Lack of Power

There was a smallish group on the levee this morning for the Thursday long ride, and once we got past the Huey P. bridge I went to the front to get things started. My legs are still sore from my stair-climbing episode on Tuesday, especially my calves, so I wasn't trying to turn it into a race or anything. I was OK spinning, but I really didn't have any power in my legs at all because of the sore muscles. I just wanted to get the pace up above 20 mph. So after a while Rob pulls through and since there's a gap behind him, I slip in. Next thing I know, it's just Rob and me. So we rolled along at mostly 24 mph with a very light tailwind, dropping down to 23 now and then, trading pulls every 50 or 60 pedal strokes in a 53x16. At one point I looked back and could see Donald pulling the rest of the group just about 10 seconds back. They could have easily closed the gap if they'd wanted to. Rob and I got a nice workout all the way out to the turnaround and when we started back we were surprised that the group was nowhere in sight. We figured someone had flatted, but when we met Kevin coming the other way he said that they had all turned around at the "dip" and so he had been chasing us solo for miles.

I had been looking forward to an easier ride back home, but with only three of us and an increasing headwind, it turned out to be a long and, for me, painful haul. My sore legs were really screaming by the time I got back onto city streets a couple of miles from home.

Headed in to the downtown office this morning to check out the electrical situation. The office still lacks power, so I went out onto the roof to gather some intel. and learned that the plan was to work all weekend in hopes of having everything working again on Monday. On the plus side, they did have the freight elevator working so I didn't have to climb 25 flights of stairs this time. Right now I'm sitting in my powerless office working on my battery powered laptop listening to the workers out on the roof. I guess I'll ride back uptown in a few minutes and work out of my house again today.

In the meantime, you should really check out the funny but oh so true editorial from yesterday's newspaper on the "Chocolate City" controversey. If only he'd said "cafe au lait!"