Wednesday's weather was pretty nice. I ended up riding both morning and evening and likely would have gone even longer but for sundown and my growling stomach. In the morning I met the usual Wednesday group, which was suspiciously small. I'm not certain, but I suspect that the low turnout may have been a direct result of the thrashing that most of us endured on Tuesday. 
Along the way we met up with Jorge Merle who is in town for a few days from Dallas. Looking back at an old photo from around 1982, I can see that not much has change. He hasn't gotten any shorter; I haven't gotten any taller; and I still spend a lot of time hanging onto his wheel. The Wednesday group was mostly the usual smooth paceline ride, but toward the end, Jorge started taking faster and faster pulls. Finally, as we neared the Playground, I rode up alongside him to tell him that we always ease up there and roll in the rest of the way in cool-down mode. That evening I ran out of the office at 5 pm so that I could ride out to the lakefront for a little training ride at 6:00. I think we're going to start up a regular 6 pm lakefront ride on Wednesdays and see where they go. I've always felt I benefited from one or two days where I do two training rides, so I'm pretty much committed to the Wednesday evening ride. Hopefully we'll attract a decent sized group for these. I think we had about five yesterday. It would help if the OLD would get its act together and (1) finish repairing the bridge that they've been "working on" for the past year, and (2) stop shutting off the entire east end of Lakeshore Drive so it can be used as a levee mud storage site. There were a lot of triathletes swimming in the lake yesterday in preparation for the half ironman coming up in a couple of weeks, and of course there were a few riding on Lakeshore Drive too. Anyway, starting just after 6:00, we did two and a half of the long loops, cutting the last one short so that I could get home before dark. By the time I was back home I was more hungry than tired, despite the shrimp sandwich I'd had for lunch.
Along the way we met up with Jorge Merle who is in town for a few days from Dallas. Looking back at an old photo from around 1982, I can see that not much has change. He hasn't gotten any shorter; I haven't gotten any taller; and I still spend a lot of time hanging onto his wheel. The Wednesday group was mostly the usual smooth paceline ride, but toward the end, Jorge started taking faster and faster pulls. Finally, as we neared the Playground, I rode up alongside him to tell him that we always ease up there and roll in the rest of the way in cool-down mode. That evening I ran out of the office at 5 pm so that I could ride out to the lakefront for a little training ride at 6:00. I think we're going to start up a regular 6 pm lakefront ride on Wednesdays and see where they go. I've always felt I benefited from one or two days where I do two training rides, so I'm pretty much committed to the Wednesday evening ride. Hopefully we'll attract a decent sized group for these. I think we had about five yesterday. It would help if the OLD would get its act together and (1) finish repairing the bridge that they've been "working on" for the past year, and (2) stop shutting off the entire east end of Lakeshore Drive so it can be used as a levee mud storage site. There were a lot of triathletes swimming in the lake yesterday in preparation for the half ironman coming up in a couple of weeks, and of course there were a few riding on Lakeshore Drive too. Anyway, starting just after 6:00, we did two and a half of the long loops, cutting the last one short so that I could get home before dark. By the time I was back home I was more hungry than tired, despite the shrimp sandwich I'd had for lunch.
Thursday morning was cool and dark, and my legs were feeling the effects of the accumulated mileage from the prior two days. The group up on the levee resembled that of Tuesday, and in fact, so did the ride. Right away the pace at the front ramped up dramatically and someone a couple of riders ahead let the gap open. By the time I could get around, the gap was growing at an alarming rate, but I thought I'd try and close it gradually and see if I could get some help. Just as I'm starting to die, Tim goes flying past to make the bridge. I eased up and part of the pack caught up, then next thing I know Erich attacks out of the group to bridge. I honestly didn't think he could make it, but he did. The gap was probably 30 seconds at that point, although I have to say that it was growing more because of a lack of chasing in the group than an abundance of speed in the break. Tim and Woody, and I think Erich too?, turned back at The Dip, so I was thinking that we'd catch the other two or three who had been in the front group, but I think most of them made it to the turnaround ahead of us. Pretty much everybody regrouped at the turnaround out by Ormond, and the ride back was a little bit more congenial. The paceline was getting a little bit inconsistent by the time we were halfway back, probably because people were getting pretty tired by then. It wasn't until we were near the end that Jorge started taking faster pulls and I had to dip into the cookie jar a couple of times to stay with him.
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