Is Orange the New Black?

Sunday's Giro was rather small, about 20 riders, but that was not unexpected with the Tour de Louisiana crit occurring simultaneously on the North Shore. The sparse attendance didn't lessen the intensity one iota, with almost all of the cyclists who usually keep the pace high opting to ride on the South Shore. I'm always puzzled by those who apparently feel compelled to ride every ride like it's a race, the last race, the most important race, and seemingly train for racing, but choose not to participant in the Tour de LA.

Warm up on Lakeshore Dr.

When the group got to the casino bridge, the OWNHB was waiting at the top, which is not unusual. What was unusual was his rolling into the bunch helmetless. Someone asked, "Mike, where's your helmet?" He had evidently left it at the top of the bridge and turned immediately to retrieve it. No one slowed, and we didn't see him again until after the turnaround at Venetian Isles.

The only other thing notable about the outgoing leg of the ride was the tailwind, which kept the pace in the 26 - 29 mph range for much of the ride out. Big Rich was on a fancy new machine: an orange Seven Axiom with a custom decal. The decal says Bosko, the meaning of which is a mystery to me and others. In an effort to unearth exactly what is behind the moniker, I did a little Googling after the ride, and discovered it represents a cartoon character₍₁₎ from the early days of animation, and is not very PC in this century, to say the least. On the final straight-away to Venetian Isles, I was on Rich's wheel and when the pace crept up above 30, Rich shifted to his biggest gear, but his chain remained between gears and started chattering. So, just about 200 meters before we would have normally sat up, a gap opened. Apparently Bosko needs a little fine tuning.

Heading East on Lakeshore Dr.

On the way home, the pace along Chef was reduced somewhat by the SW wind. That was not the case on the service road, and four or five of us got tailed off the bunch making the transition onto the car dealership section and had to chase back to the group on Bullard.

Actually, I may be being a little unfair to Rich, because Bosko could also be intended to denote the coffee shop in Keego Harbor, MI, the I.P.A. made by Pressure Drop Brewery in London, or the pizza joint in Calistoga, CA.

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