Fast Fun and Feverish

I was surprised and disappointed as I clipped in this morning to ride out to the lakefront -- surprised by how cool it felt; disappointed at how windy it was. At least the day promised a clear blue sky and nearly perfect riding temperatures. My legs were feeling pretty good, especially considering the previous day's long ride and the previous evening's consumption of wine. The back of my throat, however, was a different story. I decided to ignore the scratchy throat and press on to meet the Giro Ride anyway. Passing the parking lot where the triathletes meet I looked over and noted it was empty. Not a tri bike in sight. Perhaps they were all down in the French Quarter getting ready for the start of the Crescent City Classic. The Wife was down there as well, planning on crashing the race with one of the neighbors.

As I rode along Lakeshore Drive toward the start of the ride I was surprised to see the group coming toward me a bit earlier than expected. The turnout was pretty big today, and considering the wind it was looking to be a hard one. Even before we got off of Lakeshore Drive the pace started to rise. Hayne Blvd. was mostly into a quartering headwind, which caused frequent gaps to open, especially since the guys at the front was pushing really hard chasing a little group that has slipped away earlier. Even though I was nowhere near the front, I had to make a few hard efforts just to stay with them. Chef Highway started out with a crosswind coming from the left and after a mile or two of dealing with the right-hand rumble strip I decided it was time to get myself up nearer the front. Pretty soon the number of people working up there started to dwindle and I ended up doing a lot of work, which of course was a good thing. This is, after all, training. The rest of the ride was similarly fast with the only break coming when Jay flatted near Bullard and everybody waited for him to fix it. The pace picked up again on Hayne, and naturally we had to sprint to the top of the two bridges. I think we were back onto Lakeshore Drive just after 9 am, and considering the time we spent on Bullard waiting for Jay, it must have been one of the faster Giro Rides we've had.

The club got together afterward for breakfast and some initial Tour de Louisiane planning, so it was probably 11:00 by the time I got back onto the bike to ride home. That's about when I realized that the scratchy throat was still there. It wasn't until around 3 pm when I finally admitted I was getting some kind of head cold. Damn. So the big question is what I'll feel like tomorrow morning. I really wanted to do the extra-early northshore ride that starts at 6:30 am. I guess I'll have to wait until 5am and see how it goes.