Tuesday Night Worlds.

It was still pretty cold yesterday morning when I rode out to meet the morning levee ride. To make matters worse, I caught a train for the second day in a row. The group was still waiting, however, and we ended up with a decent group as we headed up the river in the semi-darkness. This being the second week of Tuesday Night Worlds out on the lakefront, I was planning from the outset to turn around early. This would have been a wise plan except for the strong southeast wind. After dropping off the back and turning around at the "dip," I ended up with a rather long solo ride into the wind that was probably just as much work as I'd have gotten staying with the group all the way out to Ormond.

I skipped out of work a few minutes early, arriving at the lakefront in plenty of time for the 6pm start where I was happy to see maybe twenty riders chomping at the bit. It was still pretty windy and I knew it would be a hard day on Lakeshore Drive. Once we rang the bell for the start, things stayed civilized for all of five minutes before the attacks started. For the next couple of laps I was on the rivet just trying to keep from being dropped. Eddie launched a couple of harsh attacks, along with Tim, Brooks, and I guess a few others. I think the group pretty much split in two within the first two laps, although I couldn't say exactly when or where because I was preoccupied with trying to suck in enough air to remain more or less conscious. I had to go way over my limit a few times in order to close gaps that were largely of my own making, and there were more than a couple of times when I was lost in the pain cave without a flashlight, and I was lucky to stay with the lead group. Part of that luck probably had to do with Tim not being able to put much pressure on the pedals because of a skipping chain on a new cassette. It didn't stop him from inflicting some serious damage on the rest of us, but at least it was moderated a bit since he really couldn't stand up in most gears.

Seeing as how there was a strong gusty crosswind coming out of the southeast, Mike W. naturally chose to ride a huge fixed gear and rear disk which kept everyone on his toes, especially when he was on the front guttering everyone in the crosswind. Man, if there's one thing I could get an advanced degree in, it's riding between the curb and the crack on Lakeshore Drive! This was like "Advanced Wheelsucking 404 (prerequisite Giro riding and zealot approval)." I think I wacked a couple of big chunks of concrete or something along the way on Tuesday.

So anyway, somehow I made it to the bell lap in one piece, hanging onto the lead group by the skin of my teeth. We circled the fountain for the final time and headed for the finish just about a kilometer away and I had a pretty good picture of what would happen. Tim, unable to stand and spring anyway, gave the whole group a long leadout. Then the pace slacked off just a touch as we turned back into the wind and the sprint started a little early. I saw Mike grinding his big gear and coming past on the left. On the right were Tim, Matt and Woody. Tim finally eased up and then -- surprise -- Matt didn't sprint. Woody, meanwhile, found himself trapped between them and I could see him desperately trying to find a way out so he could finally sprint. I briefly considered launching myself, but the thought of hitting that headwind all alone made me think twice. By the time Woody got through it was too late, though, and Mike made it to the line first. I was already well toasted and just tried to stay on a wheel. It was a great workout and I guess I logged around 60 miles for the day. As Jim Bergin used to say "Ain't bike racin' fun?"

Afterward I rode back uptown with Tim, who was himself riding back to Kenner by way of the levee.

This morning it was warmer and the ride was brisk and pretty civilized. The Mississippi River has been rising a bit lately and is supposed to crest here in New Orleans just a tad below flood stage. Flood stage is about where the river comes up to the base of the levee, so it's not really an emergency or anything. I don't think they will even need to open the Bonnet Carre' Spillway, but it's nice to know it's there just in case! Anyway, the Corps of Engineers and all those political appointees on the Levee District boards who have never been through this are understandably on alert. Meanwhile, back at the office, things got really busy, especially in the afternoon. Somewhere along the way Robin called to say he'd gone out to the time trial course that we'll be using on Saturday for the 2-Person Time Trial and refreshed the course markings. Now if we can just get a good turnout of volunteers for the event, all should be good. I still need to remember to pick up a bunch of batteries so that the stopwatches and megaphone make it all the way through, and of course I need to set up the results spreadsheet on Friday so that it will pick up the rider data from the USAC database, at least for those with current USCF racing licenses.