Variety

Sunday on the northshore

The Saturday Giro over a week ago was hampered by yet another closure of the Seabrook bridge, and although it was otherwise a prefectly acceptable ride, I decided to venture across the lake the following day for a little variety. There was a small group planning on riding the old "Mailman" route, and although I knew it wouldn't be a fast ride, at least a lot of it would be in the shade since it started from the Mandeville trailhead of the Tammany Trace. So that was a fairly easy 69 mile ride to finish off a 350 mile week. 

Last week was more or less routine, except for a ride over in Mississippi on Sunday. On Wednesday I went out to meet the WeMoRi as usual, but there was a 3-rider break that was way off the front. I looked back and couldn't even see a chase group, so I hopped onto the back hoping for the best. After a few miles I realized that the group, composed of Lisa, Rob, and Maurizio, would probably soon be just Maurizio. Indeed, as we approached the Wisner overpass, Lisa looked over and told me she would be turning off to go home. I figured that Rob would be leaving for home at the turn onto Marconi, and for some reason I just didn't feel up to the challenge of hanging onto Maurizio's scant draft after that, so I eased up, hoping that the group was somewhere behind me. It took forever for them to catch me, which wasn't surprising because there were only a few of them left, none of which obviously had any interest in chasing. Maybe I should have stuck with Maurizio.

Friendly Friday has its usual good-sized group, and as has been the case of late, it did get pretty fast for a while. As we rounded the Armory loop at the eastern end of Lakeshore Drive, Jess launched a big water bottle when she hit that bump right after the bridge traffic merges onto Lakeshore Drive. That was also where the speed ramped up. Luckily, the water bottle seemed to stay off to the left, so that was good. After the ride she went back to look for it, but it was gone. Later that day I went over to Ochsner for a routine checkup which was, well, routine. BP was 110/80 and labs looked pretty much like they have for the past couple of years, so status quo for now.

On Saturday was the usual Giro, this time with a pretty good-sized group that included Connor. I wasn't feeling too hot from the start. After coming down from the overpass onto Hayne, the riders on the front put the hammer down, as usual. As sometimes happens, I was immediately in the red as the speed was stuck at around 28 mph and my heart rate was stuck in the upper 150s. After a couple of miles I decided I needed a little recovery and dropped off the back. Charles did the same a minute later, so we both took the Bullard shortcut. That usually cuts off a minute or two. Considering how fast the group was going, and how relatively slowly we were going, I was a little worried that we might miss them when we got to Chef Highway, but when we got there we couldn't even see them. It was a couple more miles before they finally caught us and we easily merged back into the group.

Sunday was a planned ride from the ballpark in Mississippi at 6:30 am. On Friday evening I got a call from Dylan and Josiah saying that they had about five Tulane riders who wanted to go, so we made arrangements for me to pick a couple of them up on Broadway so we could all meet at HQ. Amazingly everyone was on time, and after mounting three bikes on the roof we headed for I-10, arriving just a few minutes after 6:00 am. Jess arrived a couple of minutes later, so from Tulane we had Dylan, Josiah, Jess, Liam, Daniel, and Jack. The latter three were new Tulane riders, but Liam and Daniel had solid road experience, so no worries there. Jack was on his own bike with clip-on aero bars, wearing running shoes with toe clips, and looked pretty unsteady from the start, so I knew he was going to be seriously challenged sticking with the 12-person group we had on hand. Indeed, he was off the back early, so we waited for him at a couple of intersections. I eventually told the others I'd drop back and keep track of him so they wouldn't have to worry about him, and so he wouldn't get lost and end up calling us from somewhere in Alabama. We were probably 20 minutes behind the group when we got to the store stop at 49 miles, but at least everyone waited a while longer so he could get something to drink before heading out again. Right after we left the store the front of the group basically attacked and a big gap opened, and so I was in full chase mode for a few miles before catching. Of course, I knew Jack wouldn't be able to handle that, so when we got to the next intersection I turned back to pick him up. He was doing OK up to about 16 mph on the flat, but would drop off immediately on every climb, so I spent a lot of time enjoying the scenery and looking over my shoulder to make sure he was still there. So although it was almost 70 miles, most of it was kind of on-the-bike recovery for me. No complaints, though. We were five or ten miles from the finish when Jess came past in her car! She had gone back to look for another water bottle that had ejected itself from her bike. I don't know if she found it. So that made for a 294 mile week for me, although with definitely less intensity than the prior week. That left me with enough energy for a few hours of yardwork in the afternoon that unexpectedly didn't seem to take too much of a toll on my lower back.

