Springtime in November - Headsets and Holidays

The weather the past couple of days has been pretty spectacular, especially considering that it is the last weekend in November and lots of people elsewhere are selecting clothing options with frostbite protection in mind. As I write, it's 79F here in New Orleans. We won't see the 40s again until probably Thursday.

After an easy post-Thanksgiving ride on Friday I pulled the fork off of the Bianchi and headed over to Bicycle World to pick up a new headset.  I was a little reluctant to attack the somewhat stuck lower race with hammer and screwdriver, so thought it best to let the pros use proper tools instead. I installed the headset, applied liberal amounts of grease in a probably futile attempt to prolong its life,  and set the preload, knowing that it would probably change a bit after my next ride. I made a mental note to bring a multi-tool along for the Saturday northshore ride. With the weather expected to be in the 60s and 70s, I was looking forward to a nice ride in the rolling hills north of Covington -- in shorts and summer jersey.

So I headed across the lake solo, listening to 60s on 6, to meet the 8 am group ride out of Abita Springs.  Naturally I'd forgotten to bring a multi-tool.

There was a pretty good turnout of around 20 riders, a typical northshore mix of triathletes, bike racer types, and those ubiquitous fast recreational types. It was also one of those ride routes that we'd probably never do if it was just bike racers. On the plus side the scenery was great, traffic was barely non-existent, and one of the dead-end roads we used had a couple of nice climbs on it. I was feeling pretty good and enjoyed chasing the occasional rider who would roll off the front. It's always amazing how good a new headset makes the bike feel after a couple of months of riding with a notchy one. You always get used to the old pitted headset and don't quite realize how bad it is until you finally break down and install a new one. Anyway, by the time I got home I could feel just a very slight bit of looseness in the headset, so before I went upstairs I got out the torque wrench and re-adjusted it. Should be good for a while now.

This morning I went out to the Sunday Giro Ride.  It was a little warmer and fairly humid, but there was hardly a breath of wind. Although the holidays, together with the fact the Palmer riders were off on some kind of team meeting/ride thing, had reduced the group size a little bit, we still started off with at least twenty-five. As it had been on Thursday, the ride was unusually smooth and steady.  Out on Chef Highway a long double rotating paceline formed up right away, with the speed gradually inching up into the mid-20s.

All back together

As we approached the Highway 11 intersection I was kind of expecting things to get faster and the paceline to start to get shorter, but then I heard a very odd noise up ahead.  Riders suddenly sat up as Big Rich coasted backwards, looking down at his rear derailleur.  As I passed I saw that he'd lost the upper jockey wheel. Most of the group continued on, but Jeff and I stopped with him. In the big ring he was still able to ride, albeit with a slack chain, so we rode backwards on the nearly deserted 4-lane on the off-chance we might be able to find the missing jockey wheel. We never found it, of course, so as Rich headed off to limp back home with Jeff, I continued on to find the group on its way back. With a bit of a southeast wind starting to blow, the pace remained comfortably brisk all the way back. Rich, who had taken a shortcut, met up briefly with the group around the base of the Seabrook bridge, but by the time we turned off onto Marconi he was nowhere to be seen.  I wondered if he'd taken a different route.  A few rider were ahead of us and then everyone except Mignon turned off on Harrison, so it was just the two of us for the ride back uptown. I had been telling Steve about what happened to Rich's bike and he said he had a spare broken Campagnolo 11 speed derailleur at home, so I texted that to Rich.  Later, however, Rich told me he'd actually had a spare one himself, so it was already fixed.

Thanksgiving Day Giro

The emails and text messages started going 'round early on Wednesday.  Would there be a Giro Ride on Thanksgiving morning?  With nobody actually in charge of these rides, it took some time for a consensus to emerge, but by Wednesday night I was fairly certain there would be at least a few riders on hand. Locally we're at the beginning of another warming trend that should last until at least next Wednesday when the next cold front comes through.

