Well it looks like the summer solstice has ushered in slightly more typical weather around here. With a warm and steady southerly breeze pushing Gulf of Mexico moisture up into southern Louisiana we're starting to get into our "summer pattern," which is to say that it starts out around 80F in the morning and heats up into the mid to upper 90s by afternoon, at which point scattered thunderstorms start to pop up randomly. Yesterday, from my perch atop the Tidewater building, I watched three or four such thunderstorms come and go, each of which carefully avoided the area around my house. The forecast for the next week is basically the same every day, but at least it looks like we'll stay below 95F, so that's something.
When we started out this morning from the "pump hill" on the levee there was only a few on hand and I was wondering if we'd end up cutting the distance, but soon enough we started picking riders up as we went and eventually worked our way up to a decent-sized group. The pace stayed pretty steady, though, not that there weren't a couple of the usual suspects trying to push the speed up now and then. In general, though, it was a civilized ride. The leg soreness has finally abated after three days of relatively low intensity, so I guess that's good. On the return trip this morning Howard rolled off the front early while everyone else was still chatting. After a while I went to the front and gradually increased the pace, which had no effect other than to put me off the front too. The group finally got rolling, though and caught me just after the "dip" and it stayed fast enough to eventually catch Howard before he turned off for home around Williams Blvd.
I saw last night on the TXBRA racer's forum that they had to cancel this weekend's Texas state championship road races at the last minute because they were to be held on an army base and the army suddenly had some deployments to deal with. Man, that's pretty rough to be organizing a big event like that and have the rug pulled out from under your feet less than a week before race day. I'm hoping to find some time to finish up the Tour de La race bible this evening or tomorrow. The club has been doing a great job pulling things together this year so hopefully we won't have too many surprises and things will go smoothly.
Shortly after I registered online for this weekend's district road race (in the 45+ class) Jason reminded me that I'm supposed to get a free entry this year because I came out on top in the LCCS rankings last year. I'll have to see 'bout that. Having never ridden this 5.2 mile course before, I don't really know what to expect except that the description they give starts with "a lactic acid lover's special . . ." Could get interesting. At least the 35+/45+ race is relatively short at only 47 mi. The big question is whether I will have any legs left for the next day's 88 mile Cat. 1,2 race. Considering the heat, if the course is as hilly as advertised, it could be pretty brutal, especially if the turnout is low. Luckily, I'm old enough that I can skip this race if I want, or just get dropped like a rock, without feeling a bit of guilt!
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