The Long Way

For the last few days I've finally gotten back to riding the bike to work. This seemingly simple thing has presented a challenge or two, the most significant of which involves the messenger bag. With collarbone and ribs still a bit on the tender side, throwing my fully loaded Timbuk2 over my shoulder doesn't seem like a good idea. Luckily, I have a classic old aluminum Pletcher rear rack on my commuter. With the help of an old toe strap and a bungee cord, I am able to mount the bag on the rack pannier-style. The only problem with that is that heel clearance is a little tight and I have to be careful to arrange it so nothing hits the spokes. It's been working fairly well, considering.


With gas prices out of sight and rising even The Wife has decided it's time to leave the car at home a few days a week, and so yesterday evening we rode home together. Rather than take the short route via the Broad Street overpass, we decided to take the long way. That turned out to be a rather pleasant ride, largely along St. Charles Avenue. The long way is still only about six and a half miles, compared with my usual 3.5 mile route. I've noticed it's a lot cooler riding in the summer with the bag strapped to the rack rather than on my back.



The long levee ride was looking to be a small group at first this morning. We rolled out kind of easy and since I was on the front I picked it up to about 20 mph as we approached the playground. A little while later Diego, Chad and a couple of the Bicycle World guys came streaming past. Figuring that the rest of the group was probably right behind, I latched on as the pace went up to around 27 mph. I'm still quite reluctant to look behind while I'm riding, so it was a few miles before I did. The rest of the group was nowhere to be found. Well, these guys were riding like they were in a breakaway, and although I wanted to be in the rotation I thought I'd better not let them lick my plate clean and then leave me for dead, so I sat on the back. Since I haven't been "really" training for the last five weeks I knew the pace was going to take its toll on me eventually any way. Chad dropped off early and soon the pace started to ease a bit. I guess by the end we were down to 24-25 mph, so I took a few pulls. With such a small group I felt safer than I do in the middle of a long paceline where I can't see much of the road ahead. Anyway, at the turnaround I looped back right away while the others hung around and waited for the rest of the group. As a result I had a nice easy few miles until the group finally caught back up to me somewhere before the Dip. I was kind of surprised at how good my legs felt, but I have a feeling that they may be a little sore tomorrow morning. Nonetheless, it was probably the best workout I've done in a long time.



Early this week a cyclist was killed on River Road near Baton Rouge when he was hit from behind by an inattentive driver (with a suspended license) who was apparently fiddling with his radio and not looking where he was going. This happened on the course that we often use for time trials up there. The road is dead flat and curves gently with the river. The rider was from New Orleans and while I recognized the last name, Goodier, I was hoping it wasn't a family I knew. Well, yesterday I learned that it was the brother of one of The Daughter's classmates from the Academy of the Sacred Heart. The rider was training for triathlons, but was also a recent M.D. doing a residency in Baton Rouge, probably at Our Lady of the Lake hospital to which he was airlifted and later pronounced dead. After a double fatality on the same road during a training race a few years back caution signs went up along the route warning motorists that it was a cyclist training route.