Weather and Wet Rubber

Tuesday morning - flat tire number one.

The weather has been all over the place around here lately. At the moment it's 71F outside, the ground is wet from earlier rains and light fog, and I'm sitting here alone in the office on the last work day before the long university holidays wondering what tomorrow morning will be like.

Bayou Road, heading back from Slidell on Sunday

Last Thursday there was a little flurry of activity as we tried to figure out a way to get Liz over to Austin for the SCCCC conference championship cyclocross race. Although she was all registered and we'd reserved a hotel room for her, she had a big exam and was planning on making the drive Friday afternoon, I think. The night before she had been down in the Quarter and had lost her wallet that contained her credit cards and drivers license. This presented a problem since she needed her license in order to rent a car. She was trying to finish studying for her exam, get her credit cards cancelled and re-issued, etc. It was not looking good. She was aiming for collegiate nationals, to be held in Austin in January, and was supposed to compete at conference championships in order to qualify. We briefly considered flying her there, but that still left the problem of transportation, with bike and wheels, once she arrived. Finally, after getting an OK from the conference director that she could have one of the slots at nationals anyway, we pulled the plug.

Last weekend was another pair of Giro Rides for me. Saturday morning started out pretty chilly by my standards, although among the group's riders you could find pretty much everything from summer kit to thermal tights. I had compromised with bib tights and a long-sleeve jersey with base layer underneath, which worked out pretty well. The ride itself was unremarkable and the pack rolled along at mostly moderate speeds, which is not unusual this time of year, especially when the temperature and the holidays conspire to make for a relatively small group.

So by Sunday morning it was a little warmer and the wind was a little lighter and the turnout a lot larger. As I lounged around the Starbucks patio I started to seriously consider tagging along with the group that was planning on extending the Giro out to Slidell and back. With the light winds and relatively large group planning on doing that, I figured, "Why not?"  I had no pressing engagements the rest of the day, and the two bucks in my pocket would suffice to provide needed sustenance in the form of a large Payday bar, at the gas station in Slidell.  Liz was in the group as we headed out but punctured out on Chef Highway before the regular turnaround, so she dropped out to fix the flat and pick up the main group on its way back. I guess we had about twenty riders who continued on past Venetian Isles, and after the traditional nature break just on the other side of the Chef bridge we formed up into a nice smooth double paceline at a remarkably steady 22 mph or so in to a light headwind for the duration.

After stopping in Slidell we  headed back, and as often happens the pace started to ramp up along Chef Highway, staying in the 24-28 mph range pretty much all the way to the turn onto the service road. Some riders, myself included, started skipping pulls for the last four or five miles when the pace started getting unstable. I got back home with 93 miles on the computer and a 20.6 average speed, plus a couple of slightly sore quads.

Monday was rainy, and since I could still feel my legs from Sunday's ride I didn't feel too bad about taking a day off the bike. I'd already gone past 12,000 mi. for the year, so I figured I deserved a rest day.

Flat Number Three

So this morning I stepped outside into thick, muggy, 68-degree air.  The streets were wet, but the radar was offering a very good chance of missing the rain. Even so, there was only Brian waiting at the end of Nashville Avenue today.  Along the way we picked up David who had been running late, and the three of us met up with a fairly large group out on Lakeshore Drive. With a bit of an east wind, the tailwind stretch got fairly fast heading toward West End. When we got onto the bike path along the lake I thought to myself, "I'm glad I left my toe-covers on."  I'd been rushing to get out the door and didn't want to take the time to remove them. That was a good thing because the bike path was very wet with water still draining off of the levee. It may as well have been raining. The pace was pretty steady, ramping up a bit toward the turnaround.  Then, on the way back, someone flatted just before Causeway. Most of us waited, and got going again, only to have another flat around the Bonnabel boat launch. So we stopped again, and just as he was finishing up, Woody realized his tire had also gone flat, so we waited yet again for that one as a few raindrops started to fall. Meanwhile, Brian had ridden ahead after the first flat, and so he eventually called to see where the hell I was. We finally met up on Filmore. Luckily the rain stopped and I got home pretty wet and a bit late, but with air in my tires. A cold front is supposed to push through tonight, so the forecast for tomorrow morning is calling for a drop of 20 degrees by morning. The 50 degree air won't be much of a problem, but it's quite possible the streets will still be soaking wet and then, of course, there's the usual 17 mph northwest wind that accompanies every cold front. Guess I'll have to play it by ear.