Cold and Wind and Rain

I feel a little bad complaining about the weather. It's way worse farther north. I mean, take a look at what Toone was riding in the other morning.  

No nicer in B'ham

Even so, the weather here in New Orleans has been pretty much sucking the life out of my motivation for the past couple of weeks. It's actually not all that unusual, however. February is always my most difficult month, and the two, going on three, week virus has not helped, either. Tomorrow I am heading west with the Tulane team for the first conference race of the season. We will have an 8 or 9-hour drive to San Marcos, TX. Conditions for the Saturday morning road race and Saturday afternoon hill climb/time trial don't look too appealing right now. The temperature will probably not get out of the 30s for most of the road races and at best the roads will be wet. At worst, it will be raining. All they can do is pile on the clothes and gut it out, but conditions like that also mean flat tires and slippery turns and gritty drivetrains. I'll be bringing a bike, and probably all of my winter riding gear, and if at all possible I'll get in a few laps of the road course, assuming they have sufficient follow cars and such. That's always a little hit-or-miss with collegiate races.

It has been 15 or 16 days since I got sick and I'm just now starting to feel almost normal. I've skipped a ton of riding over the past couple of weeks and it will probably take another couple of weeks just to get back where I was. This morning I was determined to get in some miles. It was around 40F when I stepped out the door at 5:43 am, which wasn't too bad. Unfortunately there was also a 16 mph wind blowing straight out of the north, which happens to be the direction I have to go to get to the lakefront. I rode to the usual meeting spot to find it, not surprisingly, deserted, so just continued on toward the lake without even stopping. I knew that a lot of riders would have looked at the combination of temperature and wind speed and made other plans. Riding out to the lake I was probably going 15-16 mph most of the way, fingers and brain both numb. Out on the lakefront I could feel the full force of the wind, which was significant but by no means unmanageable. Out at West End there were only two other riders, so we grouped up and rode a lap of Lakeshore Drive at a reasonable effort level before one turned off to head home and we turned the other way down Robert E. Lee to do a lap around City Park. Despite the nice tailwind on Wisner Blvd. I never bothered to shift out of the small ring. The lap around the park was good and after we parted company at Marconi and R.E. Lee I headed back home down Wisner. On Jeff Davis Parkway I somehow managed to hit every single red light, and so, combined with the much slower pace and the bit of perspiration buried under my winter jacket, that got me really chilled by the time I got home. I guess it will be another 3-ride week for me, and that's assuming I can actually put in some miles on Saturday.  

This is not the way to stay in shape. I'm just glad I have no plans to ride Rouge-Roubaix this year.

Natchez Pilgrimage

Last weekend was our annual pilgrimage to Natchez State Park for the NOBC training camp. This year we teamed up with the Tulane collegiate riders, which made for a very nice mix. I had been more apprehensive about this year's trip than usual because I'm just barely getting over the cold that put me out of commission for over a week, and also because Danielle was in the early stages of the same thing.

We rolled out of New Orleans a little late on Friday, but still arrived at the cabins a bit after dinner time, which in our case involved a Subway Sandwich shop inside a Wal-Mart north of Hammond, LA. I had been figuring on eating later, around McComb, but was over-ruled by a few bladders and stomachs. There were apparently a lot of deer running about up there in Mississippi, but although we saw a couple fresh road-killed ones we at least didn't have any close calls ourselves. The weather forecast for the weekend was extremely unstable, changing from hour to hour, so we didn't really know what to expect for Saturday except that it would probably be better earlier than later.

So Saturday morning our planned 7:30 start dragged on to almost 8:30, but fortunately the temperature was around 50 and it was looking like most of the rain would hold off until early afternoon. We headed north on the Natchez Trace, planning on riding to Port Gibson, and then returning with a little loop past Church Hill to add a little variety.  The Trace itself is smooth, graded, and practically devoid of traffic this time of year, which makes it a great place for rides like this where we know the group will split up. I was feeling reasonably good, considering the setbacks of the prior couple of weeks, although I was already starting to feel a little soreness in my quads by the time we made the turn-around. Danielle was gutting it out pretty well, although I know she must have been feeling like crap. I was just glad that it wasn't particularly cold and that the rain was holding off. It actually ended up being a pretty good 70+ miles, which included two or three stops for regrouping. As we rode the last couple of miles back to the cabins it started to rain a little bit and I thought to myself how lousy it would be to have ridden all that way only to get soaked in the last two miles. It turned out to be just a brief little shower, so I didn't really get very wet.

