Saved by the Flat

It was a bit after 5 pm when I suddenly remembered about the first Wednesday Worlds training race that Kennny had announced for 6 pm on Lakeshore Drive.  I rushed out of the office, rode back home, changed into riding gear, and headed for the lakefront, arriving just in time to see the group of eight or ten riders still rolling easy.  A few minutes later we had the "official" start.  Unfortunately, the recent cold front's north wind had washed mud and debris up onto the east end of Lakeshore Drive, so we were back on the same shortened circuit from last year, riding back and forth between the Elysian Fields traffic circle to the Bayou St. John (aka Fountain) traffic circle. The first lap was fairly civilized, and then on the second lap we got off on the wrong foot with the Levee District police when the group tried to blow through the traffic circle (in front of the police station) right in front of a police car that was already in the circle.  It was ugly, but luckily the police officer stayed cool, flipped on his siren for a moment, and went about his business without further harassment.  I was feeling a little tired from the morning's ride, so my plan was to stay out of the wind for the first half of the short race.  There were a couple of small breakaways, but each time they were slowly reeled in by the group.  Then, on the last lap, Jordan took off on a bold solo break that nearly succeeded, but everything came back together for the last kilometer, resulting in a bit of a drag race at the end that Tim won.  It was really fun -- not too slow and not too fast -- just what I needed.  By the time I got home and ate dinner, though, I was feeling pretty worn out.

So this morning I set out with every intention of doing the long ride out to Ormond.  There was a moderate wind and it was still chilly enough for arm-warmers, but otherwise the conditions were pretty good.  I, however, was still feeling kind of dragged out for some reason.  Anyway, the pace got fast as usual and I was hurting as usual, and then there was a flat.  That provided a nice little break at just the right time.  Once we got going again after that things ramped up again and next thing I know there are just three or four of us off the front.  Everyone else in the front group was planning on turning around early, so I figured I'd follow suit, especially when they started attacking about a mile before the "little dip" where they were turning.  I survived one attack, but didn't respond quite quickly enough to the second, and rode the last half mile off the back.  I've been trying to add a little more intensity to my training rides, so reducing the mileage a little bit isn't causing me the consternation it might have earlier in the year. I've been spending too much time sitting in on the group rides this year, so it's time to change things up a little.  For the return trip we picked up an additional rider or two and thanks to the headwind turned into a fairly hard workout.  The difference in the river between yesterday and today was fairly dramatic, and I see now that they are planning to open the Spillway on Monday.  The photo above is a composite of two photos taken from around the same spot near Ochsner, one yesterday morning and the other this morning.