This morning's Mellow Monday ride had a nice turnout that included some of the Tulane riders who had done the Mississippi ride the prior day. Three of them were planning on making it a true recovery ride, which they did, but not everyone in the group was on the same page, so things split up on the way out to the armory, so there was a group of four or five well up the road. Once we picked up a little tailwind on the way back down Lakeshore Drive, a couple of us rolled away from what was left of the main group, but by then the gap to the front group was way too large to have any hope of closing. We turned around a few blocks early on Canal to rejoin the group, though. Not much rain in the forecast until around the weekend. The tropical disturbance that was heading into the Caribbean doesn't currently look like it will amount to much, and there doesn't seem to be anything else that's threatening to get organized out in the Atlantic, so that's good news as we approach the 20th anniversary of Katrina on the 29th.

Up in Olympia

Last Sunday I packed up the old Orbea (aka my "travel bike") and headed for Moisant Field at around 4:00 am. I had an early morning flight to Seattle where I would be taking a shuttle from there down to Olympia. The wife had already been there for a few days. Our task for the week was to dog-sit for the daughter's two dogs while she was out in the wilderness around Mt. St. Helens leading a team that was supporting her partner Sharon who was entered in the Bigfoot 200, a 200 mile ultra run. I had already reserved a parking spot at the U.S. Park place, just down the road from the airport. By the time I pulled into a parking space, the shuttle was already there waiting for me, which was nice. It was reasonably quiet at the airport. I shoulderd on my Airport Ninja bike case and deposited it and my other bag at the Alaska Arlines counter, and headed over to the short TSA line. This time they didn't ask me to remove my shoes or to take the laptop out of my carry-on messenger bag that was stuffed with all sorts of electronics, including the laptop itself, an android tablet, my cellphone, a bag full of cables, a small battery pack, my bike computer, headlight, and tail light. I was a little surprised they didn't need to open up the bag, considering. Anyway, despite all my efforts to get to the airport really early, the flight was delayed for at least half an hour, which put my shuttle ride connection in jeopardy. I texted them before boarding and they moved me to a shuttle leaving half an hour later.

I was flying first class this time, thanks to the daughters copious Alaska Airlines points, which meant I had pre-ordered a breakfast that was served on an actual plate with a real glass and everything. The flight was uneventful, but of course SEA is a big and busy airport, which meant I had to get from one terminal to another to get to baggage claim, which was still under construction and kind of a mess. I stood in front of the luggage carousel wondering if the bike would come down the regular luggage chute, or get diverted to one of the two oversided chutes. Just as the bike came down the chute, the shuttle company called to check on me, and a few minutes later I found my way over to the parking garage where they were waiting for me, so that all worked out pretty well. An hour later I was at the house in Olympia and ready to put the bike back together so I could ride the next day.

I ended up riding over 200 miles between Monday and Thursday. Everyone there seems to ride in the evenings. At 6 am the temperature was usually 58-60, but by early afternoon it was in the mid to upper 80s the first couple of days. I had a few routes that I'd more or less ridden before, so although I was solo, at least I wasn't in entirely unfamiliar territory.  There was a GBC team ride on Tuesday and Thursdays starting at 5:30 pm, so I went out to meet it on Tuesday. Unfortunately, since there was actually a heat advisory that day because of the high temperature of 90, nobody showed up except one person who led me a few miles to the slower group ride that left at 6 pm.  That was quite a nice little ride, actually, and considering that I'd ridden almost 70 miles the day before, it's not like I really needed a hard ride. I ended up riding alone again on Thursday rather that trying to make the team ride because by then Danielle and Shannon were back, and I needed to take the bike apart for an early drive to Seattle the next morning.  Shannon survived the race pretty well, although it was a couple of days before she was walking normally again, and Danielle was relieved that the very complicated support logistics involving multiple pacers and rest areas and satellite phones worked out. 

We had a nice time with the dogs, walking to the nearby Starbucks every morning for coffee. The trip back was pretty smooth, although the flight was again delayed, this time because the Captain was still in the air on another flight at boarding time and they had to wait for him to land and get to our plane. The flight back was nice, again in first class, and we were back home before dark. 

