It was a Giro Ride weekend for me and as I left Saturday morning for the ride out to the lakefront I noted how dark it was and how depressing the coincidence of shorter days and the end of the racing season is. The Saturday ride was missing a few of the regular riders because it's the MS Tour for Cure weekend. As often happens this time of year, I was feeling pretty passive on the ride, just happy to follow wheels and stay out of trouble. Things were going along pretty smoothly until just after we got onto that short section of Interstate where the pace always seems to ramp up. I saw Howard dropping back quickly with a flat tire. Someone yelled "Flat!" and I quickly told them to keep going. Having the whole group stop on the side of the interstate would have been a really bad idea. In fact, since Howard's tire still had a bit of air in it, those of us who stopped waited until we were on the off-ramp before stopping to fix it. Then we went through two tubes before getting him rolling again. On the plus side, we then had a nice little group and a smooth paceline to battle the headwind as we rode out on Chef Highway to meet the rest of the group on its way back. The weather was so nice that a few of us hung around the parking lot for a long time afterward. The rest of the day involved a drive to Baton Rouge and back and then a small wine-tasting at the Ecole Bilingue de la NouvelleOrleans sponsored by the little wine shop at University Square (Hopper's) and featuring a few wines from the Rhone valley. In-between, I spent a couple of hours trimming the long row of long-neglected Ligustrum hedges along the side of the house - one of the many things that get pushed aside in favor of road trips to bike races and those long rides in the country. By the time I finished my wimpy little arms and under-developed shoulders were practically dysfunctional.
Sunday morning I turned off the alarm, fell asleep again, and the jumped out of bed at 6:30. By the time I got out the door I had less than twenty minutes to make it to the lakefront without missing the group, so basically I started the day off with a little time trial down Carrollton Avenue. Just after I hit Lakeshore Drive I saw a group coming and knew it was too early since it was only 7:02 and they'd have to have been going about 50 mph to get to Bayou St. John by then. Someone said they didn't think there was anyone else behind, so I went along with them. Of course, an hour later the riders who'd been abandoned finally found us. I don't understand why these guys are in such a rush to leave and don't seem to be able to think about the riders who show up just in time for the 7 am start. Anyway, there was a pretty decent breeze and the ride seemed fairly fast to me today, even though we were still missing a few of the usual riders. There was some rainy weather moving in as we rode back down Lakeshore Drive and looking to the south I figured I was about to get wet. Just about that time we started getting a light drizzle (the stuff they call rain in California) that continued all the way home. It was just enough to get my socks wet by the time I got back.
It's after 5 pm now and for the most part I've been sitting on the couch watching old movies since noon and wondering why my hip still hurts. Outside, it's been raining pretty much nonstop since I got home, but it hasn't been particularly heavy. One of the neighbors and her kid just came over to exchange cookies and soon I'll have to fire up the grill for dinner with the other neighbors.
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