Superdome, Snakebites and Supper

Complete with light show and sound effects, Fall arrived here around 2 am Friday morning. I woke up, watching the pouring rain and listening to the thunder, and easily wrote off any chance of a morning ride. By noon the sky had cleared up and there was a brisk north wind, marking the start of one of those awesome Fall weekends we sometimes get this time of year. When I got up in the dark to ride out to the lake on Saturday the temperature was a good twenty degrees lower and I knew the sudden change would make for a difficult adjustment. Thinking I'd be fine with a chest protector under my jersey and a pair of arm-warmers, I opened the door. That was when I felt the north wind. I turned right around and set off in search of my knee-warmers. Those wonderful knee-warmers. I was glad I'd put them on as I battled my way out to the lake to meet the Giro Ride. My legs were feeling good, but I knew it would likely be a hard ride because of the wind. I was right. The group really got going on Hayne Blvd. People who don't normally get dropped were getting dropped in the crosswind. and it didn't really let up until we came to Chef Highway. That's where things came a little unravelled. With traffic coming in both directions, most riders stopped, but a number of them turned left onto the shoulder of the oncoming lane and kept going until they could cross over to the right side of the road. That opened a big gap (and also pissed off more than a few people). By the time the rest of the group got across the road and reassembled, the wrong-way riders were already a minute down the road and it wasn't likely they'd be caught. We finally got a paceline going, but with the wind like it was the participation at the front was low and inconsistent. Nonetheless, it was a good workout. The ride back was a little less traumatic.

Once back at the parking lot, a few of us went across the street to Kona Cafe (which was pretty busy) for some coffee. Between the caffeine and strong tailwind, I had a really fast ride back home after

Next on the schedule for me was a trip down to the Superdome to see the Tulane game. We knew we'd have to leave around halftime, but since our tickets were free we figured we'd go support the home team. They played a bit better than last week and when we left just before the 3rd quarter started they were trailing Houston by only six points. Apparently things went rapidly downhill from there, because the final score was something like 44 - 6. Ouch. Hope they score better on their GREs and LSATs and MEDCATs, because pro football isn't looking like an option. The reason we'd left early was because we were planning on driving across the lake for one of those murder mystery dinner things at Annadele Plantation in Covington. Now as far as I'm concerned, this sort of audience-participation thing is not really my cup of tea. Aside from interfering with conversation and dinner, they just make me feel kind of uncomfortable. I'm sure it's just me, though, because everyone else seemed to be having a great time. Note to self: Don't sit at the table in the middle of the room next time.

Sunday morning was even colder and more windy than Saturday, and so I added another jersey to my ensemble for the ride out to the lake. After battling the north wind all the way there, I finally hit Lakeshore drive and at 7:04 saw a small group of six or seven heading out. It was a couple of minutes earlier than I'd expect to see the main group, and as I was contemplating whether or not to turn around or continue on, I saw a rider in a full Bicycle World kit come out of Marconi Drive and turn toward West End. So I took off after him, figuring that even if there weren't any other Giro riders, at least I'd have company. By the time I caught him we were down around Canal Blvd. and it was clear that there was nobody else. By then the little group was a good five minutes down the road, so we turned around and I resigned myself to a long ride into the wind. Next time I looked back the other rider had turned off and gone home. Riding alone down Lakeshore Drive, Hayne, and Chef Highway into the wind was hard. It reminded me of those long climbs at Six Gap. For the next ten miles or so, 15 mph was about my top speed, and there were times when I was barely in the double-digits.

Finally, out on Chef Highway near Highway 11, I saw Howard coming toward me. I figured he was out ahead of the group, and a little later I saw the group. I turned around, put it in the big ring, and got in. Now, with a nice tailwind and the shelter of the group, we were rolling pretty fast back toward the service road. When we made the turn off of Chef a few little gaps opened up. I was maybe third wheel behind one of them and we had just picked up the pace to close it up when -- WHACK -- I hit something really big. Immediately, my front tire exploded and the water bottle launched out of my problematic seat post mounted cage. Now I'm going maybe 25 mph with a rapidly deflating front tire, holding a water bottle between one calf and the seat tube. The bottle slipped down to the chainstay where it bounced around on the spokes for a little while before finally falling off. Somehow I didn't go down. I hit the brakes and circled around, picking up the bottle as the last molecules of air hissed out of the tube. The group came back to assist as I took the wheel off and fought with the tube. Since that particular tire hadn't flatted in months, the tube was well stuck to the tire casing, making it a little difficult to remove. About that time someone looked down at my bike and said, "Did you know your rear tire was flat too?" Great! Two snakebite flats. I guess I'm lucky the rim wasn't too badly damaged, considering. Anyway, we finally got everything back together, and the rest of the ride was relatively uneventful. On the plus side, the weather today is spectacular, at least by New Orleans standards. I hope it sticks around for a few more days.