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.