The entire time I was riding there, the old Orbea was making various creaking noises that, as always, sounded like the bottom bracket. When I was taking the bike apart to pack I noticed that the freehub was actually coming loose, which was obviously causing the noise. It just took a couple of allen wrenches to tighen it up again and all was well. Granted, the crankset bearings are just a little bit looser than I'd like, but I'm pretty sure the noise was all coming from that loose freehub.

Back in town, I headed out on Saturday for the Giro. There was just a small group on hand, which has been status quo lately since a lot of people have been doing the SaMoRi to escape half an hour of summer heat. It was a good fast ride, though. It's always a better workout with a smaller group since there's no place to hide. Unfortunately, the Seabrook bridge was closed for repairs (again) and we had to take the alternate route down the Danziger bridge. So on Sunday I decided to meet the northshore ride. They were doing the "mailman" route, which is pretty much the same as the training race route they used to do back in the 80s, but the pace was pretty relaxed. For some reason my neck and shoulders were hurting from the start and were absolutely on fire by the time we finished. No idea why. 

On Monday there was a good turnout for the Mellow Monday ride. With Tulane back in session now, we had four or five Tulane riders. As often happens with a larger group, the ride didn't stay mellow for very long, so it was more of a workout than I'd planned for, especially since my legs were still a little sore from the weekend. This morning's Tuesday ride also had a pretty good group and got fairly fast, especially once we picked up a bit of a tailwind heading westbound. By the time we got to the lake trail it was just Jess, Matt, and me, though. Matt was on his TT bike and towed us all the way out to Williams Blvd., and most of the way back. We were still a couple of miles from Causeway when he sat up and I rolled through, not realizing that he had flatted. I continued on with Jess on my wheel and was past Causeway when I finally looked back and reailzed he wasn't there any more. Oops! Right about that time Jess's Di2 rear derailleur locked itself into the small cog. I think it probably went into crash mode when she hit a bump just right. Anyway she rode all the way back like that.

Lack of Power

Small Giro Group. The Chef Highway asphalt overlay was still not finished.

The WeMoRi a week ago on, of course, Wednesday was kind of fun for me. It was pretty windy when I arrived at Lakeshore Drive, and looking down the road all I could see were three headlights coming in hot. I jumped on the back of the trio of Maurizio, Steven, and Wes and hung on for dear life. I figured the wind and the pace had probably shattered the rest of the group, which turned out to have been the case. Conveniently justifying my blatant and unrepentent wheel-sucking by telling myself it wouldn't be fair to assist a breakaway when there must be an invisible chase group somewhere, I continued swapping wheels at the back for pretty much the duration. This was a remarkably easy task since the trio was cruising along at an equally remarkably smooth and steady pace. I felt only the slightest twinge of guilt, but fortunately the feeling dissipated quickly. 

That evening a big thundestorm came through shortly after sunset. Lightning must have hit something nearby because immediately after a huge flash, the lights went out. Checking Entergy's outage map and text messages, it looked like it should be fixed by 9:30 or so, so I plugged the lamp on the nightstand into my battery pack for a bit, eventually turning it off and falling asleep. Around 1:00 am I awoke to find that the power was still out, and checking my text messages I saw that Entergy had moved back the restoration time to around 9:30 am. That was a little longer than I wanted to have both the refrigerator and air-conditioner out of service, so I hauled the big Honda generator out to the back yard in the dark, ran an extension cord through the bathroom window, and fired it up, only to discover it would only run with the choke on. Obviously something was clogging up the carb jet, which wasn't surprising since some of the gas in that thing is a couple of years old and as good as StaBil is, that's pushing it. Fortunately, I had the little generator I use for races, so I started that one up instead and plugged the refrigerator into it. Then I brought the basement fan up to the bedroom and plugged that into the battery pack. Naturally the power came back on around 3:30 am, which woke me up immediately since I hadn't switched off the lights. A couple of hours later I was out the door for the Thursday morning ride. By then the streets were fairly dry again, but we decided not to ride out on the lake trail because there is often a lot of runoff from the levee after a heavy rain.  Turned out that wasn't the case that morning.

On Friday morning I woke up to wet streets and decided it was a message and I should take a rest day. Turned out the streets weren't as wet as I thought, but since I hadn't missed a day of riding over two months, I figure I was due anyway.

