Back to the Lakefront

Things were not quite back to normal on Tuesday as I reluctantly turned around at the parish line, leaving the rest of the morning levee ride group to continue out to Ormond.  An early work meeting was the culprit this time, but at least I resisted the urge to soft-pedal all the way home.  The Daughter, whose flight back to Iowa City had been inexplicably cancelled, was scheduled for an 8:30 am departure on Wednesday, so yesterday morning's ride was out the window.  Luckily, there was the Wednesday training race out at the lakefront.  I'd missed the last one, but from all accounts there was a good group on hand for a return to the old traditional 6-mile circuit that runs between the fountain traffic circle at Bayou St. John to the Seabrook loop at the industrial canal.  For reasons that only the Levee District could possibly comprehend, the Seabrook loop itself is closed to traffic, but it's easy for cyclists to get past the big plastic traffic barrels.

So despite my best efforts, I didn't leave work until well after 5:00, which meant I didn't step out the door at home until 5:45 or so.  It was painfully hot as I raced the cars and buses down Carrollton Avenue and sprinted across the always-exciting section where it crosses Palmetto, splits off a couple of Interstate highway ramps, and dips underneath I-10 and the railroad tracks.  Once through the Palmetto gauntlet, I climbed back up out of the underpass, slipped across Tulane Avenue against the light, and settled into a somewhat less stressful pace through mid-city, eventually meeting Marconi Avenue for the last few miles alongside Bayou St. John.  Glancing down at my watch, I could see I'd be just a few minutes late.  As I turned onto Lakeshore Drive at the traffic circle I scanned the road for bikes, but saw none.  Had the group already come through?  It was 6:05.  If they'd started down at Elysian Fields a bit later than the 6:00 start, and were keeping it more or less neutral for the first couple of miles, there was still a chance I wouldn't miss a whole lap.  I continued on, crossing the levee at the London Avenue Canal, and there they were coming toward me, headed for the traffic circle.  I turned around and watched for the group to come over the levee so I could join in.  One rider was off the front, and then the whole group, maybe about twenty, starting to string out in chase mode.  I put my head down to gather some speed so I wouldn't get swarmed too badly.  I figured they were going around 27 mph.  Finally I slotted in near the back, already breathing hard from the effort of accelerating to race speed.  I'd just missed half a lap.

The 4-lap training race was just what I needed.  The group was big enough that there was always some place to hide from the wind, and there were always a few riders willing and able to chase the breaks.  After the second lap I was finally feeling sufficiently warmed up, so I figured it was time for me to get some exercise. I moved closer to the front, taking a few pulls and chasing a few things down, occasionally dropping back into the more comfy draft of the group to recover.  The last lap started with a good breakaway that I though might survive, but the group ramped it up another notch and finally closed with around four miles to go.  In the process, however, a number of riders came off the back.  After the Seabrook loop another break went clear and this time the response from the pack was a little slow.  I'm not even sure exactly how many ended up off the front over the last mile or so, but anyway, Jordan won, a few more finished, and the pack sprinted for whatever place was left. By then my glasses were covered in sweat and I was glad I'd brought along one of those extra-large water bottles. I rode back uptown with Jordan who was running late for something, which is to say I sucked his wheel most of the way home.

This morning's long levee ride felt hot and pretty hard to me.  It's getting to that point in the summer where even the morning ride starts out hot and sweaty.  There was a significant wind today, but somehow the group stayed mostly intact all the way out to Ormond.  On the return trip, however, the crosswind seemed much worse and eventually things fell apart a bit.