A Ride and a Beer

With yet another spectacular weather weekend on hand, I was looking forward to the northshore training ride. For many, the weekend was not without its complications, though.With Halloween falling on a weekend, plus a Saints game tonight, plus the huge Voodoo Experience in City Park, I'm sure a lot of people had some tough decisions to make.  For me, however, it was just another Sunday morning.  The complications would have to wait. When I unplugged my Blackberry from the charger at 6am, thereby awakening it from sleep mode, I noticed I had received a text message.  It had come the night before around 8:30 while I was eating dinner with one of the neighbors.  I'd already left the phone on my dresser for the night, and although I'd checked my email on the computer later in the evening, I hadn't checked the Blackberry.  The message was from Zack, asking if I was doing the northshore ride.  I sent him a text reply, but since it was so early I wasn't really expecting to hear back from him.  I didn't.  So I fired up the car and headed over to Puccino's to see if any other southshore riders would be there.  The parking lot was deserted, though.

The Lee Road Junior High parking lot, however, was anything but deserted.  In addition to our regular training ride, there was another small group that was meeting there at the same time.  So at 8 am we rounded up "our" riders and headed out for the regular 65 mile ride.  It was still a little chilly, and some riders were sporting their knee-warmers.  I'm still in denial about winter, though, so I left mine in the car.  Besides, I knew it would warm up considerably in an hour or so.  The air temperature in the middle of the lake had been 67F.  The temperature at the start of the ride was more like 54, but the sky was clear and there was virtually no wind. 

The group started out pretty easy and everyone stayed together as we made our way up to Enon.  I was feeling pretty good and probably wouldn't have minded much if the pace had gotten faster, but for the most part things remained subdued except for the sprints.  I'm usually kind of hesitant to go for the training ride sprints this time of year, but even so, one does need to stay in contact.

When we got up to Hwy. 10 at the top of the course we stopped for a little wardrobe readjustment so that people could strip off their knee-warmers and vests and such.  It wasn't hot, of course, but it had gotten up to that sweet spot where shorts and a jersey felt pretty comfortable.  I could have taken my arm-warmers off, but I usually find that it's easier to just leave them on.  It's not like my arms get overheated when I ride anyway.  This intersection is where Choctaw Road crosses La. 10, and there's this historical marker there - out in the middle of nowhere -- that notes the history of Choctaw Road.

The back stretch out to Sie Jenkins started out pretty smoothly and didn't really get fast until after the first or second of those steep little climbs (the second one is a designated sprint).  Things came apart just a little along there, but I don't think anyone was more than a minute off the back, so by the time we came around the corner at Plainview, it was gruppo compacto. 

As usual, the closer we got to the Enon sign sprint, the faster the pace got.  This stretch of Lee Road heading into Enon from the north is really sweet.  Silky smooth asphalt, practically no cars, Overhanging trees, and low rolling hills that seem to get lower and lower the closer you get to Enon.  We rolled through Enon and pacelined down toward the Firetower hill which we climbed at a pretty steady speed until we were near the top and I just had to keep the pressure on a little longer.  That kind of split things up a bit, but over the next mile or two I think everything came back together.

As we rode the last five or six miles down Tung Road we passed a few small groups of riders from the "other" ride, so everyone was back at the parking lot at pretty much the same time.  Jason cracked open his ice chest and I enjoyed a nice bottle of the local microbrew before finally hitting the road for home.  Once I get past the open house we are having tonight for Halloween, I'll have to get myself to the airport for a 6 am flight to D.C.