Saturday's Giro was rather sparsely attended, and although it wasn't super-fast, it still felt hard. By the time we were halfway back I was feeling overheated and tired, so I dropped off the back when we turned onto Hayne Blvd. and just coasted in. Charles dropped back to keep me company. By then there were only a few left, and Connor and Steven were already ramping it up for the last segment.

That afternoon I pulled the carburetor out of the generator, disassembled it, cleaned a little bit of crud out of the jet assembly, and put it all back together without having any mysteriously leftover nuts or bolts. It seemed to run OK after that, so I'll see if I can run it for an hour or two next weekend to burn through some of the old gas.

Sunday's Giro was even smaller than Saturday's had been, but otherwise was fine.

Mellow Monday Sunrise

This morning I went out to meet the WeMoRi as usual. Sunrise is already getting noticeably later (now around 8:15), and it was cloudy, which made it feel even earlier and darker than usual and I made my way to the lakefront. The group seemed a little smaller than usual, which I attributed to the 15 mph WNW wind, but as it turned out there had been some disruptions as well, plus some riders had been dropped, or stopped to help other riders, on Lakeshore Drive. Jaden apparently fell somewhere around the Elysian Fields traffic circle, jumped back up, then realized his phone had fallen our of his pocket and had to go look for it. Someone else apparently had a wheel that "broke." Not sure about the details on that. Anyway, since all of that transpired prior to my arrival, and the group, what was left of it, was only a couple of minutes later than usual, I didn't find out about it all until we were on our commute back uptown. Otherwise, it was a good WeMoRi during which I felt, at least, not terrible.

Wrong Reasons

Mellow Monday

Mid-summer in New Orleans means arriving back home soaking wet for all the wrong reasons. Other than an abbreviated Thursday ride, the last week was routine with a capital R. This time of year any morning with a temperature below 80°F is cause for celebration, and indeed there were a couple of those thanks to that "disturbance" that started in the Atlantic, crossed Florida, and came through here in the middle of the night on Wednesday. Fortunately it was moving along at a good pace, and by morning the streets were, quite surprisingly, mostly dry. Unfortunately, I had an early meeting on Thursday, so I had to cut the ride short, which was just as well since turnout was slim.

WeMo Finish

Ride photos seem to be in short supply lately, especially mine. Half an hour into almost every ride my jersey is sweaty, as is my phone, and since it still hurts a bit to fetch it out of my back pocket with my right arm, I've been reluctant to do so anyway. Saturday's Giro was fairly normal for this time of year. There were a few missing people because of some ad hoc alternate rides in the area, along with the Giro regulars who have been invading the SaMoRi in an effort to miss the worst of the heat. As often happens this time of year, it was fast on the way out, but a bit slower on the way back as the sun took its toll. Sunday was about the same but with a much reduced group. That made it feel a bit harder since the available draft was likewise reduced. Nonetheless, we mostly all survived, stopping at the gas station on Harrison for a cold drink before the short commute back home, or in Chris' case the long commute back home. 274 miles for the week seemed to be enough for me, although there were a few out there doing 100+ mile rides despite the copious solar radiation.

Mellow Monday was pretty mellow. I guess we were mostly in the 22-24 mph range. My legs felt tired, so I wasn't complaining. 

This morning as we gathered in front of the City Park Museum of Art, watching the regular exercise group on the steps, I made a remark about how it was already pretty hot and that there didn't seem to be any wind. Indeed, none was detectable there in the park. Apparently all of the wind was hiding out at the lakefront, though. Shortly after we turned onto Lakeshore Drive we picked up a pretty significant tailwind, so it was 26-29 mph all the way out to the Armory. The trip back westward, of course, was much slower. By the time Charles and I were approaching Williams Blvd. on the lake trail we were struggling to maintain 19 mph. Of course the ride back to the east was much faster, but by then the morning sun had been on us for over an hour, and I'd guess the relative humidity was in the 90% range at least. When I got home I hung my kit in the bathroom to let it dry out so it wouldn't serve as nutrient media in the laundry hamper.

Looks like one more hot day before things change and we get a few days with some rain and high temperatures just a touch below 90°. After that, though, it's back to lows around 78-80 and highs around 91-95 for the forseeable future, with the typical summer afternoon chances of rain. 

Meanwhile, over in Tucson, they're building a new, apparently mostly aluminum, velodrome!

