Waiting for Gustav

There was not a single cloud in the sky as I rode out toward the lake this morning to meet the Giro Ride. In wondered how many people had already left or were otherwise preoccupied with hurricane preparations. When I got to Lakeshore Drive I was rather surprised to find a significant north wind. It hadn't felt very windy at all on my way out there. As I rode west along the lake I passed the regular triathlete group that was just getting started. The Giro group seemed smaller than usual for a Saturday. I was up for a hard ride today, and I wasn't disappointed in that regard. I think it was probably Tim who got things going when we hit Hayne, and it stayed fast despite the crosswind. Naturally, once we turned south the speed picked up to around 30 mph, and it was like a race all the way to Chef Highway. That's when I noticed that the group had gotten a lot smaller. I thought perhaps we'd get a little break, but no such luck. Next thing I knew, I was in a group of six or seven taking short, fast pulls at around 27 mph. I think there were a few other riders hanging on the back of this little paceline. This was getting pretty stressful. More than once I dropped back and skipped a pull or two to recover a bit.

So after the turnaround I though that surely everyone was tired and we'd go easy for a while, but Tim had other ideas. We were flying down the highway pretty fast when Eddie D flatted. Tim had to get home asap, so he and a few other went ahead and the rest of us waited for Eddie. I though that we'd probably ride back in easy, but a minute later we see VJ and Eddie C., both on TT bikes, turn around and join the group. Well, you can probably guess what happened next. Anyway, it was a really good training ride, even though I felt like I spent half the time motorpacing behind large guys on TT bikes going 32 mph.

Back at home we're just kind of waiting for Gustav now. I trimmed some of the oak tree branches that were rubbing on the roof, battened down a few hatches, and moved as much as I could up off the floor of the basement. The models are all taking the center a bit west of the city, but then you've got to remember that it hasn't even gotten into the Gulf of Mexico yet. Once it does, it will ramp up to Category 4, at least. I don't usually mess with Category 4 hurricanes. We're still considering a few options. If by some miracle it looks like it will turn more to the west, we might be safe staying put. If it looks like it's going to plow right over Baton Rouge, it won't make much sense to evacuate to Jackson, LA, which is just half an hour north of there. It would be better to head north or east, the only problem being that we don't have any place to stay if we do that. If it looks like it's coming straight for the city we may go ahead and head for Jackson since even if it's headed there too, it should be down to Category 1 or 2 by then. I guess it will be tonight before we get more really useful information, so that will likely be decision time.