The weather this week has been great for riding. In fact, it's been rather hard to believe it's January. Despite the week's tragedy that still ripples strongly through the local cycling community, the training rides continued more or less as usual. It wouldn't have seemed right to do otherwise.
So Thursday morning found me up on the levee in the dark and the fog wondering about my own sanity. These dark foggy morning training rides, when they get fast, make me uncomfortable. Early in the ride I was sitting there on Brian's wheel as he plowed through the thick fog at 25 mph thinking, "There's no way we'll be able to see things before it's too late." After a little while I eased out of the paceline, dropped all the way to the back, and followed it a couple of bike lengths back. I figured I'd at least have enough time to bail out onto the grass if something happened. Fortunately, nothing did, and by the time we to out to the turnaround at Ormond the fog had lifted and the sun was coming up over the horizon. It turned out to be a pretty fast ride with a pretty big group. There was a Tulane cycling team meeting that evening, and amazingly all of their team kits arrived at my office that morning. Ben was able to swing by and pick up the three big boxes since there was no way I could get them home on my bike. We were able to hand out most of the new kits to the riders at the meeting that night. Good timing!
So since the Tulane team had a group recovery ride planned for Friday morning, I thought I'd do it since it had been a pretty solid week for me already. We had ten or twelve riders there, all decked out in their new team kits, and the easy conversational pace was just what I needed. I had a feeling that the Saturday Giro would be a hard one. Back at home, the countertop installers showed up and put the granite countertops in. There's still a ways to go, but I think I'm starting to see the light at the end of the kitchen renovation tunnel.
Saturday morning the weather was great, the wind was calm, and the turnout at Starbucks was large. I was planning on going across the lake to the visitation and ceremony for Justin, so I had already decided to skip the long ride to Slidell. As we got onto our bikes to start the ride I suddenly felt Judd leaning on me. He's lost his balance while clipping in and basically fell over on top of me. We both ended up on the ground as the rest of the Giro was heading down the street. I straightened out my rear brake and we took off in pursuit, but a few miles later I started noticing something strange about the way the bike was shifting and how it felt when I was coasting. The whole group stopped on Lakeshore Drive for a moment of silence in memory of Justin Addison. The bike problem turned out to be two different problems, one of which I wouldn't figure out until Sunday. The Giro was pretty fast, so it wasn't until after the turnaround that I finally looked down and was surprised to see that my rear derailleur hanger was pretty dramatically bent! Luckily I'd not shifted into any of the cogs close to the spokes! I stopped and gave it a few tugs to get it closer to straight, and other that some bad chain alignment in a few gears I was OK for the rest of the ride.
I had hoped to stop by the shop after I got home, but other priorities intervened and I never made it there, so I got it as straight as I could by eye, which was better, but not perfect. At least I'd be OK for the Sunday northshore ride. That afternoon I went over to Covington for the jam-packed memorial ceremony for Justin and got home with about an hour to spare before the annual NOBC party at 7:00. Waiting for me at home, unfortunately, was a summons for Jury Duty. Damn. What a pain in the arse that is.
The party was great. We had a good crowd that included both new and, ahem, "experienced" riders, and I finally headed home around 10:30. Sunday morning I drove over to Covington again for the northshore ride. I really couldn't handle another trip down Chef Highway, so I was happy to make the drive. We started out in a moderate fog, but it lifted within the first hour and the rest of the ride was great. I guess there was a dozen for the standard 65 mile ride, and although the pace lagged here and there, we had quite enough fast sections to make for a solid workout. The only problem surfaced about midway through the ride when we were hammering pretty hard. I coasted for a moment and the chain went slack and the cassette body emitted a loud squeal. Something in there was definitely amiss, and so I spent much of the rest of the ride trying not to stop pedaling. I think that one of the pawls must be sticking, especially after a stretch where I'm pushing pretty hard on the pedals. I'll try spraying some lube in there first and see what happens. After the ride I picked up a large white chocolate mocha frappuccino for the drive home, using my free "rewards" bonus from Starbucks but knowing I'd pay later in other ways thanks to my lactase deficient genotype.
Saturday morning the weather was great, the wind was calm, and the turnout at Starbucks was large. I was planning on going across the lake to the visitation and ceremony for Justin, so I had already decided to skip the long ride to Slidell. As we got onto our bikes to start the ride I suddenly felt Judd leaning on me. He's lost his balance while clipping in and basically fell over on top of me. We both ended up on the ground as the rest of the Giro was heading down the street. I straightened out my rear brake and we took off in pursuit, but a few miles later I started noticing something strange about the way the bike was shifting and how it felt when I was coasting. The whole group stopped on Lakeshore Drive for a moment of silence in memory of Justin Addison. The bike problem turned out to be two different problems, one of which I wouldn't figure out until Sunday. The Giro was pretty fast, so it wasn't until after the turnaround that I finally looked down and was surprised to see that my rear derailleur hanger was pretty dramatically bent! Luckily I'd not shifted into any of the cogs close to the spokes! I stopped and gave it a few tugs to get it closer to straight, and other that some bad chain alignment in a few gears I was OK for the rest of the ride. 
I had hoped to stop by the shop after I got home, but other priorities intervened and I never made it there, so I got it as straight as I could by eye, which was better, but not perfect. At least I'd be OK for the Sunday northshore ride. That afternoon I went over to Covington for the jam-packed memorial ceremony for Justin and got home with about an hour to spare before the annual NOBC party at 7:00. Waiting for me at home, unfortunately, was a summons for Jury Duty. Damn. What a pain in the arse that is.
The party was great. We had a good crowd that included both new and, ahem, "experienced" riders, and I finally headed home around 10:30. Sunday morning I drove over to Covington again for the northshore ride. I really couldn't handle another trip down Chef Highway, so I was happy to make the drive. We started out in a moderate fog, but it lifted within the first hour and the rest of the ride was great. I guess there was a dozen for the standard 65 mile ride, and although the pace lagged here and there, we had quite enough fast sections to make for a solid workout. The only problem surfaced about midway through the ride when we were hammering pretty hard. I coasted for a moment and the chain went slack and the cassette body emitted a loud squeal. Something in there was definitely amiss, and so I spent much of the rest of the ride trying not to stop pedaling. I think that one of the pawls must be sticking, especially after a stretch where I'm pushing pretty hard on the pedals. I'll try spraying some lube in there first and see what happens. After the ride I picked up a large white chocolate mocha frappuccino for the drive home, using my free "rewards" bonus from Starbucks but knowing I'd pay later in other ways thanks to my lactase deficient genotype.
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