Tough Morning

Levee ride group waiting for everyone to arrive

I woke up this morning feeling like I'd been up all night.  I'd been expecting a certain level of fatigue, but this seemed a bit more than that.  Wednesday I had gone out a little earlier than usual, thinking I might catch the WeMoRi somewhere along Wisner, but as it turned out I was a bit too early for that.  I headed down Robert E. Lee Blvd. to the west and picked up the bike path along the lake.  It was practically deserted, and with a nice little tailwind I ended up riding all the way out to the casino.  By the time I got back home I'd logged around 30 miles, a few miles more than I'd planned with some of it a little faster than I'd recommend, considering I was planning on riding the training race that evening.  Indeed, I rushed home from work and then out to the lakefront, catching the group right at the end of its warmup lap.  There was a pretty strong wind blowing from the southeast that was playing havoc with the paceline, such as it was.  Somewhere in the second half of the first lap I found myself near the back of an eschelon that was taking up both lanes and occasionally some of the oncoming lane.  I wasn't too comfortable with any of that, so I dropped off with plans to turn back early and catch the group as it was coming in the opposite direction.  That worked out OK, I guess.  Regardless, the combination of crosswind and fast pace made for a pretty hard ride, and by the time I got back to the house I guess I had 65 miles for the day.  The Wife was flying back from a meeting in New York and her flight was scheduled to arrive at 8:30, so I jumped into the shower thinking I had lots of time.  Then, when I checked the flight status, I saw that it was going to arrive about twenty minutes early, so I had to drop everything and rush out to the airport.  I was about five miles from there when she called to say they had landed, so by the time she had picked up her fifty pound suitcase I was already there.

So back to this morning.  My legs were a little sore, but more than that I just felt kind of run-down.  I didn't want to skip the long Thursday ride on the levee, especially since the forecast for Friday and Saturday was not looking particularly good, so I went out there anyway with a plan to stay in the draft as much as possible.  Although there was a pretty big group today, there was also a pretty strong wind.  It allowed for a fast pace on the way out, but the whole time I was just thinking how hard it was going to be on the way back.  Indeed, it was.  I have an early meeting tomorrow, and the forecast for the morning is calling for a 40-60% chance of rain, so I guess I'll have to play that by ear.