The Daughter was headed back to Iowa City early Tuesday morning, so I skipped my ride in favor of breakfast at La Madeleine before driving out to the airport. Coincidentally, the Tour de France was just starting the mountain by the same name as we left. I told myself I'd get in a ride after work. Yeah, right. By the time I got home all I wanted to do was vegetate on the couch with a glass of wine. I felt so guilty -- at least until the second glass of wine.
So naturally I was up early for the Wednesday levee ride, which started out at a nice moderate pace as usual. A bit up the river, however, we picked up a few more riders, and a bit farther up the river we picked up Realdo and a couple more. The pace, which had been holding at around 22 mph, soon started to creep up and up, finally stabilizing at around 25 mph. Mignon's worries about getting to work by 8pm soon vanished. The ride back nice and fast too, so at least my guilt level dropped down a notch or so. Even so, I had already decided to ride out to the lakefront after work to watch the training time trial that Kenny runs and then watch some of the Tour de France at Kona Cafe.
Back at work, my 3 pm meeting ended a bit after 5:00, so I was back home around 5:15 or so. It took me a while to find my bike lights and pack a little backpack so I would have a pair of shoes other than my riding shoes. I wasn't sure exactly when the TT was supposed to start, but since I wasn't planning on riding it I didn't really rush. Anyway, as it turned out, the time trial had close to 40 riders. I toyed with the idea of riding it myself, but since I was on my regular road bike and wearing a backpack, it just didn't seem like it would be worth it.
It was around 9 pm by the time I headed back home. I decided to ride down Lakeshore Drive to Wisner rather than taking the slightly shorter route on Robert E. Lee. I was surprised to find that they had closed the road to traffic (naturally I ignored the traffic cones). I was even more surprised to find that there were absolutely no lights. None. It was really pretty neat to be riding down the darkened road along the lake as the sailboats returned from a little evening regatta. Then, when I got onto Wisner, I found that there were no streetlights there either! I was glad I'd brought my little headlight. I really enjoyed the ride home.
So naturally I was up early for the Wednesday levee ride, which started out at a nice moderate pace as usual. A bit up the river, however, we picked up a few more riders, and a bit farther up the river we picked up Realdo and a couple more. The pace, which had been holding at around 22 mph, soon started to creep up and up, finally stabilizing at around 25 mph. Mignon's worries about getting to work by 8pm soon vanished. The ride back nice and fast too, so at least my guilt level dropped down a notch or so. Even so, I had already decided to ride out to the lakefront after work to watch the training time trial that Kenny runs and then watch some of the Tour de France at Kona Cafe.
Back at work, my 3 pm meeting ended a bit after 5:00, so I was back home around 5:15 or so. It took me a while to find my bike lights and pack a little backpack so I would have a pair of shoes other than my riding shoes. I wasn't sure exactly when the TT was supposed to start, but since I wasn't planning on riding it I didn't really rush. Anyway, as it turned out, the time trial had close to 40 riders. I toyed with the idea of riding it myself, but since I was on my regular road bike and wearing a backpack, it just didn't seem like it would be worth it.
It was around 9 pm by the time I headed back home. I decided to ride down Lakeshore Drive to Wisner rather than taking the slightly shorter route on Robert E. Lee. I was surprised to find that they had closed the road to traffic (naturally I ignored the traffic cones). I was even more surprised to find that there were absolutely no lights. None. It was really pretty neat to be riding down the darkened road along the lake as the sailboats returned from a little evening regatta. Then, when I got onto Wisner, I found that there were no streetlights there either! I was glad I'd brought my little headlight. I really enjoyed the ride home.
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