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.

Long Road

WeMoRi Sunrise

Our summer solstice was last Friday, as if we needed any further confirmation it was mid-summer. The weather here has been dominated mainly by high humidity and widely scattered rain, typical for this time of year. Fortunately, most of the rain is in the afternoons, so the morning rides have been affected only by the perpetual Lakeshore Drive pond and runoff from the rain-saturated lakefront levee. I've logged four consecutive weeks above 270 miles, and although the shoulder is still achy enough that I am a little reluctant to pull hard on the handlebar, it's been at least tolerable.

Theoretically back where I started

I recently took a look at Strava's "fitness and freshness" chart, and although I don't usually give it a lot of credibility, it does seem to have done a reasonably good job of tracking my long road back to whatever qualifies as "fitness," at least for me. I've always found that I don't start to feel like I'm in decent shape until and unless I have a few 250 mi.+ weeks under my belt, at least in the absence of regular racing opportunities. I have been feeling a little less concerned about getting shelled on group rides lately, so I guess that qualifies as some kind of improvement.

I recently subscribed to VeloViewer to replace an older Chrome plug-in that I'd been using for years to compare annual mileages and things like that. That plug-in stopped being supported when Strava tightened up its API a while back, which I assume required services that pull data from Strava to pay for it and conform to whatever security requirements Strava required. Anyway, VeloViewer is pretty cheap, and allows for the same annual mileage comparisons, plus it has a number of other kind of fun features. I'll see how it goes for a while. It can create lots of interesting charts related to segments and distances across variable timeframes (I have at least ten year of Strava data), so it's kind of fun even though I never pay much attention to Strava segments. 

Last Tuesday the group refused to ford the Lakeshore Drive flood and turned back at the Elysian Fields traffic circle, but at least there were a few of us who were able to do the full ride out to Williams Blvd. and back. Wednesday's WeMoRi was civilized enough to keep me from being dropped or killed, despite the group making a couple of questionable decisions regarding traffic signals.

No caption needed

On Thursday the water level at the Lakeshore Drive pond was low enough that the group at least didn't turn back, so that was good. Later, out on the lake trail, however, there was a lot of runoff from the levee, resulting in lots of wheel spray and, not unsurprisingly, a flat tire for Jeff that took a couple of tries to repair. As a result, the ride was a few miles shorter.

Friendly Friday Group

Friendly Friday has been getting some pretty significant turnouts lately, and last Friday was no exception. Dylan and Jess were both on hand, along with most of the regulars. I'd guess we had 20-25 riders at one point. Thanks to rain the day before, the Lakeshore Drive pond was deep enough that the group didn't want to ride through it, so we instead added another little loop between the two traffic circles to make up for the lost mileage. As usual when there are a lot of riders, there were a couple of faster segments, but nothing very long or extreme, so things remained pretty friendly.

Saturday's Giro Ride didn't have a very big group, but it was plenty big enough. There was a nice rotation at the front with six or seven riders pulling at a nice even pace, with the rest of us sitting in. It was still fast enough for a good workout, even toward the back. On the way back down Chef, between the stop light and the Goodyear sprint, there was a totally unexpected crash near the front of the group. Steven had hit one of the nearly invisible heat buckles in the asphalt while holding a water bottle in one hand. Somehow, nobody else went down, and fortunately he jumped up without too much skin missing or broken collarbones. At the time I was totally focused on tracking the erratic roll of his water bottle so I could plot a safe route around it. After he got back rolling he basically rolled right off the front of the still-reassembling group with Matt. They were joined by a couple of others, but the rest of the group didn't mount a chase, so that was the last we saw of them. By then, everyone was feeling the rising temperature for sure.

Somewhere in MS

On Sunday, there was 67 mile ride out of West Harrison Ballpark over in Mississippi. I figured it was about time I did a ride that wasn't dead flat, so I made the decision to do it. I picked up Dylan for the one-hour drive. I think we had seven riders for this one. The air felt nice and cool, relatively speaking, for the first hour or so, which was nice. Steve Martin's routes are always quite circuitous, but this one put some of the others to shame. I was glad I had loaded the route onto my Garmin. As usual, this ride was all just nice steady paceline with most people taking long pulls. The roads were nice and traffic was light, and we stopped two times along the way at gas stations, so it was pretty much all Zone 2, which was fine with me.

When I got home, however, I was greeted with, "the refrigerator isn't working." This was the refrigerator that we had gotten after Katrina, so it was just shy of twenty years old. It was obvious that it had died quite a while earlier, perhaps some time on Saturday, so things were beginning to defrost. We have this little old refrigerator down in the basement that we had liberated from one of my father's apartments immediately following Katrina when we were waiting for our new one (everything was backordered for months, of course). That thing must be 40 years old, but still runs, so we use if mostly just for beer and cold drinks. It was of course immediately pressed into emergency service and its little freezer is now crammed full. I could have spent a day or two diagnosing the problem and ordering a new start capacitor or whatever else might we worth trying, but under the circumstances, and considering the age of the unit, we headed over to Lowes and found a replacement with the right dimensions that could be delivered on Monday. It's just a basic refrigerator plus an icemaker kit, but will still set me back by about a grand. As a result, I'm stuck at home waiting for it to be delivered today.

