I finally made it to baton rouge. I didnt leave st francisville until 130. I met up with reid and catharine for coffee and we went to poke around some of the historic areas, in particular the episcopal church. It was beautiful and the weather was warming up so I took my time. Eventually I broke off to swing by an old plantation before making tracks up the hills out of town.
There was a big construction project that reduced the 2 lane divided highway to 1 each way, with no shoulder and lots of traffic. So, I decided to ride down the closed side for 6 or 7 miles til the construction was over. Ive never had a whole highway to myself on a bike. The same highway, 61, goes all the way into B.R. and at some point gets renamed scenic highway. If they wanted to be more accurate they would call it industrial wasteland and refinery road. The various plants went on for miles, literally as far as you could see.
Im sure scenic highway used to be great but its been replaced by parallel interstates that seem to be a case study in urban decay. Riding in on a bike it was obvious that the older northern area of town used to be flourishing until the interstate cut it off, bisecting established neighborhoods so white people could get to the suburbs faster.
I met my host mark on the levee bike path in town and we rode to his house. Hes lived car-free in B.R. for 11 years. He took me out for a really fantastic andouille risotto that was everything I wanted in the world. After that we went to man a station for an alleycat, which is a loosely organized bike race with no set route, only ordered checkpoints to be marked off by people like us.Part of being fast is figuring out the best way to go.
Im really looking forward to meeting kenny and brent, who are hosting the event at their tattoo parlor. I might end up with a tattoo!
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