Short Supply

Saturday Giro

Ride photos, especially mine, have been in short supply lately, due in no small part to the copious amount of sweat with which my phone, glasses, gloves, handlebar, and everything else is coated. You will just have to take Strava's word for it that the rides actually happened, I guess. Just as well, I guess, as last week's rides were quite routine.

As has been the case in recent weeks, the Friendly Friday ride had a big turnout. While 20-25 riders may not seem like a particularly large number, for a 6:00 am ride on a Friday morning when the temperature is already 80°F and the relative humidity is pushing 98%, it's still impressive. Naturally, with that many riders there are a few willing to sit on the front and push the pace, so it was a bit faster than usual. 

A Green Heron visited the NOMA fountain
after the Friendly Friday ride.

There was also a pretty good turnout for the Saturday Giro, and apparently also the earlier SaMoRi, and although the pace was fast, it wasn't super-fast as it sometimes is. I rushed back home afterward so I could jump into the shower, change, and drive over to Lake Lawn for Keith Andrews' celebration of life. The place was packed. Keith was involved in a lot of things, so you had the cycling people, the sailing people, the Rolling Elvi people, the restaurant people, and the attorney people. It was nice to catch up with some of the local cyclists who I haven't seen much in the past few years. Even Matt Rinard showed up, which was good to see since he had been in the hospital for a hernia operation and subsequent infection. One of Candy's sisters over in Texas passed away that day, as we later learned.

On Sunday I decided to go over to Bay St. Louis with Dylan for once of Steve Martin's rides. Surprisingly, that ended up with just four of us - three from NOLA and Steve. The plan was for a 70-mile ride. These are always just steady Z2 type rides with most people taking long steady pulls, and this one was no exception. Of course, with only four riders the pulls came up more frequently, and we were treated to a couple of pretty good "dog intervals" along the way. The first couple of hours didn't feel very hot, with is kind of typical there. Eventually, though, we turned back toward the south and things heated up, and the 70 mile ride quickly turned into a 64 mile ride. My legs were achy the entire time for some unknown reason. Perhaps the fact that I haven't missed a day of riding in 56 days had something to do with that, but it's not like I've been pushing myself very hard lately. Afterward we stopped for a quick lunch over at Long Beach Market & Deli (Steve's favorite).

Mellow Monday

Mellow Monday was reasonably mellow yesterday. Most, but not all, of the group successfully forded the Lakeshore Drive pond east of the Elysian Fields traffic circle, despite about four inches of water covering the shallowest part. I wish they would fix the nonfunctional storm drains there. They seem quite content to drag our the traffic barrels and shut down the road every time it rains, though. Later on Monday evening there was a lot of rain around the lakefront, although none at my house or apparently in Jefferson.

This morning we knew it would be even more flooded than usual, so the group just looped around the traffic circle and wrote off those extra four miles or so. We had a few people left when we got to the Lake Trail bike path in Jefferson, but lost a few by the time we got to around Clearview, leaving must Charles, Jess, and me. It still felt kind of hard heading west, at least to me. Perhaps there was just the slightest of headwinds along with some lingering soreness. Anyway, none of us was pushing the pace much by then.

So we now have the season's first spaghetti models, and although it's coming from kind of an odd location, and won't likely be very severe if it sticks to this track, it's looking like Thursday through at least Saturday will be pretty wet and a little stormy here and there. They're giving this one a 40% chance of development as of this morning. Intensity guidance is still kind of all over the map, but only some of the models are pushing it into the lower tropical storm range in 4-5 days.

Disaster Averted - 3g Long Weekend

It is mid-summer and everything is covered in sweat. Handlebars and gloves smell like the inside of a high-school gym locker, and every picture I take with my phone is blurry because my jersey is fully saturated. On the plus side, I missed all of the rain last week, and did not succumb to heat exhaustion, just regular exhaustion.

Tuesday's ride ended with just Charles and me for the long out and back along the lakefront, fighting a bit of a headwind all the way out, and then just cruising easy on the way back. Lots of rides end up that way this time of year, it seems.

The regular weekday rides were, well, regular. Wednesday's WeMoRi was going along just fine, until the group split at the stop light at Toussaint when the front of the group sailed through a red light in front of two cars while the rest of us paused to contemplate the cost-benefit ratio. After crossing, nobody seemed willing to really take up the chase that would  have been necessary.

