Red Skies and Rainy Roads

There was some soreness in my legs on Monday morning and it reminded me why I usually start the work week with an easy recovery ride. Apparently most of the other "levee riders" were recovering in bed because it was deserted as I rolled up to the meeting place. Over to the east the high clouds were on fire just before sunrise and I couldn't resist taking yet another sunrise photo. They never quite seem to capture the feeling, though. I guess that's why people keep trying to take those ubiquitous sunrise and sunset shots. So anyway, I did a nice easy spin and hung up the Orbea for the day. I must have been really dragging, however, because before I knew it I was running pretty late for work. It's really dangerous to turn on the TV news and/or check my email before I leave home. Inevitably I end up losing track of time.

One of the things on my to-do list for the day was to get in touch with the guy at the Orleans Levee District who has to give us the OK to use Lakeshore Drive for Rocktoberfest. He never responds to voicemails or emails. I finally got hold of him and I think we're OK. He thought there was a conflicting Cancer Association Walk that day and said he'd have to call me back. Two minutes after I hung up the phone I found the event on the web and saw that it was scheduled for that Saturday, and since the race is scheduled for Sunday I'm assuming we'll be good to go once I get the levee district police lined up. Of course, the OLB guy has yet to call me back and I'm sure he won't either. I'll have to call him, probably more than once. Anyway, I went ahead and updated the event announcement and website since time is tight, on the assumption that there won't be a problem. It's the same course we used for the Tour de La criterium, so I'm pretty sure the police don't have a problem with it. This will be the last race of the local road season, and as usual we'll be coming in on a wing and a prayer!

Today was the first official day of Fall, although you wouldn't have known it by the hot, muggy, humid air that slammed me in the face as I walked out the door this morning. I find it so hard to get out there on these dark mornings, and although the sticky air doesn't help much, it's still a lot better than a 38 degree north wind. We'll have that soon enough. When I got to the start, up on the levee, there were only a couple of people there and we were wondering where everyone else was. Well, eventually the rest showed up. I guess I'm not the only one who has to drag himself out into the dark on these mornings. Right as we started Max told me that the road was soaking wet a few miles upriver. I hadn't expected that. The sky seemed to be pretty clear and the forecast had certainly held no promise of rain. Sure enough, though, we were soon dodging wheel-spray and little puddles of water while squinting through slop-splattered glasses.

The ride itself was pretty good with most riders taking pulls at a civilized 24-25 mph or so. Matt was kind of pushing the pace a bit, but that was fine. Today, for the first time in a long time, we rode all the way to the end of the bike path. Although there is still a big "hill" of loose gravel where they laid the new pipeline over the levee, it is no longer blocked off. The ride back took a little while to get organized, but eventually it turned into a long double-paceline because of the light headwind. That sort of thing always starts to fall apart as we get nearer to the city and start to encounter more and more pedestrians and oncoming cyclists. After a while I decided it would be safer and less stressful to drop farther to the back where there was a little more room to maneuver.