Mileage Back, Fitness Not Quite

A week ago Monday was Memorial Day, which of course meant a Holiday Giro. There was a pretty good group on hand for this one, and as Holiday Giros go, it was good, which is to say it wasn't too slow, and it wasn't too fast, and there were enough wheels available for drafting, which I definitely appreciated. The shoulder is still pretty achy, especially in certain orientations under load, and of course the lost fitness is coming back at a snail's pace. I've been doing a few little theraband exercises for the past week that I suppose are better than nothing, but it is impossible to attribute any improvement to them.

Tuesday's long ride turned out to be unexpectedly short. As usual, a lot of the group turned off at the end of Lakeshore Drive, leaving just Will T and me. The pace had been pretty fast, so I was already planning to turn around early on the lake trail - maybe at Causeway, or at the next outfall canal, but my plans were interrupted when I came down over the curb turning onto Hammond Hwy and managed to pinch-flat. As I was pumping up the tire after changing the tube I felt a sting on my ankle and realized I'd been standing in a little red ant pile. I brushed away as many as I could, but five or six of them managed to sting me anyway. At that point I just took it as a sign and headed back home.

Wednesday's WeMoRi went as it has been going for me lately. Fortunately is wasn't super-fast that day and I more or less survived, at least until the sprint started at which point I eased up and cruised in the rest of the way. The forecast for Thursday was not looking good, so I wasn't surprised to find wet streets when I awoke. I watched the weather radar for about half an hour and it looked like I might be able to squeeze in 15 miles on the levee around 6 am, so I headed out on the Cyclocross bike since it's much less prone to flats. Well, that didn't work out. The minute I got to the levee I felt the first raindrops, and looking to the west all I could see were dark black clouds, so I turned around and started riding toward Audubon Park, just barely ahead of the worst of the rain. Well, until I actually got to the park. At that point the sky opened up above and I limped back home in the pouring rain down various torn-up Carrollton streets. At least I tried, but I don't know if the 6.5 miles I logged were worth it.

By Friday the weather was much better and not surprisingly we had a pretty decent turnout for Friendly Friday. Saturday felt a little cooler and for some reason we had a really big turnout for the Giro. That, of course, meant that it was going to be a fast one. In addition to the usual instigators like Connor, Dustin, Jaden, Pirmin, Brett, TJ, etc., we also had Dan Bennet who was in town for a few days, and a pretty strong rider on a e-gravel bike that had a cassette cog that looked considerably larger than my 'cross bike's large chainring. There was a bit of a northeast wind which kept things together on the way out on Hayne Blvd., but somewhere along Paris Road, where we picked up more of a tailwind, the group split. At one point I found myself behind the rider on the e-bike as the speed crept up over 28 mph, and I started to worry that he would exceed the bike's assist limit, but somehow he gutted it out on that 40-pound bike with an impossibly low gear and flat pedals.

The return trip started with a nice bit of recovery pace until we got to the Hwy 11 intersection, after with it ramped back up to normal. With a bit of a tailwind, we averaged around 29 mph to the Interstate. Then, after turning onto Hayne Blvd. all bets were off and whoever was on the front put the hammer down. I think we averaged a bit over 30 mph to the overpass, after which the group kind of shattered with a fast group off the front between the bridges. Although there was no chance of catching, I did make a decent enough effort there, and then we were saved by the drawbridge being up, so everybody was back together for the cool-down along Lakeshore Drive. It was a pretty hard ride for me.

Sunday's Giro featured less wind and slightly fewer riders, so the pace was relatively tame, at least by the prior day's standard. That put me at 277 miles for the week, thanks to that long Monday ride, and despite the rain day and the shortened Thrusday ride. I was pretty happy with that since it was the first week I've had with relatively normal mileage and intensity in seven weeks. I feel like I'm still in a bit of a fitness hole, as some of those rides felt harder than they should have, but at least it's progress.

Dan was still in town for the Mellow Monday ride, which had a pretty big turnout and at a nice revocery ride pace, at least until the last bit. When we turned onto Wisner near the end, Dan launched off the front, forcing almost everyone to chase. Almost everyone but me. I felt like I really needed the recovery, so I didn't even make an effort.

On Tuesday there were three of us who continued out to the lake trail. Earlier, when we did a lap of Lakeshore Drive, the lake had been just pancake smooth, but as we headed west we started to pick up a significant tailwind. Without too much effort we cruised out to Williams Blvd. at around 24 mph, and then of course plodded our way back at more like 19. It was actually a significant workout.

This morning I woke up around 5 am and realized I'd forgotten to put out the garbage. With once a week pickup, and warm summer temperatures, you don't want to miss a garbage day around here, so I rushed down stairs and dragged the bin out to the street. Since I was already up, I went ahead and rode out to the lakefront earlier than usual, hitting Lakeshore Drive probably three minutes ahead of the WeMoRi group. I cruised east and made it around the Seabrook loop before being swept up by the pack that was relentlessly pushing 27-30 mph. Fortunately there were wheels available, so I hung on all the way down Lakeshore as my physiology caught up with my legs. At the turn onto Touissaint, though, there was a car that kind of split the group, forcing those of us at the back to chase back on. Unfortunately, when the rider in front of me blew up, I just couldn't close it the rest of the way, so it was just VJ and me on Wisner. We cut across the park on Zachary Taylor to Marconi and ultimately merged back into what was left of the group just before Lakeshore Drive. At that point, two riders were already off the front, a situation that did not change for the rest of the ride. Again, that was some badly needed intensity for me, even though I was in the draft throughout.