Should Have Checked

After a nice late dinner at Cafe Degas Saturday night with Gail (Mitzi) Leedy, who was in town for a professional meeting, I threw the batch of cycling clothes that were in the washer into the dryer and hit the sack. Although Gail doesn't ride much any more, she's now into ultramarathon running. You know, those 100 mile runs in the mountains. Guess bike racing was just too easy.

The plan for Sunday morning was to meet Rick Carpenter from Tennessee, who was in town for a little vacation, to ride out to the Giro Ride. So I hit the road shortly before 6 am to ride down to the French Quarter. He was staying at a little Bed and Breakfast just off of Esplanade Avenue on the edge of the Quarter. Of course, it was quite dark, but the temperature was in the 60s and the wind mostly at my back, so I was enjoying the ride. Just as I turned onto Esplanade Avenue I felt a few drops of rain and thought, "Maybe I should have checked the radar." As I rolled up to the house I saw Rick on his bike waiting for me. Just about that time the drizzle turned into rain and we ran up the stairs to seek shelter on the front porch. A couple of minutes later the rain slacked off, so we figured, "What the hell? We're already dressed. Let's ride." So we headed out to the lakefront in a light rain. I figured that if it stopped soon, I'd be OK, and if it didn't, I'd be good for maybe an hour before hypothermia set in. Well, things were not looking too good as we made our way through the city toward Wisner Blvd. An then I had a flat. Perfect. I was just getting colder and colder as I stood there hunched over the wheel changing the tube, and the rain was not exactly letting up. We made it out to Lakeshore Drive, where the rain picked up yet another notch. When I could feel my feet sloshing around in my rain-filled shoes, I told Rick, "I'm going to have to bail before I freeze." He didn't argue. I kept the pace up a bit all the way home in order to keep from getting too chilled, but it still took a hot shower and two cups of coffee to feel normal again. Oh well. At least we tried! Kenny reported that he'd spent the morning doing hill repeats in the rain on one of the area bridges. Well, at least he probably got out on the road late enough to have dressed properly for that!

An hour later we were on the road for Ft. Walton where I was meeting my father in order to drive him back to New Orleans. We ended up staying overnight and driving back today, so I guess it's good that I at least got in fifteen or twenty miles in the rain on Sunday. Tomorrow morning should be cold and windy, and Wednesday morning will be around freezing. This is always the part of the year that tests your resolve. I just hope my shoes are dry by morning.