Riding and Tracking

The return of cooler weather, and its accompanying north wind, had me looking for the long tights Tuesday morning.  Granted, the temperature was only in the 50s, but after a week of spring-like temperatures I was looking for that cozy warm feeling to ease the transition back into February.  The levee ride seemed somewhat subdued yesterday morning, probably due to a combination of things that included lots of weekend miles and a fairly strong wind.  It didn't take long for my legs to start complaining.  Every time I'd ask them for a little power they would load up right away.  I hate when that happens.  Years ago that easy recovery ride I'd done on Monday would have been more than enough to put things right by Tuesday morning, but apparently my advanced age has been taking a toll on my ability to recover because I was feeling anything but fresh as the group headed upriver toward Destrehan.  The pace wasn't particularly out of line for a Tuesday ride, staying mostly in the mid-20s on the way out, but the paceline seemed to be getting more and more erratic the farther we went.  Each time you'd drop back after taking a pull you didn't know what you'd find.  Sometimes there would be a reasonable string of riders in the paceline, other times maybe two would go by and then there would be a big gap.  I'd think to myself, "I really don't want to have to take another pull into this wind so soon."  But of course if I didn't slide over and plug the gap it would grow a little more until someone from behind would jump past everyone.  It seemed like the whole ride went that way -- basically lots of riders not wanting to get dropped but only a few willing to work.  I guess I was somewhere in-between, myself.  As erratic as the paceline had been on the way out, it was even more so on the way back as the wind was picking up and its relative direction kept changing as we followed the curves of the river.  I was actually surprised to arrive home and find an average speed of 20 mph, considering.

So this morning I went out to meet the Wednesday morning group and, well, there wasn't one.  The north wind seemed stronger than it had been the day before, which I guess explains the paucity of riders.  On the other hand, the temperature was in the upper 50s and the sky was clear, and once the sun came up it was a beautiful day, at least as far as I could tell during those brief periods when I wasn't staring at the ground wondering why my legs were hurting so much at 18 mph. Anyway, I trudged along at a moderate effort level and sometimes shockingly slow speed, eventually picking up Taylor who latched onto the back for a little while but then quietly disappeared even though I probably never got much over 20 mph.  As I often do when I'm riding solo and slowly, I turned around a mile or so early, at Williams Blvd., picking up Taylor again. There was a little stretch of tailwind but mostly crosswind on the way back, but by then my spirit had been broken and I was kind of plodding along as the crosswind toyed with my front wheel. We passed Mike W. who was stretching at the pump as we went by, and then when I finally eased up near the bridge we noticed he had caught up with us.

Lately I've had to take a little detour on my way home because they've been replacing the streetcar tracks along Carrollton Avenue and closing down cross streets in the process.  It looks like the days of wooden cross ties are gone - these all look like they must be made from recycled milk bottles or something. The thing about the streetcar tracks is that they bury the ties so that all you see are the rails, probably just so that the neutral ground looks prettier. Naturally that's not a very good way to treat wooden ties, especially down here where the ground rarely dries out.  Anyway, I got home and saved the ride data to Strava as usual, only to discover later that the GPS or Strava, or something had gone flaky about halfway out and basically missed over half of the ride, only picking it up again when I had to stop for a truck crossing the levee near the end.  As a result, it shows a total distance of 13.9 miles instead of 23 or so, and an average speed of 10.4 mph.  I may have going slowly, but not that slowly!  Interestingly, when that happens it plots a straight line (right over the Mississippi River) from its last good position to the next and basically does the same with the speed. I guess it's losing track of the satellites or something, and then having trouble getting a fix again while I'm moving. Speaking of Strava, I see that Rouge-Roubaix this year is doing a Strava "Segment Challenge" for some of the longer gravel road climbs (a longer version of Blockhouse Hill and Woodstock Road). A Garmin rep. will apparently be there with some loaner Garmin computers and they'll have a prize for the fastest man and woman.  I won't be winning any of that!