Just Waiting

Did I mention how dark it is when I leave the house in the morning?  Yeah, I thought I did.  The regular group gathered up on the levee at 6:15 am today, as it has on practically every Saturday for many years now.  Just past the start, in the area where the Corps came and cleared out all of the batture trees, there's now a huge work barge and an enormous crane.  I'm still not at all sure what they're about to do there, although I don't think we'll have to wait too much longer to find out.  We rolled out at a moderate, almost sensible, pace this morning, considering the minimal visibility. Down by the Huey P. they are definitely moving toward the road and bike path closure we've been waiting for, but I'm guessing it will be a few more days, at least, before the complete shut-down.  There are now a few actual barricades standing at the ready up along the top of the levee, but still no indication I can see of the detour for the River Road traffic.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

The group was a good ten miles down the road before it was light enough to turn off the headlight today, and as the visibility started to increase, so did the pace.  The temperature was cool this morning, but certainly not cold, so we had a mixture of arm-warmers and bare skin in the group.  It looks like it will be that way all week, with lows in the 60s and highs in the 80s.  Can't really complain about that, except for the fact that we're bordering on drought conditions now, which means that the house will start shifting around its foundation (I use the term loosely) and I may even have to start watering the plants. 

We were already on the way back from the turnaround by the time the sun finally started to peek over the trees (and the grain elevators) out by Destrehan.  As we made our way back downriver I noticed that the pace was particularly erratic.  Some were taking long pulls at 24-25 mph, while others were taking short ones at 22.  Gaps would open every time someone at the front would surge.  It was just one of those mornings, I guess. The only real problem was that I wasn't sure what pace I should be going when I'd come to the front.  Should I try to maintain the 24 mph pace or the 22 mph pace?  Somewhere in the confusion, we lost a few riders off the back, I think, and toward the end we picked up a new rider from New Zealand who has been in town for about a year but hadn't ever found the group before.  Naturally, I asked him his name and then immediately forgot it.  Here at work I've been waiting for about a week for a bunch of stuff that I need in order to assemble and submit a $1.2M construction grant.  Thus far I've not received much, and since the deadline is this Friday, I'm starting to get a little anxious.  Harassment proceedings may need to start soon.  At any rate, it's looking like I'll be immersed in my own private fire drill at some point in the next couple of days.  Situation normal.  After I get that package out the door I'll be more or less looking forward to the end of the month with a conference in D.C., followed almost immediately by the USA Cycling Local Associations meeting in Colorado Springs.  This morning I happened to read Brian Toone's blog.  He just posted a really detailed review of his 2010 racing season.  If anyone wants to get a feel for the kind of training (and travelling) it takes to be a regionally competitive Cat. 1 cyclist, Brian's blog serves as a great resource -- average training week:  15 hours, 270 mi, 14,000 ft. of climbing.