Fast and Wet

Damn, it was hard to get out of bed this morning. I always have trouble getting up when it's still dark, and in case you haven't noticed, it's still pretty dark until after 6 am now. So somehow I made my groggy way out to the levee where I found an unusually large group assembling up there. When Tim and Woody showed up I knew we were in for a fast one. The wind was light and the group numbered about twenty-five by the time we really got rolling. A group that large on the bike path makes for a very, very long paceline indeed. I was only three or four from the front when we got to the bend at the Country Club, and since I wanted to try for a photo of the long strung-out group, I pulled out of the paceline and drifted to somewhere near the back. I clicked off a few images and got back into the paceline, and soon the speed started to surge. For the next five miles or so there was no way I could move up without taking some big chances, so I hung out near the back behind a big guy on aero bars who was wisely leaving a couple of bike lengths between himself and the rider in front of him. Eventually things bunched up a bit near the pumps and I was able to get back into the rotating part of the paceline, but it was still another five miles before I finally hit the front and took a pull. As usual, things started to fragment a bit as we neared the turnaround and I got more than enough opportunities to pull.

So we turned around and it was clear that Tim and Woody had little interest in chit-chat. A little group of us formed quickly and the pace started going back up, but luckily most of the rest of the rest of the group latched on. It didn't last too long, though. By the time we were half-way back Tim and Woody were really pushing the pace and the paceline was getting disturbingly short. Then, for the last five miles or so, Tim, Woody and Donald started trading attacks. By then I was pretty much hanging on for dear life and hoping somebody would close the gaps. I looked back and there was nothing but empty levee. So it was a good hard workout and when I got home I was soaked to the skin with sweat.

Then, back at the house, as I was ironing a pair of pants I thought, "the last two times I rode to work in these pants it rained." Well, I almost couldn't believe it when, half-way to work, the wind suddenly picked up and I started to feel raindrops. Once again, I got fairly wet, and by the time I rolled into the Tidewater building my freshly-ironed pants looked just like they had when I'd taken them out of the washing machine. Wet once again. The traffic out in the Mississippi River has been pretty heavy today with an endless stream of big ships making the tricky turn at Algiers Point.