Training Races

The afternoon shower was a little too early to wash out today's Wednesday Worlds training race. At 5 pm sharp I left the office, thinking I was skipping out early, only to find that everyone else was already gone. Go figure. The streets were still a bit damp from a late afternoon shower, but they were drying quickly and it looked like we'd be in the clear for the 6 pm training race out at the lakefront. Half an hour later I was rolling down Carrollton Avenue, dodging potholes, commuters and car doors left and right, and somehow managing to catch every single red light along the way. I still got there in time for the usual rolling start, though, and was glad to see a group of fifteen or so coming over the levee.

I started out by spending half a lap on the front, only because the pace hadn't really ramped up yet. Of course the pace did finally get going, marked by the usual series of suicide attacks, one of which was mine. In general, it seemed a little easier to hang in today. Every now and then the pace would go slack and things would bunch up for a while, but of course that just encouraged more attacks, which of course were followed by brief but really, really fast chases. On the last lap Tim attacked and got a pretty big gap as the rest of the group hesitated. Eventually, though, there was a big surge and he was swallowed up shortly before the finish. Tim and Woody had been doing intervals at lunch today, and I think they had both ridden in the morning too, so you'd think they might be a little tired. Anyway, right around when Tim was getting caught, Brooks attacked down the right side and so Woody, who was up near the front had to go with him, eventually getting stuck at the front when Brooks faded about 300 meters from the finish. I think maybe Mike, who was riding a fixed gear TT bike, might have gotten past everybody by the end. A number of us got kind of screwed up as the sprint started when the group kind of split going around a slow-moving and rather surprised triathlete. Anyway, it was another fun Wednesday Worlds and I got in some good and badly needed intensity.

I'm glad to see that these training races are surviving. They have been going on since the mid-70s. Back then we started from Shelter #1 and did two laps of the entire Lakeshore Drive loop, making for a 20-mile race. By the mid-80s they had evolved into much more organized events with entry fees and numbers and prizes, using the circuit from the Bayou St. John traffic circle to the Seabrook loop. We'd still be using that same loop if the Levee District hadn't usurped the whole east end of Lakeshore Drive to stockpile mud. It'll be kind of neat to have the Tour de Louisiane criterium around Shelter #1 on Lakeshore Drive this year. That was the start of the very first 4 mile time trial of the very first Tour de Louisiane. The distance from Shelter one to the traffic circle and back just happens to be four miles. I think John Howard did that TT in just over 10 minutes. No skinsuit, no aero anything. Normal people like me took more like twelve.