On Thursday, we had Will, Charles, and me for the Lake Trail stretch. I think Will pulled most of the way, which elicited no complaint from either of us. Will is preparing for a move to Colorado this month, so he will be sadly missing from rides very soon. Later that evening we had a little going-away get-together at TchoupShop down on Tchoupitoulas for both Will and Cliff. Cliff is also moving away shortly. Both have been regulars on the local rides, so they will be missed.

Friday was the 4th of July, so lots of people were off work, which of course meant a holiday Giro. A few riders rode Friendly Friday first, and followed it up with the Giro. We had a pretty good turnout, and the pace was fairly moderate by Giro standards, as holiday Giros should be. I had just installed a new chain, even though the old one didn't really seem to be very worn. Pack when I was using wet lubes I'd be lucky to get 3,000 miles out of a chain before destroying the cassette, so I long ago started changing them routinely betweek 2,500 and 3,000 miles. Since switching to drip-wax, the chains seem to be lasting much, much longer. I'm still replacing them at around 3k just to be on the safe side, but I really think I could be easily getting 4,000 miles from them without problems nowadays.

So on Saturday morning it was back to Starbucks for Giro #2. While Friday's Giro had been under nicely overcast skies, by Saturday there wasn't a cloud in sight once we got going. This was a pretty typical Giro - fast in some places, but easy enough to sit in toward the back. We were on the way back, after the Goodyear Sprint and past the notorious bumps that are now painted orange, when we turned onto the interstate on-ramp as usual. Suddenly all hell broke loose. There was an 8-foot piece or rebar lying diagonally across the road, and if someone in front called it out, I certainly didn't hear it. The rider ahead of me hit it, and when I hit it my front wheel went momentarily sideways. Somehow I miraculously stayed up, while shouting "y'all need to call that shit out!" to the front of the group. Then, a quarter of a mile later, just as we were approaching the exit, by front tire exploded - loudly. Of course, I knew immediately that it must have been slashed by that piece of rebar. Most of the group kept going as I cautiously rolled to a stop. Riding a dead-flat front clincher is like riding on ice, so I was lucky I stayed up, again. I put in a new tube and a boot (I always have a piece of old Tyvek race number in my bag), but the tube immediately went flat for whatever reason, so I had to try again with another tube. Todd used his electric inflator and put just 45 or 50 psi in it, since the gash in the sidewall was big enough to put a finger through and any significant pressure would definitely have resulted in another blowout. We cruised back the rest of the way a bit more slowly. I was glad a few people stayed with me, because the chances I'd make it all the way back without another blowout were fairly high. Anyway, I did make it home. Fortunately, I had a new tire on hand. I had put a new tire on the rear just a couple of weeks prior, but was holding out on the front since it wasn't as worn. Good thing I hadn't put a new tire on the front the day before as I'd planned, since I would have destroyed a brand new tire rather than an old worn out one.

Sadly, it was right after the Saturday Giro that I learned Keith Andrews had passed away. Keith had been diagnosed with highly advanced cancer not long ago, but still it came as a bit of a shock. He had been NOBC's main sponsor for about fifteen years through Desire Title and Apolline Restaurant. Although he hadn't raced in quite a long time, I'd occasionally see him heading out to the lakefront as we were riding in along Marconi. There will apparently be a service at Lake Lawn on Saturday morning. 

Sunday was Giro #3, and once again it was a hot one. I think turnout was a little smaller, but the speed was not unlike it had been on Saturday. On the way back we had to stop at a light on Hayne, and after that the front of the group took off like it was the final kilometer of a race. I could have sprinted to catch, but didn't. I was feeling pretty well toasted by then. All of that made for a 320+ mile week for me.

Summer in the City

Tuesday on the levee, dodging the rain

It was the last week of June, and although there was no shortage of comments about the heat and humidity, the locals know that that month is just the appetizer ahead of July and August. Still, I rolled out into the dim pre-sunrise glow most mornings with temperatures still in the low 80s and humidity at saturation levels. The glasses fog up the minute you stop, and if you drop your head halfway into the ride, the inside of the lens is quickly sprayed with sweat. Situation normal, of course. Meanwhile, it seems like everyone with a bike is out riding, often in little ad hoc groups, sometimes quite early in attempts to avoid the heat that really produce a little comfort that is more psychological than thermal.

