A Tough Week for Riding

Man, it's really been a tough week for riding, at least for me. It had started out pretty well, though, with a big group ride way over in Mobile, AL. Scott K had organized a Sunday ride from his new shop, and since I knew I wouldn't get to ride on Saturday because of the LAMBRA meeting I had to attend in Jackson, MS, I figured I'd hitch a ride with some of the Herring guys and take the opportunity to ride some different roads with a different group.

Saturday: Saturday's drive up to Jackson with Mark was a little more interesting than usual because there had been some rare snowfall in southern Louisiana and Mississippi. Some of the attendees who were driving from Lafayette encountered icy roads, but for us, the driving was fine and the day was beautiful. The meeting went well and we got a preliminary calendar worked out, formed a committee to make recommendations for the LCCS, and made it back home just in time for me to get in on a private dinner at Antoine's 12th Night Room that was associated with a Psychiatry meeting. By the time I got home, I was more than ready for bed, especially since Kenny was picking me up at 5:45 am the next morning.

Sunday: When we pulled into the parking lot at Infinity Bicycles I was surprised to see so many riders. In addition to the Herring guys (Scott's teammates) and the local riders, there were a number of people from Florida and Alabama too. It was cold but sunny, but I dressed warmly anyway. I knew I'd be hot and unzipped by the end, but with a no-drop group ride with over 40 riders, I also knew there would be a fair amount of stopping and waiting. So the ride was a lot of fun and just exactly what I'd been looking for, except for a couple of rather extended stops. The pace stayed in that happy place around 20-22 mph most of the time. I got in fifteen minutes or so of hard chasing when the group strung out on a busy highway, then got split up because of a flat. Scott had offered a prize to the first rider to the top of the Cochrane Bridge at mile 63, with the attack zone starting about ten miles before that. There was a fair number of relatively fresh legs since the pace had been so moderate, so as soon as we started out from the last stop the attacks started. Aided by a little tailwind, we spent most of the time in the 28-30 mph zone, and I doubt it ever dropped below 26. Although I had no intention of contesting the race to the top, it didn't take me long to figure out that the breaks weren't going to survive, so I tucked in near the back with Frank and just tried to avoid getting gapped off. Once we hit the climb things blew up pretty fast. Frank attacked the bridge climb early and ended up beating all those young guys to the top and I even put in a little effort for the last half of the climb myself. Afterward we all went across the street for pizza and caught the last half of the Saints game, which went into overtime, so it wasn't until rather late that we finally headed back for New Orleans.

Monday and Tuesday: We had a solid string of consultant meetings lined up on Monday, so I knew I wouldn't be able to ride that day. I told myself it was OK since it was wet and rainy anyway, but somehow, in the back of my mind, I knew I was already on a slippery slope. A morning meeting on Tuesday kept me from my regular training ride that day too, and the subsequent dinner at Cochon was great, but once again my usual late night routine got tossed out the window in favor of sleep, so I set my sights on Wednesday. That's when things started going downhill. You see, The Cat, who is something like 15 years old, was showing all the symptoms of diabetes and we had taken her to the vet Tuesday evening. Her blood sugar was off the charts, so then we had to take her out to Metairie where they could monitor her overnight and then pick her up before 7:30 am to return her to the Vet Wednesday morning. I was getting desperate for a ride, so I went out in the dark early Wednesday so I could be back at the house by 7 am.

Wednesday and Thursday: It was more back and forth with the cat morning and evening, plus a Wednesday night party at the Poydras Home listening to a loud American Legion brass band while contemplating the the pros and cons of living past 80. Back at the house I ended up staying up well past midnight trying to catch up on some LAMBRA and Tulane work while at the same time downloading and installing updated drivers for an old laptop that had been given up for dead a couple of years ago but is now working great after reseating the hard drive connector and downloading a few gigabytes of Microsoft updates and fixing a software problem that had been keeping the wireless from working. By Thursday morning I was tired, but really, really needed a long ride, so The Wife handled the morning cat transfer alone and I went out to the levee for the 6:15 ride. A cold front had come through the night before, dropping the temperature by about twenty degrees and bringing with it a brutal and gusty north wind. The ride turned out to be a pretty hard one, splitting the group pretty early, thanks to the crosswind. As I rode the last few miles back to the house I could feel the dried tears and salt on my face. Then I took my mother in for an MRI because she has a bunch of sudden hip pain that I guess might be a disc problem. Now if I can just get through my afternoon dentist appointment and stop the veterinarian induced bleeding from my bank account there might at least be some hope for the weekend.

We'll see.....