A Very Good Start

Friday night found me down on Frenchmen Street at good ol' Adolfo's, across the street from DBA. As usual, the food was great, but unfortunately we didn't have to wait for a table. I'd been hoping to spend some time at DBA with a good draft beer, but it was not to be. Somehow the stop at Sucre' on Magazine St. afterward didn't quite make up for the missed live music, but at least I got to sleep relatively early. It was a good thing, because when I was jarred awake at 5 am by the sound of the garbage truck down the street, and the realization that I hadn't put ours out, it wasn't too hard to jump out of bet and roll the monster garbage can to the curb.

The forecast was calling for northshore temperatures in the low 40s, so Friday night I stuffed a whole lot of cold weather riding gear into my bag. I was a little bit worried that the chilly temperature would kill off the turnout for the first of the winter training rides. When I arrived at Starbucks, though, it was already feeling warmer and there were a bunch of people there. We sat at the table outside for a few minutes drinking coffee until everyone showed up. I drove over with Vivian and David the new guy from Ohio, and when we got to Abita Springs we found a whole bunch of riders, some of whom were there for a CCC ride. Still, we had 25 riders when we rolled out for a nice low-key 55 miler with temperatures way, way warmer than any of us expected. With shorts double jerseys and arm-warmers it wasn't half an hour before I was wishing I'd left one of the jerseys in the car. Anyway, the ride was great today. We started out with a lot of double paceline conversation for the first twenty miles or so. There were a few fast stretches, and the group split and regrouped a few times, but really it never quite went ballistic. All-in-all I though it was a very good start for the winter training rides. Maybe we'll have to do a few more on Saturday.