Front part of the Friendly Friday group

Monday night I fought with the new "no tools needed" inline water filter that I was installing for the new regrigerator's ice maker (which I also had to install myself). I'd been short one compression nut for one of the other connections (the original one had left with the old refrigerator), and so had ridden over to the old hardward store in the French Quarter to pick one up at lunch. It took me multiple tries and much cursing to finally get the "no tools needed" connections to work without leaking dramatically, but eventually everything was water-tight and functional.

Before dawn on Tuesday some big loud thunderstorms rolled through the area. One particular lightning strike must have been just a few blocks from the house because there was no delay between the flash and the thunder. I never did find out what it hit, but it definitely woke me up. By 5:30 am the rain was coming to an end, but I knew nobody would be at the 6 am ride. Studying the weather radar, I figured there was a little opportunity available, so a little after 6 I headed over to the levee on the 'cross bike to minimize the chances of flats on the still-wet streets and bike path. That worked out OK. The bike path was reasonably dry, I didn't flat, and logged a fairly casual 26 miles. 

Wednesday's WeMoRi was uncharactistically moderate for some reason, but I wasn't complaining. We had a visiting rider, Luca Mazzetti, who is Italian and will be moving here from Rio de Janeiro around mid-July. He had no problems with the pace. 

Thursday - Charles, Will, and Jeff

Thursday was a pretty normal long ride, with three or four of us doing the full out-and-back to Williams Blvd. The Bonnebel boat launch was already packed with motor homes and trailers and big racing powerboats for the upcoming weekend's races.

As it has been for the past few weeks, the Friendly Friday ride was well-attended. I'd guess there were 20-25 riders. Of course, than means that it will eventually get fast, which it did, but only for short stretches in the usual places. 

Although the shoulder joint is still causing me some significant discomfort, I guess it would be accurate to say that it is slowly improving. I use the term "slowly" the same way you would use it to describe the movement of a glacier. While I am still a little hesitant to jump off the saddle to sprint, it is now at least something I am occasionally willing to do. I usually take some Naproxin before the longer weekend rides to alleviate a bit of the usual aches and pains in my neck and/or back, and lately also shoulder. It does help a little, although sometimes those last then miles are still pretty painful for one reason or another. Sucks getting old.

Boyd's kit

So on Saturday I rode out to Starbucks a bit early for my usual coffee prior to the Giro Ride. A couple of people had already parked in the neutral ground parking lot and were on their way to the SaMoRi that has lately been starting at 6:15 am. A number of the usual Giro riders have switched to that ride in an effort to avoid some of the heat, which is likely making it faster than usual, and concurrently reducing the size of the Giro group. A visiting rider, Buddy Baudoin, who lived here at one time had contacted me earlier and decided to join in, despite the fact that he hadn't brought his regular riding shoes, and was on his Tri bike. Fortunately, it was a fairly steady pace, a bit below the usual speed, so he was fine. I had sent him a recent Strava link for the ride, so he knew what he was getting into. It's always hard to know what to tell visiting riders unless I can see that they are active bike racers. He stayed safely at the back for most of the ride, and I think dropped off on the last stretch along Hayne Blvd. 

Lakeshore Drive's Water Feature - Sunday

On our way out, after turning onto Chef Highway, we saw the SaMoRi group going the other way, and a bit later a little group on the side of the road fixing a flat. The latter group was the lucky one. Shortly after we passed the main group they had a big crash caused, once again, by one of those asphalt bumps just before the turn onto the interstate. Boyd took an ambulance ride, and from what I heard six or seven went down. Fortunately, Boyd didn't break anything, but there were a few bikes that got damaged. I think Bo had to get someone to come pick him up. Later that afternoon someone went out there and painted those bumps with orange paint.

Crusising back home along Marconi after the Sunday Giro

Sunday's Giro group was fairly small, but that did not make it any easier. Sometimes it's much easier to sit near the back end of a 40-rider group than it is to be hanging onto a 12-rider paceline. Anyway, although I didn't spend any significant time on the front, I was feeling reasonably good. Lately, for the longer rides I've been putting Gatorade into one of my bottles, as much to provide electrolytes as to provide sugar. Combined with the four packets of sugar that I put into my morning coffee, and then the can of ginger ale I've sometimes been getting when the uptown group stops at the gas station in the way home, I'm at least not in much of a caloric deficit. 

This morning's Mellow Monday ride was true to form, which is to say it was reasonably mellow with just a couple of fast segments leading up to the inevitable sprint at Marconi and then at the top of the Wisner overpass. I did not indulge in either, as I was still feeling my legs from the weekend.