That evening we had a big group dinner in the cabin while we watched the old Race Across Louisiana movie, and then got a little serious with some coaching/training presentations and discussions. I allowed myself a couple of glasses of wine, knowing I'd probably pay for them the next day.

So as predicted it rained that night and we awoke to a cold 40-degree mist and wet streets. A couple of riders headed home, but I was glad that all of the Tulane riders were up for a ride despite the conditions. The plan was just to ride the 17 or so miles to Natchez, ride down and up the 20% grade bluffs, stop for coffee, and return to the cabins.  I think I ended up with a little over 40 miles, which made for a 170 mile week despite missing two days, so I can't complain too much about that. Anyway, the streets were wet and it was pretty chilly and damp, so I wore long tights, shoe-covers, winter jacket, etc.  Can't say I regretted it for one minute, either.  Danielle wisely decided to meet us in Natchez with the car rather than do a cold wet ride with what was rapidly becoming a chest cold.

The ride to Natchez was nice and steady with a slight tailwind, so everyone stayed together easily and the pace was pretty controlled. The ride back was a little harder. The Tulane riders wanted to work on paceline/team TT, so most of it was moderate paceline. As usual, there was a little bit of sketchiness in the paceline, but nothing too bad. It must not have been too hard because a few of the guys ended up basically racing the last couple of miles to the cabins after we stopped at Emerald Mound.  All-in-all it was a good weekend, despite the weather. By the time we got back to New Orleans that afternoon it was almost 80F since the front had not yet come through there, Naturally, that happened overnight. The rain woke me up in the early morning hours and I immediately decided to take Monday off.  I'm still having some chest congestion and all, so it's really not worth taking any chances right now.

Cold Ride

I woke up this morning feeling a little bit better. The throat is still a bit sore, and there's still a post-nasal drip, but at least I didn't feel quite as lousy as I have for the past week. Most people who have had this cold lately have told me it took them two to three weeks to get over it. Anyway, the local forecast had been calling for temperatures in the mid-30s, but when I looked over at the thermometer it read something like 42, so I decided that I needed to at least get on the bike and out the door to get a better read on my current situation. Knowing I'd be riding kind of slowly, I piled on the clothes and stepped outside just before dawn to feel the cold north wind on my face. It felt a lot colder than the thermometer had implied. I had a dull headache that made every little bump in the road rather painful, so I rode easy out to the lakefront and back through City Park. I never saw anyone else, so I don't know if the usual Thursday group materialized or not. I had gone out about half an hour later, so it's possible I just missed them since I was only on Lakeshore Drive for a little while. It felt like I was just getting colder and colder the whole time I was riding, so I guess I'm not really over this cold quite yet. I've been cold every evening at home, walking around the house wearing a fleece vest zipped all the way up to my chin. To make matters worse, it looks like I gave the cold to my daughter because she came down with a sore throat last night. I had really been trying to avoid that. I guess this is going to end up being essentially two full weeks devoid of significant training.  I can't remember for sure the last time that's happened, but it was probably back when I broke my collarbone. I looked back in the log and the last time I had a cold like this was early March of 2013, and it progressed a lot like this one, only faster. I probably missed only four days that time. We have the NOBC/Tulane training camp up in Natchez this weekend and although it's looking like the temperature will be warmer than usual, there's a lot of rain in the forecast for Saturday and Sunday. I guess we'll just have to play it by ear on that. Riding around in a cold rain would probably not be a good idea for me right now.

