Following Along

Well, today was the day. I broke out the arm-warmers for the first time this fall. It was even cooler this morning, and combined with the stiff wind I really wanted that little bit of extra warmth for my ride out to the lake. I was running a few minutes late, but still decided to give the new bike path another try. At 19 mph, some of those curves do get your attention. Just after I got onto the path, I looked over to my left and saw Big Richard riding down the left lane of Wisner (where the pavement is a bit less bad). Then I saw two police cars coming up from behind and though for sure they would give him trouble, but in true New Orleans Police Department fashion, they just slowed down, went around him, and carried on.

I had been thinking that today's Giro would be an easy one. My own legs were still feeling the effects of yesterday, so my plan was to just stay with the group. Well, that didn't last long. A couple of miles down Hayne Blvd. Mike W. went off the front, and when Brett and Jaro went after him, there I was following along. We hadn't been trying to get away, and indeed we weren't really even trying to stay away, but nonetheless, the group was clearly uninterested in chasing us down, so the gap grew rapidly. So there I was on a windy day in a 4-man group that included Mike on his handlebar-free TT bike with a disk wheel and Brett on his TT/Tri bike, wondering what I'd gotten myself into. Luckily, we weren't going all that hard, so I was just following along taking my pulls and wondering when we'd be caught by the group. We never were, though. The group was definitely in easy mode today. After the turnaround Jaro and I rode together talking for about five miles before the group finally came flying by in the tailwind.

Soon after I got home, The Wife and her sister wanted to take the kids to the Aquarium. I was really tired, but decided to follow along anyway. This was probably a mistake because all I wanted to do the whole time was find a nice quiet spot and take a nap. We went over to O'Henry's for a not so quick lunch, and then headed downtown to look at fish. I guess the thing about the aquarium that bugs me is that I'm so conflicted. Many of the fish are interesting, of course, but I have to admit, going there always makes me hungry for a seafood platter.