This morning really felt like the definition of summer. The air was warm and thick, and it seems to suck some of the enthusiasm right out of you. Around lunchtime I stepped out onto the sidewalk on Canal St. and walked a few blocks down to the ATM to get some cash for food. I was immediately reminded of the song by the Lovin' Spoonful:
The morning levee ride was well-attended today, and everyone was mostly on the same page which kept the pace smooth and steady, even though there was significant disagreement about the direction from which the insignificant wind was coming. It was hard to get myself out of bed today, and it took me quite a while to feel warmed up. Eventually, though, I got back on track and toward the end of the ride I stayed near the back of the group and over to one side just so I could get in a few miles without a draft. When the paceline is this long and everyone's taking longish pulls, it seems like you spend way too much time sitting in and way too little pulling.
I read another excellent "Toolbox" article on the Pez Cycling News website yesterday. This one was on team leadout tactics, and for once it didn't assume that everybody was riding with a six-rider team of super-fit leadout men. The article addressed the much more common scenario where you only have two or three teammates that are capable of doing anything, and it covered a lot of the little things that go into good teamwork and planning for races when they come down to sprints. For example:
Hot town, summer in the cityThis is the time of year when I actually hope for a little rain shower to show up in the afternoon just to cool things down a little bit.
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
Been down, isn't it a pity
Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city
All around, people looking half dead
Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head
The morning levee ride was well-attended today, and everyone was mostly on the same page which kept the pace smooth and steady, even though there was significant disagreement about the direction from which the insignificant wind was coming. It was hard to get myself out of bed today, and it took me quite a while to feel warmed up. Eventually, though, I got back on track and toward the end of the ride I stayed near the back of the group and over to one side just so I could get in a few miles without a draft. When the paceline is this long and everyone's taking longish pulls, it seems like you spend way too much time sitting in and way too little pulling.I read another excellent "Toolbox" article on the Pez Cycling News website yesterday. This one was on team leadout tactics, and for once it didn't assume that everybody was riding with a six-rider team of super-fit leadout men. The article addressed the much more common scenario where you only have two or three teammates that are capable of doing anything, and it covered a lot of the little things that go into good teamwork and planning for races when they come down to sprints. For example:
"The idea of ‘blocking’ is taken to extremes all too often when people hit the brakes, swerve, or otherwise pull those bone head moves that have come to define lower category racing. Don’t be bonehead!"Bonehead indeed! So on the subject of bike races, perhaps I'll jump back into it for the LAMBRA criterium championships coming up the weekend after next. I'm definitely not quite up to speed, but I know that if I don't race I'll never be race-ready anyway, so I think I'll ride the masters race with no expectations and see how it goes. The next weekend is a stage race in Lafayette that should be good as well. I can't believe it's already about time to start working on our Rocktoberfest race in October. I think we'll take a shot at getting it back onto Lakeshore Drive this year. It looks like most of the levee work is about done and I got the contact from Robin last week, so hopefully they won't try and charge us more than we can possibly afford. I mean, we ought to break even on at least one of our races this year.
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