In the Sun

After yesterday's virtual wash-out, I was looking forward to Sunday's promise of sunshine. After meeting Sam and Jack at The Morning Call, and with my cup of Starbucks coffee in my hand, we headed across the causeway to the northshore. The temperature in N.O. when we left was around 55F. Half-way across the lake you could see where the clouds ended, and beyond that to the north was nothing but clear blue sky. What a welcome sight! Of course the sunshine was courtesy of a fresh cold front, and so the price of the sunshine was dropping temperatures and unrelenting wind. By the time we were ready to ride, around 8:15 I guess, the temps on the northshore were around 44F and because we were planning to ride for over an hour directly into the wind, we were all bundled up as though it was much colder.

We had some action on the Watchtower climb today, with Sam ramping up the speed, along with Jason and Jay, and then toward the end of the climb Jason really kind of put the hammer down and he and I traded distinctly unequal pulls the rest of the way to Tung Road. Jason must have had his Wheaties this morning, because although I was fairly comfortable sitting on his wheel, every time I'd take a pull we would slow down by 2 mph. We waited to regroup at Tung Road, except that Jay and Jack continued on ahead for the last five miles or so to the cars. At the end of Tung Road, I found myself off the front again with Jason, and I think he was determined to catch Jack and Jay, so with a nice little tailwind we were hammering pretty hard for the last stretch. We caught Jack, but Jay made it in just before us. Tomorrow it is supposed to be near freezing in the morning, and since I had to leave my commuter downtown at work last week, I guess I'll probably skip the morning ride so that I can get a ride downtown. I'm guessing my legs will still be kind of sore anyway, so it's probably good.

My haphazard training routine of the last couple of weeks was quite evident today, and I finished with pretty tired legs and was basically wasted for the rest of the day.