Summer Speed

Riders started arriving at Starbucks early this morning.  A function of the early sunrise, perhaps.  I had taken a different route from home since I'd read that the stretch of Harrison Avenue that goes through City Park would be closed because of filming.  It was already hot and humid, despite a steady east wind, and I was glad I'd filled one bottle with sports drink instead of plain water.  My legs were still feeling rather achy, much as they had since Tuesday.  Just as the group really got rolling, the lead riders battling the headwind on Hayne Blvd., someone flatted.  I guess about half of the group stopped to help while the rest continued on. I rode around in little circles until we were ready to go, but almost as soon as we started again someone else flatted. 

Finally we got going, deciding to take a little shortcut down Bullard Avenue.  When we got to Chef Highway I thought we would just spin along until we saw the group coming the other way, but instead we rode pretty hard.  When we finally saw the group we turned around and joined in.  It took a few miles, but eventually the pace went up to 30 mph or so  and stayed there or the better part of five miles.  By then I could hardly see through my glasses because of all the sweat and the group had split.  Things came back together, though, somehwere along Bullard. 



A LITTLE UNDECIDED?

Then, as we were turning onto Hayne Blvd. I heard the unmistakable sound of someone crashing.  Somehow Mike Williams had fallen -- probably hit a clump of concrete in the road.  The main casualty of that little spill was his expensive carbon time trial base bar.  Held by a couple of internally routed cables, it dangled in the air the rest of the way.  By the time I got home I was feeling a lot more wiped out than I'd expected.  Tomorrow we're doing a northshore ride.  I expect the weather will be similar to what it was today, unless the brand new tropical storm in the Gulf starts to cause problems.