Disappointing Week

There were a few foggy mornings this week.

At the outset I had high hopes for this past week.  The temperature was supposed to remain pretty comfortable, there wasn't a whole lot of rain in the forecast, and I didn't have much on my dance card that would interfere with my regular ride times.  Coming off of an acceptable, for February, 200 mile week I figured it would be easy to rack up 250 or more.  Two hundred fifty miles is kind of my threshold number that defines a good training week, although the typical February weather and my own lack of enthusiasm for riding in the rain, or dark, or traffic does sometimes make achieving that number challenging. Anyway, I had high hopes on Monday.  One problem, of course, has been the slightly reduced ride time for morning levee rides.  Because of the additional time needed to put the bike(s) on the car, change shoes, wait at stop lights, etc., the time block that used to get me 42 miles on Tuesday and Thursday yields only 38 now.  Those extra miles will probably cost and extra twenty minutes or so, but it may turn out to be worth the having to rush a bit after getting home.  Anyway, after an easy Monday ride, I drove out to meet the 6:15 am group on Tuesday on the levee.  That turned out to be a fairly decent ride, so on Wednesday I decided to ride out to the lakefront since I didn't really know who might show up for the levee ride anyway.  Although it was a hassle dealing with traffic going and coming, I did enjoy the stretch along the lake bike path in Jefferson Parish, riding out to the first canal past Causeway and getting home with 24 miles, which is status quo for me for a Wednesday morning.

Thursday's levee ride had originally a pretty big turnout, but lots of riders turned back early because the fog was ridiculously thick despite a stiff southeast wind.  That kept the speed down a bit, fortunately, but I stuck it out with a few others and at least got in the miles.  Then on Friday I met some of the Tulane riders for a 6:15 ride out to the lakefront and a stop for coffee that I would have happily prolonged except that Danielle needed to get back in time for class.  At that point I guess my weekly mileage wasn't looking too terrible.  The problem, however, was the forecast for Sunday.  I was really, really hoping to do another northshore ride on Sunday but the forecast was already looking bad.

On Saturday I headed out for the regular Giro Ride.  It was chilly at first, but once the sun came up it got really nice.  I ended up with my pockets stuffed with discarded wardrobe items.  We had a pretty big group and although the pace wasn't fast throughout, there were a few good sections that stayed in the 25+ mph range and one particular four-mile stretch that averaged a touch over 30.  I felt pretty good during the ride and as I rode home I was hoping against hope that Sunday's forecast would prove to be wrong.  It wasn't.  In fact, Sunday was a painfully long day stuck at home watching it rain on and off.  It wasn't particularly cold, and I seriously considered going out on the rain bike, but I'd been dealing with a post-nasal drip since Friday and by Sunday morning it was a full-fledged sore throat.  Going out for a ride in the rain would have been decidedly irrational.  Instead, I spent a long time down in the basement putting a new chain and cassette on the Bianchi.  The installation was quick and painless, but it took a lot of time to clean the filthy chainrings, jockey wheels, and bike in general.  I had been using Rock n' Roll on the chain for the past month or so, and although it is pretty nice stuff, it does tend to leave a kind of waxy layer on the chainrings.  By the time I finished that, I was all ready for a ride on a nice clean bike with brand new chain and cassette, but the streets were still soaked and the rain wasn't quite over anyway, so I was looking forward to Monday.

I got up this morning and was really disappointed when I looked out the window.  More fog and leftover puddles in the street.  Of course, I went out anyway since it was still around 60F at the time, but all that bike cleaning from the day before was definitely going to waste in a hurry.  I went out to the lake and headed over to the lakefront bike path dreaming of a few miles of nice smooth asphalt, only to be disappointed when I came over the levee and realized that water was still draining from the levee across the path. More wet streets, a dirty bike, and I'm sure a black stripe up my backside.  Such is riding in February.  I logged only 199 miles for the week and, even worse, spent the better part of Sunday eating everything and anything at home.