Down to the Wire

I felt preoccupied this morning as I rode out to meet the 6:15 levee ride.  The Tour de Louisiane online registration closes tonight and it is looking like we will have somewhat bigger fields than usual.  On the one hand, that's great, but on the other hand I cringe at the idea of 50-rider Cat. 5 fields on narrow roads with a centerline rule. I still need to organize race supplies and charge batteries and generally get all of the registration stuff ready for rapid deployment Saturday morning.  To add a little complication to everything, it's looking like there will be scattered thunderstorms around this weekend.  It's amazing how much that disrupts everything.  All we can do is hope, because there's just no way to predict where and when those rain clouds will pop up.  In fact, it's raining a bit right now down here on the south shore and it looks similar up in Mandeville.

So the morning ride today seemed kind of squirrely for some reason.  The pace felt a bit erratic and after a while I dropped back down the paceline and figured I'd wait until things settled down a little.  I don't know that they ever did, though.  It was hot and muggy like yesterday, with a light wind to complicate matters, but for some reason the pace kept swinging back and forth between 23 and 29 mph, and for once it wasn't just Howard who was responsible for that.  I thought it would get better on the way back, but then it seemed a few of the guys at the front were engaged in their own private bike race.  After it bunched up for the umpteenth time I went to the front to try and set a steady pace but soon found myself out there alone.  I eventually ended dropping back again since I was apparently at a complete loss as to what kind of social dynamic was at play up there.

So the TDL pre-registration is currently at 163, which is quite good considering that online registration doesn't close until late tonight. Maybe more people are pre-registering nowadays since it's getting easier and easier?  I guess it will all come down to the wire at Friday night registration.