time the Giro got rolling the morning chill was rapidly burning off and the huge group was clearly getting impatient for the springtime races. We hit Hayne Blvd. and the pace started to pick up right away. Then, when Brady flatted, the front of the group didn't really want to hear about it. Some people slowed down, including me, but we could see that the front half of the group wasn't. We sped up again for a while, and then finally Max rode up to the front and pulled in the reins and we slowed down. The front part of the pack was already long gone up the road. We soft-pedaled for a long time but behind us there was nothing but empty road. We tried calling VJ, who we knew had stopped along with a few others to help Brady, but he didn't answer. Finally we figured they must have turned off of Hayne and taken the Bullard shortcut, so we got going again. As it turned out, they actually beat us to Chef Highway, so we didn't see them again until after the turnaround where everyone finally regrouped. I think everyone was feeling pretty peppy today, thanks to the warm weather and light winds, and I even indulged in a couple of good efforts myself going over the overpasses.

The rest of the day was a trip to Baton Rouge to check on the mother-in-law whose condition is now pretty grave, enough so that family members are starting to gather in Baton Rouge. I'm hoping to make the northshore ride tomorrow, assuming things over there remain stable. It sounds like we will have a good sized group for the ride, and since we are being promised another great day weather-wise, I'd hate to miss riding. Meanwhile, the Herring guys are packing up for an early Monday departure for the Tour of Belize which will surely be fun, at least in a fast and painful way.