Temperature-wise, it is starting to feel more like early Spring around here, but of course that means more southerly winds. More southerly wind means a better chance of rain, which is exactly what we got last night. By morning, in this case 5:45 am, the streets were still pretty wet but the temperature was in the low 60s, so I aired up the tires on the old rain bike, hopped up on the vintage Concor saddle, clipped into the old Shimano/Look pedals, shifted into the 44 chainring with the old Simplex retro-friction lever, and headed for the levee. I knew it would be foggy again and I wondered if anyone would show up considering the wet streets. I needn't have worried. It seems that the warmer weather trumped the wet streets for most people, so we ended up with maybe fifteen riders. Well, that's before three of them flatted, anyway. Even Mike W. showed up. With Lakeshore Drive pretty much out of commission lately, we've been seeing more of the lakefront riders on the levee. We had a light tailwind for much of the way out, and if it hadn't been for the occasional patches of dense fog, I'm sure we would have been flying. As it was, the fog definitely kept the speed down a bit, although we were definitely pushing the comfort level, visibility-wise. In light of the conditions, and my personal distaste for wheelspray, I was keeping a bikelength or two between me and the rider in front of me. The Rain Bike's fenders kept the bike, and my backside, pretty clean, but I still got enough wheelspray to arrive home fairly wet and quite dirty, at least when viewed from the front.
On the home front, The Wife is out of town at a conference until next week so I have full-time dog-walking duties. I think Renzo is slowly coming around. He's still hesitant to approach, even when I'm holding his full food bowl in my hand, but if I lead him to the bowl he'll happily stay and eat with me in the room. The way to a dog's heart is through his stomach. Mine too.
For a really good writeup on Rouge-Roubaix, you really ought to take a look at Brian Toone's blog. He gives a great description of what it was like in the middle of the Cat. 1/2/3 race.
2 comments:
The only problem with Brian's blog is that he doesn't know what pave' is. He uses the word to describe the dirt/gravel sections and that ain't no pave'.
Haha! Yes, I think you would have to call those sections "un-pave'"
Post a Comment