Mother Duck

It was even colder this morning. The temperature again dipped down below 50F, which in my book is somewhere between chilly and cold. Rather than wrestle with the arm-warmers, I broke out the heavy Pearlizumi LS jersey this morning for the first time since spring. A cold front had come through during the night and there was a stiff northwest wind blowing. Apparently it was blowing so hard that it blew most of the usual morning riders right off the levee because there was just a handful today. Luckily, though, Brady was there, and knowing his propensity for self-flagellation, I wasn't surprised when he went to the front and proceeded to tow us like a mother duck halfway to Destrehan before reluctantly pulling over so we could put in our wimpy little one-minute pulls. The whole time he was pulling, everyone else was being very quiet as if they were hoping he'd forget we were back there and keep pulling into the wind.

Although I had skipped the ride on Monday out of sheer laziness, I still felt kind of off-form today and although my brain kept wanting to ride hard, my legs were just not cooperating. It was as if I was dragging anchor all day, even though the wind rarely let me get out of the small chainring. By the time I got home, quite a few minutes later than usual because of the relatively slow ride speed, my feet were still cold. A sign of things to come, I'm afraid. There always comes a time in December when the shoe-covers just stay on the shoes all week. I hate that week. Anyway, despite the big cup of exceptionally strong Starbucks Thanksgiving Blend that I made at home, I felt lousy all day at work too. Then, on the way home I decided to ride down Broadway instead of Pine St. because they've been digging up the intersections on St. Charles and since it was already dark, I figured it would be safer on Broadway. Big mistake. There was a steady stream of cars, all apparently in a big hurry to get home. I ended up plowing right into some kind of crack or pothole that I never saw. Shortly after that, somebody threw open a car door that I narrowly missed. Finally, I got across St. Charles and cut back over to Pine Street. That was just about when my front tire went flat, no doubt pinch-flatted by the aforementioned pothole. So I just limped home on the rim for the next ten blocks. Thump, thump, thump .....

It's already down to 51F around here, so unless some clouds roll in overnight I guess it'll be another morning in the 40s. I can already feel my feet getting cold. Maybe I'll actually have to break down and fire up the central heat soon.