Weekend Events

A wedding, a ride in a rainstorm, and a cyclist in intensive care. It's been a long weekend. It all started around 5:00 am Friday morning when drove The Wife to the airport to catch a plane for Moline, IL and a visit with The Daughter in Iowa City. Her luggage apparently caught a later flight. I got back home in plenty of time to get in my usual Friday morning ride, so at least that worked out nicely. Near the end of the ride I came upon Vivian changing a flat on the bike path, so I rode with her down to Oak Street where the tire went flat again. That time she found the little sliver of glass. By then I was already feeling rather tired, so I stopped at Zotz for a cup of dark roast. After work I picked up my father and met my sisters and brother and most of their families for dinner. Everyone was in town for my neice's wedding on Saturday. I was expecting four house guests from Dallas to arrive around 9 pm, but got word they wouldn't be arriving until around midnight. I stayed up until 1:30 am with no sign of them and finally fell asleep until they showed up around 3 am. A couple of hours sleep and it was time to head out to the Saturday Giro Ride!


I actually got to the Harrison Ave. Starbucks earlier than usual, but spent most of the ride struggling a bit from the accumulated sleep deprivation. Since I'd left the dog in my bedroom so he wouldn't bother the house guests, I rushed straight home after the ride. My weekend guests were just heading out when I got home, and a little while later my brother called asking if I wanted to meet them at Riccobono's for breakfast. I jumped into the shower and rushed over there just as a little rain shower arrived. Later that afternoon I learned that one of the guys on the LSU cycling team, Michael Bitton, a graduate student, had been hit by a car on River Road and, basically, left for dead in the ditch by a hit-and-run driver. He is still in intensive care fighting for his life with broken vertebrae, brain injury, severe damage to hip and shoulder, broken sternum and ribs, and internal bleeding. The police identified the vehicle based on car parts left at the scene and the word went out quickly via email lists, Facebook and the media. This afternoon the police arrested the driver. His lawyer is already trying to lay the blame on the cyclist and the road itself. Anyway, I hope Michael comes through this OK. I understand that he at least escaped any significant spinal cord injury. Some time in the afternoon I got the online registration for the Tour de La. set up. I still need to add in the maps and other information for the criterium, make the final arrangements with City Park, update the Race Bible, etc.

Anyway, the real rain started just in time for the wedding, which was thankfully only half an hour long. Then the sky really opened up for the drive from the church to the reception. The reception itself was quite nice with lively music and dancing. Of course I ended up drinking a bit too much wine, so although I got back home well before 10 pm, I was more than ready for bed by then. There was a Sunday ride planned for the northshore, on the Tour de La course. There was no way I was going to make it, however. I set my sights instead on the Sunday Giro Ride.

Sunday's radar image was quite colorful. Most of it was way to the west of us and I figured we'd be able to get through the Giro Ride before it got here. When I got to Starbucks I found a smaller group than usual, even though it included a couple of people who had originally planned on doing the northshore ride. Mignon looked around at who was there and wondered out loud if she'd be able to stay with the group. I was already regretting those last two glasses of wine I'd had the night before. The sky was cloudy but didn't look threatening as we headed out. Despite the smallish group, the pace got pretty fast and stayed that way all the way down Hayne Blvd. A little later there were some words exchanged between Mike W. and Tim and a couple of miles after that the attacks started. The speed kept going from extremely fast to merely very fast and I ended up skipping a bunch of pulls in the interest of pack survival. We lost a number of people along the way. There was a final surge and sprint at Venetian Isles and then when we turned around and I looked up at the western sky, I knew we were in trouble. The sky ahead was dark and gloomy. We were going to get wet. Possibly very wet. We were already flying down Chef on the way back when the remnants of the original group tried to turn around and latch on. I don't know how many of them made it. Luckily for them Charlie flatted shortly thereafter. Unluckily for them the pace went right back up to where it had been as soon as we got going again.

I guess the rain started shortly after we turned off of Chef Highway. I sat up for a moment and stuffed my camera into the ziplock bag with my phone. The sky was looking even worse, and soon we were riding in a fairly heavy rain. Mignon, who had taken the Bullard shortcut and was hiding out at the gas station by the interstate joined us a bit reluctantly. This was understandable, since normal people would be seeking shelter under the circumstances under which we were riding. Still, the pace remained fast all the way down Hayne and when the rain went from bad to torrential downpour near the end of Hayne she and Chip disappeared off the back. The ride over the bridges and down Leon C. Simon was brief but epic. The streets were flooding and the rain was so heavy that I was worried the cars wouldn't be able to see us. The only thing that would have been worse would have been to be riding alone. The rain finally eased up as we got to City Park, so I stopped at Starbucks again where they gave me a discount because they recognized me from that morning and I sat down with Mark to wait for the others. I finally sent Mignon a text and found out that she and Chip had stopped to wait it out. As I rode home down Canal Blvd. it started raining more heavily again. There was a flooded-out car stalled in the Canal Blvd. underpass. The Carrollton Ave. underpass was about four feet deep, judging by the water level on the stalled car down there, and had been closed off by the police. Luckily there is a sidewalk much higher up so I was able to get across. The Palmetto drainage canal was definitely at flood stage, and this was probably nearly an hour after the worst of the rain.


After I got home and warmed up a bit, I spent some time cleaning off the bike and lubricating the chain. Hopefully all of those "sealed" bearings didn't get too much water in them.


I wonder if my shoes will be dry by morning.....