The drive back to New Orleans from Dallas was not particularly relaxing. By the time we were near the Texas / Louisiana state line on I-20 we had begun to catch up with the stormy weather that had crawled through Dallas over the weekend, and the next four or five hours were spent driving through thunderstorms, often at speeds well below the posted limit. When I first saw the dark clouds up the road, I had stopped and taken the bike off the roof, cramming it onto the back of the Volvo on top of the ton of stuff we were taking back with us. I had also taken the time to give the windshield a liberal coating of Rain-X. That stuff is awesome. The only time I had to flip on the wipers was when we would get into the misty spray of a tractor trailer. Otherwise, the wipers could stay off since the rain just beads up and blows off the windshield. I was glad that the car made the trip OK. I guess that proves that the alternator is fully functional, so either the battery went south or there was some sort of unusual electrical drain. So thanks to everyone for all those candles they lit! Anyway, we finally made it back home in the late afternoon to find the city covered with a thick layer of yellow-green pollen, mostly from the oak trees. In the mailbox was a paper from one of the neighbors collecting money for the annual spraying of the oak trees on our block to kill the buck moth caterpillars that are presently emerging in force, perfectly timed with the sprouting of all those yummy new little oak tree leaves.
So despite my nearly complete lack of training I decided to jump right into the deep end this morning and do the Tuesday training ride up on the levee. Things started out pretty civilized today, and I was hanging out near the back trying to ease my way back into riding when, shortly before reaching the parish line, somebody's tire exploded. It sounded like it was ahead of me, and a lot of riders sat up, including me. As it turned out, it was someone behind me in the paceline. The front part of the group, however, never missed a beat and I could see them rolling off down the levee at a pretty good clip as I coasted along. I looked back and could see that the person with the flat had lots of help, so I figured I'd just roll along easy and catch the group on its way back. A mile or two later I saw Rob on the side of the path fixing a flat, so I waited for him to finish and we rode easy until we saw the pack coming at us somewhere between the dip and the bridge. For some reason, they still weren't going very hard and I ended up rolling off the front for a while. Eventually the group responded and by the time they caught me they were going pretty fast. Somewhere around Williams Blvd. three people split off the front and for some reason there wasn't much of a chase going on. One person bridged up to the group fairly quickly, and I could see that the gap was growing. It looked to be a bit too long for me to bridge alone, but as I looked up the road considering my options I noticed that we were approaching the pumping station near River Ridge where there was water pouring across the bike path. I figured they would ease up a bit as they went across that. It would be my only chance to catch, so I took off, blasting through the water and around the curve and catching them just as they were getting reorganized. The effort took its toll, though, and I hung onto the back for the next few miles as they rotated in front of me at around 27 mph. Eventually I got back into the rotation and took a few short pulls, but I was pretty tired by the time I got home.
The 2-Person Time Trial is this weekend, and there's a lot still to do. Some people have been having a lot of trouble finding hotel rooms in the area. Perhaps we'll be able to find some people who can give them a little floor space for the night?
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