Well despite my best efforts I'm afraid my old Cane Creek rear wheel is history. That 4-hour training ride in the rain a couple of weekends ago apparently delivered the coup d' grace to the "sealed" bearings. The wheel would barely turn. I made a valiant effort to get the thing disassembled but everything was basically welded together and after resorting to an unsuccessful final fling involving vice-grips I finally accepted defeat. This development, of course, left me without a sacrificial training wheel, so I ended up putting my training tire and Miche-cog-rescued Campi cassette onto one of my racing wheels, at least until I can find a suitable replacement.
I had just replaced four worn out cogs with some cheapo Miche replacement cogs and was anxious to see how they would do. It seems that they are just a hair thicker than the Campi ones, and clearly not as well made, but they seem to work fine. The only problem is that the 12 isn't quite as well engaged in the splines as I'd like, and one one wheel the lockring was actually touching the inside of the dropout. Anyway, it's kind of an experiment and it'll do for now. One thing I wasn't willing to compromise on, however, was a new pair of sunglasses. My trusty old Oakley M-Frames disappeared after a training ride a few weeks ago. I visited a couple of the shops to see what they had, but most of the currently fashionable designs sit too low on my face so that when I'm on the drops, the top of the frame completely blocks my view of the road. Very aggravating. The new version Oakley "Radars" are available, but frankly I don't like the design at all. Sorry Lance! So I eventually tracked down a pair of new M-Frames with the small Hybrid lens. I love 'em. They fit, they stay put, and I can see where I'm going on the drops without having to crane my neck so much that it hurts. The other change I made recently was to get the Specialized footbeds for my old Nike shoes. After many years of suffering with neuroma-type pain in my right foot on any ride over 50 miles, I am absolutely floored that these things seem to have practically eliminated the problem. Amazing. I mean, they don't really feel all that much different and I put just one of the shims in that particular shoe.
So today is Tax Day, and as usual I procrastinated for the maximum possible amount of time. The idea of sending a big check up to D.C., especially now, especially with a Congress and President that seem to be feverishly writing checks that we can't cover without taking out a second mortgage on the country, is a little on the painful side. So I waited until around midnight, made a cup of coffee, fired up TurboTax and did it. My financial life is pretty simple. It didn't take long to finish. Unfortunately, I discovered that drinking a big cup of Starbucks Verona, black, at midnight, is not conducive to getting a good night's sleep. I forced myself to bed around 2 am after rebuilding the Mississippi Gran Prix results page with updated tables that the Chief Ref had sent that evening. Anyway, suffice it to say that getting out of bed at 5:45 am was a chore. The fact that Wednesday's ride, traditionally a smooth paceline ride, had kind of gotten out of hand and turned into a much harder workout hadn't exactly left me with fresh legs either. At least I can't complain about the weather. At the moment (it's around 1:30 pm) it's 76 F. Ahhh, summer!
The morning temperatures have been in the mid to upper 60s for days, and it looks like they will stay that way for a while longer too. The only problem this morning was the wind. When I arrived at the start there were already a number of people there, including guys like Kenny, Rob, Tim, and Woody. There was a tailwind. I knew what was going to happen. Right after we got rolling Jered joined the group. Oh, good. More horsepower. Three hours of caffeinated sleep. This was going to be challenging. The pace shot up quickly and the number of riders at the front dropped equally quickly. I was still coming through to take my pulls but they were starting to hurt and I still had a good thirty miles to ride. I wondered if I had enough cash to get a cab ride back home from Destrehan. Probably not, so I skipped a pull or two or three. It had been a few miles since I'd seen anything except the five or six riders in front when the pace surged again. I was sitting on Kenny's wheel and heard him mumble something to the effect of, "F#$% this." He eased up for a moment and Rob, I think, came flying around us. A little gap opened and Mark came around and took a monster pull. I followed through and we started making up some ground, but it was too little too late. Soon it was just Mark, Kenny, Erich and me. We kept the pressure on, but the gap was growing like cat's claw in the springtime and within a few miles they probably put two minutes on us. In the meantime we lost Mark and Erich, so we backed off a bit for the last few miles to the turnaround.
I knew the return trip into the wind would be harder. Luckily, I wasn't the only one in need of a little recovery time, so we spent a few miles at an easy pace while Erich told us about how Mike W. had told one of the Jefferson Parish police officers to get his f-ing car off the road as they went by and how the aforementioned police officer subsequently came after them and apparently engaged Mike in a discussion about which I'd rather not know. Hopefully we haven't all been branded and they're not ordering a batch of 10 mph speed limit signs as we speak.
The ride back gradually got more and more taxing, but most of the group stuck together. As we approached the curve at the country club I thought it would be a good idea to try for a photo or two. We were going pretty hard at the time, so it probably wasn't the wisest decision. Then again, I was -- still am -- sleep-deprived. Anyway, I fished the camera out of my pocket and out of the plastic bag and snapped a few as the paceline rounded the bend. Then I had to sit up to put it back into my pocket, and of course a big gap opened up just as we were turning into the wind. Not good. It didn't take me long to abort the chase and coast in the last few miles. It was a good ride. I just wish I'd been awake for all of it.
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