The Wind and the Will

I pushed the "Start" button on the Garmin, turned on the headlight, and as I clicked my right cleat into the pedal I told Danielle, "Some people aren't going to show up today." A cold front came through last night and although the temperature was still around 60F, the 20 mph northwest wind had convinced me to dig out the arm-warmers anyway. When we got to the meeting spot at the end of Nashville Avenue it was deserted. Two riders arrived but none of the usual regulars were there, and we finally rolled out a few minutes late after a final look down the road for headlights. The wind didn't really hit us until we turned onto Lakeshore Drive heading west. That's when I shifted to the small ring and our speed dropped from 20 mph to 14. Down at West End we picked up a couple of riders, but most of the Metairie/Kenner crew never materialized. We turned around and started down Lakeshore Drive with a 20+ mph wind at our backs, quickly picking up Woody and Judd. Soon we were cruising east at 28 mph with hardly any wind on our faces. Judd sat at the front for a few miles while I contemplated what would come after the turnaround at Seabrook. It was not going to be pretty. The ride back to the west on Lakeshore Drive probably averaged 17 mph, at best, and as we neared the end Woody rode up alongside and said they were going to opt for a lap around the park rather than another ten miles fighting the headwind on the bike path. There was just no will to suffer any more that morning.  We turned around, enjoyed the tailwind down to Wisner, and started the City Park loop. Since there was a significant northern component to the wind direction, we were rolling pretty easily and it was clear that the training momentum had dissipated for the morning. I somehow rolled a few bike lengths off the front and just after passing Esplanade I heard a whistle behind me.  Judd and Woody (all that were left by then) had turned into the park.  So I just continued to City Park Avenue and made the loop down Marconi and Robert E. Lee without ever meeting up with them again. By the end I was seven or eight miles short for the day, but not particularly tired since we'd really only gone hard for that one lap of Lakeshore Drive. Other than the wind, the day has been beautiful. Tomorrow morning should be in the upper 50s, but at least the wind should be back down to single digits by then.

So after years of using just a simple blinking headlight, I've finally had to start using something that will actually illuminate the road.  All of this early morning riding on city streets has made such a thing a necessity. Danielle got me a Light & Motion Urban 350.  This headlight has three brightness settings and one semi-flashing setting and a rechargeable battery. Most mornings right now it's on the brightest setting for at least forty minutes, so even if I remember to dim it and turn it off appropriately, the battery will run down after a couple of long rides. I sure do miss riding in daylight!