Wednesday Double

The thing that kind of surprised me Wednesday morning was that it wasn't quite as miserably hot and humid at 6 am as I'd been expecting. On the way out to the levee I had a few extra minutes to contemplate that little meteorological glitch when I had to stop for a train crossing Monticello Street.  Luckily, it was a short one and I didn't miss the group. The ride itself was unremarkable; a steady 22-24 mph out-and-back to the parish line like we do every Wednesday.  Fortunately, that wasn't all that Wednesday had in store.  After a late afternoon meeting with a real estate agent, I stepped out into the stifling heat, hopped back onto the old commuting bike, and slowly made my way back home, only to change into riding clothes and go right back out into it a few minutes later.  The first challenge is to survive the rush-hour traffic gauntlet represented by Carrollton Avenue between Earhart and Canal.  After that things eased up a bit and I arrived at Lakeshore Drive just a few minutes after 6:00, so although I missed the start of the Wednesday Training Race (aka WTR), I was able to jump into the pack within the first couple of miles, just as the pace was really starting to ramp up. It took me a few minutes to get adjusted to the faster speed, but once my breathing and heart rate were back under control, more or less, I moved up closer to the front.  I ended up doing a fair amount of work for the first couple of laps, alternating between ill-advised attacks and mid-pack recovery. 

We were halfway through the third of the four 6-mile laps when yet another break rolled off the front.  There was kind of a frantic chase as the pack momentarily splintered, but eventually most of us got back into the draft shortly before the Armory loop, leaving a small break about twenty seconds up the road.  At that point I still had a lot of momentum, so I just kind of kept the pressure on around the loop.  When I looked back I could see that the group had given me a lot of rope, more than enough, as it turned out, with which to hang myself.  I started to fade and was expecting to get back into the pack when it came past, but by the time they caught I'd let myself slow down too much and they had started ramping up the pace.  Basically, I got streamed. Right as I turned into a headwind the paceline came flying past on my left.  I'd completely missed the draft and the paceline was now in full-on chase mode.  I held the gap steady for a little while hoping they would ease up, but it didn't last long, so I backed it down to 22 mph or so and rode with John Egan down to the other end of the course where I turned around and jumped back onto the end of what was left of the group.  Indeed, the paceline that had streamed past me had caught the earlier break, so everyone was together for the last lap.  I stayed at the back so I wouldn't interfere with anything, and when the sprint started I sat up, at which point I was surprised to see a couple of riders desperately going around me.  Sorry about that.  I didn't realize there was anyone behind me who was still in the race!  Anyway, it was a good workout and a good 60-mile day.

This morning I headed out for the long Thursday ride feeling a little tired.  There was a big group on hand -- I'd guess twenty or so.  We started out with a couple of riders taking long, long pulls at the front. It was probably ten miles before I finally took a pull.  On the way back we suddenly came up on one of the levee police cars parked in the middle of the bike path and everyone had to hit the brakes.  The officer actually apologized to us as we made our way around him, saying that he hadn't realized we were back there.  Unfortunately, the front of the group put the hammer down again before the back of the group had gotten going again, and the group fractured.  It was another mile or so before word of that got up to the riders in front, thanks to Howard who put himself out into the wind and rode all the way up the paceline.  At that point they eased up, but it was too little, too late for most.