Under the Courthouse and Update 1,350

Monday was the start of my month-long, twice per week Jury Duty stint for the Orleans Parish Criminal Court. In light of Sunday's hard ride, my own still-tender quads, and the need to report to the courthouse for 8:30 am, I decided it would allowable to skip the Monday morning recovery ride. The Criminal Court building dates back to the 30s, and is a fairly solid and impressive structure in classic courthouse style, conveniently connected directly to the adjacent Parish Prison. The jury pool, however, is located down in the basement. Considering the less than upscale location at Tulane and Broad, I had brought along my big U-lock and cable, both of which seemed far more substantial than the battered "No Parking" sign to which I reluctantly secured my bike. If there's a bike rack somewhere, I sure didn't see it. After clearing security at the door, where seven or eight security guards were hanging around with nothing better to do, I took the elevator down to the ground floor, otherwise known as the basement or parking garage, depending on which side of the wall you happen to be on. The Jury room is a big room with a low ceiling filled with fluorescent lights, a tacky bright blue vinyl tile floor, blue walls and 1980s style aluminum and vinyl chairs. It holds over a hundred people and by the time everyone showed up it was quite full. I settled into a spot in the corner near the coffee machine. Since I'm clearly a "visual learner," I instinctively chose a spot from which I can easily survey the entire room. On the wall were a couple of big LCD televisions, permanently tuned to some sort of daytime TV reality show crap, and scattered about was a collection of well-worn and random magazines dating back to well over a year. I felt trapped. Indeed, I was trapped. I'd left the Blackberry at home, but as it turned out Jurors were allowed to bring their cellphones. Luckily I had my trusty Palm Pilot and the room had some sort of wireless internet. It took me seven tries to get connected, but at least I could occasionally check my email and read the news while I waited. I was called once, along with 74 other people, and after we all filed upstairs to the huge hallway and lined up in order of number (felt just like grammar school) the Judge came out and said that we weren't going to be needed after all. We went back to the holding pen for another hour or two before we were finally released around 12:30. Boy, that was fun. Can't wait 'till Wednesday.....

So this morning was nice and hot and humid, which pretty much sums up the forecast for the rest of the week. Up on the levee there was the usual cluster of riders waiting for someone to say "Let's go." When I arrived I was still feeling kind of groggy, but when I saw that Tim and Woody were both on their Time Trial bikes, I figured I'd better wake up - fast. We weren't much past the Huey P. Long bridge when the pace started to climb rather dramatically. First was the shift to the big ring, and then "clunk, clunk, clunk" down the cluster, finally settling on the 15. The wind was essentially calm, and I soon found myself on Max's wheel going 29 mph. Up at the front Tim and Woody were doing a 2-man Time Trial with Rob sitting behind them and switching from one wheel to the other as they took their pulls. A few miles later I glanced to the side at our shadow. There were only five shadows, and the last was mine. Judging by the pace they were maintaining, I figured Tim and Woody would be turning around at the little dip as they sometimes do. Even sitting there with four riders in front of me, I was working pretty hard just to stay on as the pace fluctuated between 28 and 31 mph for the next ten miles or so. After the TT bikes went home, the three of us who were left dropped the pace down a notch and continued on, picking up the Destrehan crew along the way, and finally arriving at the new turnaround where they've got the bike path blocked off. The rest of the group arrived a while later, split up into a couple of smaller groups, and after a couple of recovery miles we got a nice paceline going for the ride back, arriving more or less together.

This is officially my 1,350th blog update, and the first post of this blog's 6th year. Some time around the end of this week or early next week the odometer on my bike should hit 90,000 miles. I think all that means is that I'm a stubborn creature of habit with too much time on his hands who's too cheap to buy a new computer for his bike ..... Actually, the old ErgoBrain has gotten to be more of a science experiment now, sort of like the Mars Explorer Rovers. How long will it last??

I wonder if I'll have the time and energy to make it out to the lakefront for the Tuesday Time Trial. It's kind of doubtful, but who knows? I could always bolt the old clip-ons to the Cervelo and get a little practice balancing on my front wheel in the 53x14.