Weather and Wine

The forecasters have obviously been very confused by the recent weather, and so when I got up Saturday morning the first thing I did was stumble down the hall and fire up the laptop to check the radar. The predicted rain was clearly behind schedule, and it looked good for the Giro Ride, so I suited up and hit the road. The temps have been well above normal lately, and the camelias in the front yard are taking full advantage of the opportunity. I opted for arm-warmers just to keep the chill at bay for the ride out to the lake, but might easily have gone without. It always feels faster without all those winter clothes on, doesn't it? With the threat of a Sunday wash-out, and a Saturday night club party, I wasn't planning on holding back too much.

Once again, just as we really got rolling down Hayne Blvd., someone had some sort of mechanical issue that brought us to a screeching halt for a few minutes, but soon we were rolling again. Heading down Chef Highway a couple of guys rolled off the front and the few of us interested in working had a hell of a time getting the group organized. Actually, I don't think we ever did. A couple of guys would pull, then nobody would come through, then somone would go flying past on the outside and everybody would chase. Kind of like a Cat. 5 road race. We eventually caught, but it was probably mainly because the riders up the road weren't working all that hard. The return trip featured a section of nice tailwind and as we got close to the Goodyear Sign sprint I tapped Max on the back as I went past to hunt for a good position nearer the front. I never really found one, but got in a good 37 mph effort nonetheless. On the way back I decided rather late to make an effort on the Casino overpass and luckily found Matt's wheel just as he started to accelerate up the slope. Unfortunately, he did so on the shoulder which was littered with debris, and just before the top I heard the pssst, pssst, pssst of air escaping from my tire. It was kind of disappointing because I'd been looking forward to sprinting both overpasses. Anyway, I got back home with 64 miles or so and didn't get rained on, so it was good. In fact, as it turned out, the rest of the day was just beautiful and the nasty weather didn't finally arrive until early Sunday morning.

Saturday night was our NOBC party up on the roof of the 123 Walnut condos. It was nice, and much wine and food was consumed, including a custom cake. Those bakers are sure getting clever nowadays! Even though we were pretty much done by 10:00, I was feeling pretty tired by then. I should probably try sleeping tonight...

Sunday morning was the washout that had originally been forecast for Saturday, and by the time the cool front passed through and the skies cleared I was up to my elbows in paint, so we'll just have to call Sunday a "rest day."