LSD - Long, Sloooooow, Distance

WeMoRi, on the overpass.

Thanksgiving week was a long one, and a slow one, as it should be. At the beginning of the week there was a plan among a loosely clandestine confederation of local riders to complete a 170 mile ride around Lake Pontchartrain on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Then, a couple of days later, we were planning the annual 110-mile Varsity to Varsity ride with the LSU team from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. With all of that in mind, together with my birthday on Tuesday, I started the week off with the clear goal of logging as little high-intensity riding as possible. The only real problems with that plan were that Thanksgiving week would undoubtedly be a slow one at work, which would possibly allow for a few more minutes of regular morning rides, and the forecast which was looking more and more like a very cold Friday morning.

So I went out on Monday morning alone for a nice easy-paced ride in nearly perfect weather that ended up being a few miles longer than usual. Then on Tuesday I did the usual 5:45 am ride out to the lake, trying to keep my nose out of the wind as much as I could. Fortunately the pace was mostly civilized except for a few brief sections of 27-29 mph. Since I knew it would be quiet at work, Ben and I took a few extra minutes on the way home to stop for coffee. So far, so good.  The legs were feeling fine and weather was holding steady in the mid-50s.

Post WeMo

On Wednesday I went out as usual to meet the WeMoRi, and got a flat on Carrollton Avenue on the way there. I fixed it as quickly as possible and Danielle and I rushed the rest of the way out there assuming we would have to make a quick U-turn somewhere on Wisner or Robert E. Lee. Surprisingly, we ended up waiting for the group on Marconi, which told me they weren't going nearly as fast as usual. That was at least partially due to the fact that a cold front had come through and the temperature was hovering around the 39-40 degree mark. Also, they were having a little post-ride birthday party complete with cake and coffee, so rather than making our usual stop at Starbucks on the way home, we spent that time at the party, which was nice. This all turned out to be another nice recovery type ride for me since I'd only spent about ten minutes at any significant effort level the whole time. On Thanksgiving morning I went out to meet the "Holiday Giro" group at Starbucks. Naturally the turnout was smaller than for a regular weekend Giro, and like a few others I had no intention of doing the entire ride myself since we were planning to have some folks over later in the day. I ended up with 42 miles, but most of it was at 15-20 mph.

Northshore Ride - LSD Defined

So by Wednesday the planned ride around the lake on Friday had morphed into a long ride on the Northshore. That was fine with me since I was quite sure that the 120 miles we were shooting for would be quite sufficient. Ben and Jaden picked me up around 5:15 am on Friday, we drove over to Daniel's house to pile into his car, and then headed across the lake to Stephen Mire's place northeast of Covington. Once we got off of the Causeway we watched as the thermometer started dropping from the 42 degrees it had been in New Orleans to, ultimately, the 32 degrees it was up there in horse country. I piled on the clothes for the start of the ride knowing a lot of it would end up in my already bulging pockets. Even so, I was uncomfortably cold for the first 25 miles or so. On the plus side, everyone was on the same page for this ride, which is to say the Zone 2 page. We used to just call that LSD back in the days before power meters and TSS numbers.

Stephen was sufficiently stressed out about his total stress score to call his coach halfway through the ride for a consult as he was eating a tin of sardines he'd bought at the roadside store. The ride itself was great, even if we didn't always know exactly where we were going. We ended up riding up to Bogalusa, then over to Franklinton, and finally back down toward Covington and Abita Springs. I finished up with 119.3 miles. Jaden and Ben couldn't handle that and after sprinting up the last couple of hills rode past the driveway far enough to make sure they ended up with an even 120. Diego and Stephen took a slightly shorter route back when we discovered a huge egg forming in Diego's rear tire at 437 and Factory Road. Diego made it just a few more miles before it exploded, leaving him to ride in the last 40 minutes on the rim. I got back home after that 7 hour ride feeling surprisingly good. I guess it's actually unusual for me to do a long ride like that at such an easy pace and spinning relatively low gears.

Saturday Giro Ride

On Saturday I had to consider the wisdom of doing the Giro Ride, considering the 110 mile ride planned for the following day. The weather had finally warmed up a bit, and would be nearly 70 by the time the ride ended, I ended up doing the whole ride, again taking it as easily as possible. The group was pretty much in winter ride mode, so the fast sections were brief and when someone dropped the hammer on the way back along Hayne I dropped off with a few others and cruised in at a more seasonally appropriate speed.

Start of the Varsity to Varsity ride on Sunday

I was up early again on Sunday for the drive up to Baton Rouge with some of the Tulane riders. The annual Varsity to Varsity ride started at 7:30 with a pretty large group and nearly ideal weather except for a light but nagging southeast breeze. I was feeling none the worse for wear, and as usual the pace was easy with a number of long stops for food and recovery. They have both lead and follow vans for most of this ride, so it's pretty nice. I had brought along a flask of Hammergel, just in case, but as it turned out there were plenty of bananas in the van each time we stopped. At one of the stops, about mid-way through the ride, a woman appeared with a bag of freshly picked satsumas for us!

I started this ride with, I think, eight Advil in my pocket. It wasn't because I thought my legs would hurt, it was because I knew my neck would. As it turned out, by mile 50 the burning pain in my problematic right foot had completely overshadowed any pain my neck and upper back might be causing. Luckily I was able to work the bones and nerves back into their normal locations at each rest stop, so I would be good for a while afterward, but eventually the pain would return. A couple of times I pulled my foot out of my shoe and rode a few miles with my foot on top of the shoe, which actually helped quite a bit.

Despite my route recommendations, things got messy as the group came into the city and had to negotiate the River Road closure, but everyone eventually came back together except for a few who were off the back with Kenny helping push a badly bonked LSU rider in the last twenty miles. Kenny and Danielle had driven up up to Baton Rouge, so they rode out from New Orleans when they returned and met the group at the spillway. By the end of that ride I'd logged over 400 miles for the week - definitely the highest mileage week of the year for me. This week I'll be officiating both Saturday and Sunday up in Jackson, so this week may turn out to be one of my shortest!

At the finish of the V to V ride at the shop on Magazine Street