Opened Floodgates

The weather for the first Saturday of the official LAMBRA "off season" was nothing less than spectacular. Truth be known, it would be nice if we had a 'Cross season to tide us over through the relatively mild winters we have, but for now I guess we will make do with the winter training rides on the northshore that should be starting in November. There's a reason that I'm thinking of cyclocross today, however.

The Giro Ride group was a little bit smaller than usual today, and it was clear that almost everyone was looking forward to a relatively easy and conversational pace. We went all the way down Hayne Blvd. and probably didn't crack 25 mph the whole time.

Just after we started Steve Martin, who lives just over the border in Mississippi, told me he'd been delayed on I-10 by a big truck fire involving 250 cylinders of acetylene. (Moral: When driving a truck full of acetylene, drive very carefully!) As usual, he had his camera with him and snapped this photo. I didn't think much about it until we turned onto Chef Highway, aka U.S. 90. After a few blocks I noticed that traffic seemed particularly heavy. I soon realized that all of the interstate traffic was being diverted onto Highway 90. It was as if someone had opened the floodgates! After a couple of miles the group suddenly turned off onto Michoud Blvd, heading back the other way. The back of the group, however, hadn't received that memo in time, so there was a little confusion about what was going on. A few of us decided that rather than turn back we'd just ride the nice wide shoulder on Chef Highway. It didn't take long before we realized that the shoulder was full of all sorts of debris - gravel, rocks, tree branches, and unfortunately, bricks. It felt kind of like riding Rouge-Roubaix, with rocks flying out from under your wheels and occasional sandy patches. Well, it was one of those bricks that caused the crash. Luckily it was just one guy, injuries were minimal, and he got out of the road before the frustrated, speeding interstate travellers turned him into roadkill. Well, at that point we finally figured out that it would just be more of the same if we continued, so we turned around and took Michoud Blvd. to Almonaster where it meets the Industrial Canal, turning along the canal and riding down bumpy little Jordan Rd. across a couple of treacherous railroad crossings to the lake. Way down at the end of Jordan Rd. the road makes a sharp right-hand turn and goes through a floodgate before meeting up with Morrison Road. That curve always seems to have standing water in it, and this morning was no exception. This time, though, it looked particularly deep, so I carefully plunged in as the rest of the group unclipped and waited to see if I'd survive. Halfway across the puddle I dropped into a nice pothole, but I don't guess it was ever deeper than about a foot, so I made it across and through the rocks where the pavement used to be, and waited for the rest of the group to come across. It was kind of fun, actually, and a nice change from the usual Giro.