Still Sick

At Endymion Saturday night

It was eight days ago, on the Tuesday morning ride, that I noticed the runny nose. Granted, my nose runs pretty steadily any time the temperature is below 70F, but this seemed somehow a little different. I had arrived at the usual meeting spot that morning right on time, only to find nobody there. Perhaps it was the stiff northwest wind. I rode out to the lakefront alone, meeting up with a few of the other regulars, and we plodded our way east on Lakeshore Drive in a big eschelon that nobody seemed to want to lead. After the loop at Seabrook, however, Matt rode to the front and started ramping up the pace. I was glued to his wheel in the brutal quartering headwind, focused on staying in his draft and wondering how long he could keep it up. Well, five miles later, at the other end of Lakeshore Drive he finally eased up. I looked back and there was nobody in sight. It was a given that nobody was going to ride out to Kenner on the lake bike trail, so we did an easy lap around City Park and I headed home more than a few miles short for the day. By that night the sore throat had started, and when I awoke in the middle of the night barely able to swallow I knew I'd finally caught the cold that had been going around the office for the past couple of weeks. I woke up later that same night to find my shirt soaked with sweat, so I knew I was sick. I felt bad enough that morning that I stayed home from work. It would turn out that Tuesday's ride would be my last bit of training until, well, until I get back on the bike, which hasn't really happened yet unless you count the Friday coffee ride, or a brief and ill-advised excursion I took on Monday morning.

One of the Thoth parade groups

So after Wednesday morning I decided it would be unwise to do any significant efforts on the bike considering the cold dry air and my desperate hope that I might avoid having it all turn into a big old chest cold and possibly bronchitis or pneumonia. Mardi Gras weekend was coming up fast, and since we are off from work both Monday and Tuesday, I had been hoping to enjoy the long weekend. It didn't really turn out that way. Every night I'd go to sleep hoping I'd wake up the next morning and feel fine, and every morning I'd wake up with a screaming sore throat and probably mild fever. Still, it didn't seem to be affecting my lungs. I'd been sucking on zinc lozenges for days hoping to at least mitigate the effects of the virus, and I'd been staying off the bike and skipping all of the parades in hopes of being better in time for Mardi Gras.

In front of Apolline after the parade

I did make it to the Endymion parade, but that's mainly because we drive downtown to the Tulane Tidewater building, park in the garage, hang out in the office until the parade is literally in front of us, and go back and forth whenever we want. I can't say I was feeling too great, but I did still spend a lot of time down on the street. It's a pretty nice parade and the crowd is reasonably thin by the time it gets downtown. The next day, Sunday, some of us were planning on meeting at Apolline restaurant on Magazine Street (Apolline is the club's main sponsor) to watch the Thoth parade around noon.  I really like watching the parade on Magazine Street. That area has a real old time neighborhood feel to it, and the parade itself is always a little more "local" than the others. Fortunately the temperature was much warmer, so I rode down there with Danielle and had a really nice time. The next morning, although I was not feeling any better, I went out on the bike for a short easy ride since the temperature was still reasonable and it was supposed to rain and then get a lot colder later on. I decided to ride around Audubon Park and then ride out along the levee bike path that was just, finally, re-opened from the park to the stables near Jefferson Playground. That's only a 4-mile stretch, I guess, but on this morning it was nice to not have to deal with traffic.

More Thoth

Well, by Monday evening things were going downhill and I knew I wouldn't be making any trips to the French Quarter on Mardi Gras. The cold had finally gotten to my lungs and I was running a bit of a fever. I started taking some Amoxicillin that The Wife had left over and got that prescription refilled. Then I started taking Mucinex-D, the one with pseudoephedrine, along with Advil. It helped a bit, but basically Mardi Gras day was fairly miserable. Things are a little better this morning, so there's hope, but considering the weather I may be skipping another day or two on the bike. We have our training camp scheduled for this weekend in Natchez, so I am at least hoping I'll be over the worst of it by then.

Levee bike path re-opened

Last night we struggled through setting up the event permit and online registration for the Tulane collegiate race. Man, the USAC system makes that process rather tedious. It was compounded by a glitch that we had found the day before that wasn't handling collegiate licenses correctly for online registration. I think we got it all done, but I'll have to wait until online registration opens on March 1 to know if that all worked out.

