No racing for me this weekend, but a couple of good training rides made it OK, even if one of them was wet. Saturday the weather was great and I went out to the Giro ride ready for a hard training ride. The thing about the Giro ride, and probably most local group training rides, it that a smart rider can make it into whatever he wants. You can sit in and take it relatively easy, or you can stay on the front and hammer yourself to death. You can also make it into anything in-between. So Saturday I spent some significant time in the front group and also put in a decent effort for most of the sprints. Afterward I rode back uptown with Tim, Charlie, Mark and Realdo and ended up riding a few miles down the levee before finally heading home with close too 80 miles on the odo. My legs were hurting the rest of the day, and I was seriously wondering if doing the Northshore training ride on Sunday morning was a smart idea. I wish we had more races nearby like in the "old days." On the "plus" side, we finally got the OK from the local church to use their parking area for the Tour de Louisiane road race this year. I'll try and get everything updated over the next few days.
Smart or not, Sunday morning found me at The Morning Call to meet up with Charlie for a ride across the Lake. The weather was kind of sketchy and combined with the fact that it was the final day of Jazz Fest, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to find that we had only a small group. It wasn't long after we started before the rain started. It was almost all just a light drizzle, though. Not quite enough to make you cold, but definitely enough wheel spray to make it uncomfortable. I was determined not to let the pace stagnate, though, and so we got in a pretty good training ride despite the wet streets and my close call rounding one of the wet, gravelly turns. Strangely, Rick was consistently dropping off the pace on the climbs, only to catch back up and sometimes pass the group on the flats. I guess he must have been on a different page of the training manual that the rest of us today. I was amazed all weekend at how nice my newly-build wheels felt. I guess I had gotten used to the old ones and didn't notice the roughness of the rear hub or the slightly out-of-true wheels. I mean, the new wheels just feel so . . . smooth! I was surprised that although my legs felt stiff and a little bit sore, they still felt pretty good on the bike today. If my stomach hadn't been hurting all morning, it would have been a really nice ride.
Looks like Fats Domino wasn't quite up to performing as advertised at the Jazz Fest today. I think Lionel Ritchie filled in though. I hope the Jazz Fest was a big success this year. I think probably it was. The weather has certainly been pretty good, and that's usually a big factor.
I heard from Gina on Saturday and found out that she is buying a condo somewhere in Atlanta. She told me where, but I didn't recognize the area so naturally my brain immediately dumped the data.
My niece, the one who is at Annapolis, was in town tonight for dinner, but is heading out tomorrow and by Wednesday will be in Hawaii to go on a "cruise" on a Navy destroyer. Interestingly, she's looking for a decent bike. She's really on a budget, but if you know of anything that might fit someone who is around 5'10" let me know.
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