Spoked

First hard ride since encountering the creeping crude every allergy suffer has to face sometime during each spring. Still coughing and blowing my nose quite a bit. Sorry to all that were behind me during one of my farmer blows.

The ride started out under a thick fog and no one was too eager to set the pace. Randy and I were on the front riding easy and chatting about the Giro. Looks as if there is some conspiracy between the sprinters. Always some excuse when you don't win. Once we got to the Golf course the levee cleared a little and the pace began to pick up. I decided to go to the back and see how I was going to feel.

We had a pretty large group and I didn't feel too safe with the fog. But I got stuck at the back and just waited for my pull and then tried to find a place at the front. It got a little crazy once we passed the parish line and there is a place where the levee is not too smooth. Guys started hitting their brakes in the line and Robin had the misfortune of having to slam on his brakes and busted a spoke. I didn't know this until after the ride. But the group had no organization so I decided I had had enough. I jumped out and hit it hard to catch a few guys who had thought the same.

Turned out to be a good move since I ended up working with Todd and Howard and felt safe to be out of the chaos. We worked well and I was feeling pretty good, then Howard flatted and it was just Todd and myself. We were working hard and caught Justin. By this time my lungs were starting to suffer and I began coughing. But we began to work well again, just a little slower. We were caught by Donald and 3 others and that helped. I sat on and made it to the turnaround without losing it.

The way back was much more civil. Most everyone took a decent pull before dropping back. A few times the pace increased and it became hard to blow the nose. I left alot of snot on the levee today, but I am glad the nose was running. Not so good for my brother. I found out today that he is having surgery on his sinuses and a deviated septum. I sure hope I don't have to go to that extreme someday.