So last week I rode a total of 68 miles, by far the lowest weekly total in well over a year. That came after a solid textbook-quality 5-week block of 13-14 hour weeks. Oh well. Back to square one.  Again.

Weather Delay

Mother Nature has been messing with winter training around here lately. It's always hard to get out on the bike this time of year, but here in New Orleans we don't really get a whole lot of days when it just isn't possible.  Nonetheless, it just takes that one extra straw to break the camel's back. Temperature in the upper 30s?  No problem.  Temperature in the upper 30s and a 20 mph wind?  Problem.  Temperature in the low 40s? No problem. Temperature in the low 40 and wet roads? Problem. Sometimes it's not even the cold and wind and rain themselves, it's the probabilities - the increased probability of having multiple flats on dirty wet roads with numb fingers, the increased probability of slipping on a slick corner and crashing, the high probability of having to spend half an hour after riding cleaning the bike and chain. And then there's also just the time of year and, for many, decreased urgency of training hard.  Take last Saturday.

Morning weekday ride heading west

I went out to the Giro Ride, knowing I'd be rushed in order to get to the Officials' Clinic I was holding at 10 am that morning, but I'd already missed a ride that week and didn't want to miss another. The temperature was in the mid-40s, but there was a 13 mph wind blowing straight out of the north. Turnout was good for the ride, the sun was shining, and I fully expected it to get pretty hard. It had its moments, but in general it seemed like nobody wanted to push it unless there was a tailwind. By the time we got back to Lakeshore Drive I had to skip most of the usual cool-down and hustle back home the shortest way possible and then rush over to run the clinic. So today is Wednesday and that was the last good ride I did.

Sunday morning was wet and drizzly, so I didn't even consider riding and instead set my sights on a visit to the Tulane training center for some roller time. That turned out to be like 30 minutes of easy but sweaty spinning, a short ride down to the parish line on the levee bike path, and a fair amount of time fooling with the WattBike software. Pretty much a write-off as far as training goes, especially since I didn't really need a recovery day. By afternoon the weather was a lot nicer but I couldn't make myself get back on the bike by then. A cold front had come through in the afternoon.

Monday morning I awoke to a reasonable temperature of around 45F, and an entirely unreasonable wind of 24 mph out of the northwest. I was already starting to feel desperate, however, so I put on my warm Giordana jacket and headed out to the lakefront anyway. It turned in to a 22 mile ride with an average speed of 14.8 mph that felt a lot  harder than it should have.  Lakeshore Drive was, at least, interesting. The waves were crashing over the seawall in those areas where they were hitting it dead-on, flooding parts of the right lane. All that new concrete between the seawall and the road, however, was working great, so I was just dealing with some water and various bits of wood and such. A couple of years ago the road would have been covered with rocks and mud under the same conditions and the Levee District police would have closed the road for a few days until it could be cleared away. Anyway, riding in the 24 mph crosswind was interesting, if nothing else, and I did stop a couple of times to try and get a photo or two, but in general this was more of a sightseeing ride than a training ride. So I set my sights on Tuesday.

Well, the wind was still blowing at about 12 mph by Tuesday morning and the temperature was down to about 39F. I wasn't too surprised to find only two people waiting for the 5:45 am start at the end of Nashville Avenue. We struggled all the way out to the lakefront, but the Metairie/Kenner group never showed up. Most likely the bike path along the lake was still wet from levee runoff, so combined with the cold and the wind, well, the final straw. So we turned around and headed east on Lakeshore Drive, finally picking up Woody and a couple more riders.  It didn't take long for Woody to announce that he was not riding out to Kenner today. We did a lap of Lakeshore Drive, which got fast enough to split the group for a while, and then basically bailed out. The idea was to ride a lap around City Park, but by the time we got to Esplanade we were getting pretty cold from the easy pace and so we just called it a day and rode back home. 28 miles instead of the usual 42.

This morning - steady rain all night, predicted to continue most of the day. I slept an extra hour or so, then rode to work in a cold steady drizzle wearing jeans and hiking boots. Maybe tomorrow will be better, but this week is definitely going to look pretty lame on Strava!