After such a messy week of riding, I was looking forward to Sunday's long ride on the northshore. I had already done the Giro ride the day before, and that ride had been uncharacteristically civilized, which is to say it wasn't very fast. So I was up this morning at 6:15 putting the roof rack onto the car and pondering my wardrobe options in light of the warming 
weather. A number of people had said they wanted to do the ride, and as Mignon and Viv were loading their stuff into the car at Starbucks I got a call from Steve saying the (a) he and Pat were on the way to the ride and (b) they had already been rained on. Indeed, the sky didn't look too good, but there wasn't really any serious rain in the forecast, so we wrote it off as just a stray shower, a result of the humid southeast wind. I set the cruise control at a casual 65 mph, picked up my cup of Christmas Blend, checked the mirror to make sure Brady and Jen were following, and sat back to enjoy the 24 mile trip across the pond.
weather. A number of people had said they wanted to do the ride, and as Mignon and Viv were loading their stuff into the car at Starbucks I got a call from Steve saying the (a) he and Pat were on the way to the ride and (b) they had already been rained on. Indeed, the sky didn't look too good, but there wasn't really any serious rain in the forecast, so we wrote it off as just a stray shower, a result of the humid southeast wind. I set the cruise control at a casual 65 mph, picked up my cup of Christmas Blend, checked the mirror to make sure Brady and Jen were following, and sat back to enjoy the 24 mile trip across the pond.As we pulled into the school parking lot up near Barker's Corner, I was surprised how many cars were already there. It felt a bit chilly, and although I knew it would warm up, I pulled light vest on over my two jerseys and arm-warmers. By the time we finally 
rolled out, there were 22 of us, which is quite a big turnout for this kind of ride. I had a funny feeling that it was going to get fast. After a brief regrouping at the end of Tung Road, we were still all together as we approached Enon. There's a traditional sprint for the Enon town sign, which hasn't actually existed for quite a few years. Prior to today's ride, Jason had painted 1 km and 200 meter marks on the road, along with a finish line. Keith looked over at me and asked "want a lead-out?" I countered with "I'll lead you out." Just in front of me were Jason and Ed, and I had a feeling they were going to go for it. Sure enough, with about 500 meters to go I saw Jason shift down and jump with Ed on his wheel. I went too, and Keith was right on me. Because of the snow last Thursday, the bridge on which we were sprinting was full of sand, leaving just a couple of tire tracks of clear roadway. Jason was hammering down the right-hand track with the three of us following. I guess we were about 300 meters out when I decided I'd better make a move, so I took us out onto the gravel and across to the other tire track as Jason started to fade. Thinking that it might make Ed hesitate for a moment, I eased back over to the right as I started to blow up, but it must not have caused much of a problem for Ed because a moment later he came around Keith just before the finish line. I clearly remember thinking, "man, I'm not ready for this yet!"
rolled out, there were 22 of us, which is quite a big turnout for this kind of ride. I had a funny feeling that it was going to get fast. After a brief regrouping at the end of Tung Road, we were still all together as we approached Enon. There's a traditional sprint for the Enon town sign, which hasn't actually existed for quite a few years. Prior to today's ride, Jason had painted 1 km and 200 meter marks on the road, along with a finish line. Keith looked over at me and asked "want a lead-out?" I countered with "I'll lead you out." Just in front of me were Jason and Ed, and I had a feeling they were going to go for it. Sure enough, with about 500 meters to go I saw Jason shift down and jump with Ed on his wheel. I went too, and Keith was right on me. Because of the snow last Thursday, the bridge on which we were sprinting was full of sand, leaving just a couple of tire tracks of clear roadway. Jason was hammering down the right-hand track with the three of us following. I guess we were about 300 meters out when I decided I'd better make a move, so I took us out onto the gravel and across to the other tire track as Jason started to fade. Thinking that it might make Ed hesitate for a moment, I eased back over to the right as I started to blow up, but it must not have caused much of a problem for Ed because a moment later he came around Keith just before the finish line. I clearly remember thinking, "man, I'm not ready for this yet!"
So anyway, everyone regrouped again and there was the usual nature stop, and then right when we got going again, one of the guys flatted. I turned around with a few others and we got it fixed, but for some reason the group wasn't waiting around, so we quickly got a little paceline going. I figured they'd wait for us at the next turn, a couple of miles down the road, but no such luck, so we continued out team time trial. When they weren't at the next turn either, I started to think of alternatives, eventually deciding that if we didn't see them by the time we had to turn onto Lee Road, we'd take a little short-cut. However, this time they were waiting for us, so we were all finally back together. Well, it didn't last too long. On the very next stretch some gaps opened up right away and I dropped back to see how a couple of people were doing. Well, next thing I knew, it was just Jaro, Viv, Mignon, me and one other guy. Chasing again. Again I figured they would be waiting at the next intersection, and again I was wrong. I could sense that the others were getting a little tired. On the long climb way out on the back side of the course, things broke up quite a bit, and soon Mignon looked back and said she was going to drop back and ride with Vivian. They turned off at Lee Road to take a shorter route back to Enon, so the three of us left continued our chase, but every time we'd climb a long hill I'd find myself alone, so when it happened again on the last climb before Sie Jenkins Road, I kept going. I was thinking I'd take the Jap Little shortcut, catch the group, and get them to wait up for a couple of minutes. So I hammered down Jap Little, 
which, by the way, is barely more than a dirt road. The potholes had recently been patched, apparently by someone randomly shoveling asphalt out of a moving truck. Anyway, when I arrived at Plainview I found the group going slowly after having stopped for one of the guys who had broken a spoke. I rode back to him and the other guys who were helping, and by the time I got there, he was already rolling. Well, as you might have expected today, the rest of the group was already down the road, so once again I was in a small group, chasing. This time, though, they eventually turned around so we could regroup. Soon, with VJ and Jorge pushing the pace, we were flying down the road back toward Lee Road as if we were in a race. Things stayed fairly fast all the way back to Enon, by which time the day's pace was beginning to wear on some of the riders.
By the last six or seven miles the front group was down to seven riders and nobody was talking any more. We got back to the car just a few minutes after Vivian and Mignon -- good timing! For me, it was definitely a very good, if not complicated, ride. I got in quite a few miles of moderate intensity without going too far over the edge, so I was feeling pretty satisfied as we drove back to New Orleans by way of the local Starbucks. There was only one more thing that I needed in order for it to be a successful ride, and that was achieved when the Causeway toll sign showed $3.00 despite the two bikes on the roof! I've learned over the years that going through the height sensor ahead of the toll booth as a sufficiently high speed usually keeps the sensor from picking up the bikes and charging another three dollars. It did, however, elicit a little shriek from Mignon as I slammed on the brakes to keep from plowing in to the car ahead of us in line!
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