Tuesday, April 09, 2013

The Reason

There's a reason why I don't have many photos this time of year -- actually a couple of them.  For one, it's still fairly dark for most of the morning ride and the little pocket camera's automatic exposure setting doesn't handle that very well unless nothing is moving.  The other reason, however, is related more to the racing cycle than the diurnal one.  The average intensity of the training rides increases, sometimes rather erratically, this time of year. This morning was a case in point.  It was cloudy and very windy for the early Tuesday morning levee ride.  If it had been February, I wouldn't have expected more than a handful of riders to show up in the dark.  However, it's not February and there's a whole calendar of races coming up, starting with the Mississippi Gran Prix this weekend.  So naturally there was a fairly big group up there today.  To make matters worse, the ride started out with a nice quartering tailwind for the first ten miles or so. 

Robert started pushing the pace early in the ride.  At one point he opened a big gap and Richard, who had been behind him, eased over to the side and just said, "Really?" as I went past him.  After a mile or two of that I think Woody and Daniel must have started feeling irritated about the pace and that's about when it turned into a little race at the front.  Next thing I know I'm hanging on for dear life going 32 mph behind Robert with Woody and Daniel already five seconds up the road and nothing but silence behind me. We finally settled down a bit and started making up a little ground, but then Robert blew up.  I made one last effort as Woody and Daniel started to ease their pace approaching The Dip where I figured they were planning on turning around.  The rest of the group was at least 30 seconds behind us as we coasted down the dip and looped back around. I was perfectly content to turn back early under the circumstances.  It would have been a very long and windy ride back from Ormond. Robert continued on alone, but the rest of the group, like me, didn't relish the idea of battling that wind all the way back from Ormond, so they turned around and joined us. 

The camaraderie didn't last long, however.  When we got to that long stretch heading east, the south crosswind hit the group full-force.  I happened to be near the back at that point, sitting on Tom's wheel three inches from the edge, thinking, "I am getting zero draft here!"  It was one of those situations where the front five guys were getting a nice draft in their eschelon, the sixth guy was riding the edge of the road getting just enough draft to stay where he was but not enough to recover and get into the rotation.  Everyone behind him was essentially unprotected and stuck in position and already too tired to get out in the crosswind and ride up to the front to join the rotating eschelon. 

So soon I started to see Tom struggling and a gap ahead of him beginning to stretch.  I was balancing precariously on the edge of the asphalt myself, so I hesitated to go around him on the windward side, hoping that the group might ease up for a moment so we could make contact again.  The group didn't ease up, though, and Tom finally pulled over to the right and said, "Sorry!" as I went past.  For the next thirty seconds or so I was full-gas trying to close what would ordinarily have been a minor gap, but today was better described as a gaping chasm. I was probably going only 23 mph, but the effort level made it feel more like 30.  I finally made contact as the levee curved to the south, slowing the front of the group a bit and making it easier to get a draft.  I spent the next few miles on Judd's wheel.  His legs were bad today and he was just sitting on the back trying to minimize the accelerations, which, considering the effect the wind was having, was none too easy.  So anyway, although it was a shorter than normal Tuesday ride, it felt plenty hard enough to dispell any feelings of disappointment. 

I never once considered trying to take my hands off the bars to take a photo.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

My "really" comment was directed at Robert for failing to shift to the other side of the levee when asked and then accelerating thereby denying everyone a draft-sheesh

Anonymous said...

So...did you guys turn around at the little dip (where the restroom facility is) or a bit further upriver at the big dip (where the IMTT tank farm facility is)? I guessed that the group, knowing it would face a strong headwind after the turn, would turn early. I thought I had left home (Destrehan) early-enough to get to the little dip before the group did, though probably not early-enough to get to the little dip before the group did. Knowing where you turned will help my calibration for the future. Thanks. Dave

Anonymous said...

Little dip