local crime and bikes

Today I learned (here, see June 23) that

1. Bulk marijuana comes in bales.
2. 220 bales of marijuana weigh approximately 4000 lbs (1820 kilos).
3. If you have 220 bales of marijuana in your house, the cops can smell it from the street.

The reason I came across that particular page is that I was looking for the press release for a bank robbery that my local newspaper says the cops want help with. The paper didn't print the robber's race or picture, which one commenter stated very positively were both present in the press release. So now I'm all obsessed with when the TPD is going to update their page so I can see the press release and know whether or not the newspaper is as goofy as the local tv news. I may need to get a life.

But I'm trying to get a life. With expectations of being able to ride around Hellyer Velodrome for a little while at least, I went to this morning's beginner training session. In the car on the way there, my husband told me that there probably wouldn't be a lot of pack riding (huge clots of riders), but it would likely be pacelines (long strings of riders), so I'd just have to make sure I wasn't right behind somebody stinky. Identifying stinky people beforehand and keeping track of them would be a useful skill to develop for later, when I could keep track of strong and weak riders in races. So we got to the track, and the parking lot was really full, which wasn't encouraging because crowds are bad, and then I had it confirmed that beginning/less serious riders reek of laundry chemicals, unlike serious racers, who usually don't smell like much. I spent 30 seconds sniffing around the infield, turned around, and left. I wasn't able to stay long enough to even rent a bike.

As a consolation prize, I rode into town with my husband for an iced coffee (not for me), and we ended up at the park on the bay, where we ran into my parents. We also tormented a 'recreational rider,' who blew past us on the long path. If he'd kept his pace up, we wouldn't have gone after him. We just kept riding up behind him so he'd ride faster and faster and faster. I know I spent too much time with my dog learning to chase things, but that was really fun.