Howard, just elected to his parish council

I went out with just arm-warmers, arriving at Starbucks with plenty of time to pick up my free birthday Americano as other riders started to arrive. There was a pretty stiff wind blowing straight out of the east, so I was glad to see that most everyone was in "holiday ride" mode. Out on Chef Highway we were riding directly into the 15-20 mph wind, and although we had a nice paceline going at first, it soon became apparent that 90% of the group wasn't really interested in seeing the front. So three or four of us kept things going, which wasn't too hard since we were probably not doing more than 22 mph most of the time. I knew things would be dramatically different once we turned around.

Noel

As expected, once the group started feeling the tailwind after the turnaround, the speeds started ramping up.  Still, even with the tailwind, we were cruising along at a relatively comfortable 28 mph or so most of the time. As we got closer to the Goodyear Sign Sprint, it got faster, of course, and I think some of the guys hit around 38 mph.  Apparently my 34.8 average was good enough to KOM that Strava segment, probably because I started it near the back of the paceline but finished closer to the front.

This morning I went out for an easy ride on the levee. I'm off work today and my only firm plan is to pick up a new headset from Bicycle World and install it so I won't have to keep steering in 2-degree increments.

WeMoRi Breakfast Ride

The WeMoRi (Wednesday Morning Ride) is one of those odd weekday morning rides that probably started out as one thing and ended up as entirely something else. Starting at 5:45 am, it's dark for most of the ride, and in the winter it's dark and cold. Nonetheless, there are usually about ten miles of the ride that are very fast, followed by a more social lap around City Park. It can be a pretty hard ten miles, and combined with the darkness and flashing lights and traffic and stop lights, the first fifteen miles or so can be somewhat stressful. For some reason, however, it has developed a loyal following and evolved into almost its own informal club. Periodically there are WeMoRi kit orders, and every month or two there's a brief post-ride get-together over coffee and cake, doberge of course, to acknowledge the regular riders who have birthdays that month.  New Orleanians will use any excuse for a party. For some reason, the November get-together is held at one of the riders' houses located just off of Robert E. Lee, which is part of the regular route.

I don't think I've ever started the WeMoRi at the start.  I usually leave home shortly before the ride starts 7 miles away at Robert's Fresh Market out on Robert E. Lee. That gets me to Lakeshore Drive as the group is heading back toward the west.  It's also usually about the time the speed really starts to ramp up. Today, Danielle and I got out there a few minutes early, so we rode up and down Lakeshore Drive between the fountain and UNO watching for the flock of blinky lights. This time we merged in right as the group was hitting the Bayou St. John bridge. For some reason the speeds were staying relatively low today.  Granted, I went from 16 mph to 30 mph in the space of one-tenth of a mile, but in general there were a lot of sections where the group's usual speed of 27-30 mph was down into the 23-26 mph range. Surprisingly, toward the end of the fast lap around the park, a light rain started to fall.  We rode around the north end and down Wisner looking at a rather menacing grey sky off to the southeast and decided to shorten the loop a bit by cutting through the park on Harrison and heading for the group birthday party a little early, which unfortunately was a little too early for coffee since the person picking it up had also been on the ride. Anyway, we had something to eat, and eventually some coffee, which was nice. Traffic this week has been noticeably lighter than usual since I guess most of the schools are out and some people are probably already out of town.

USAC has officially released the 2016 Schedule of Fees. It incorporates a lot of the new policy changes aimed at bolsternig grass-roots participation in racing and other similar events. The regular racing license for Cat. 2 and 3 riders goes up by $5 to cover increased drug testing (Cat. 1 licenses go up $25).  One-day licenses thankfully drop back down to $10. All of the other changes are summarized on the USAC website.  One thing I like is a document that discusses insurance and specifically addresses the kinds of cheaper insurance that some event promoters get and what that insurance does, and mostly doesn't, cover.

Fractured Paceline

It was another chilly, windy morning, at least by my standards. I went out in tights and long-sleeve jersey, knowing it would warm up once the sun rose but unwilling to suffer on the ride out to the lakefront. From a block away I scanned the meeting corner looking for flashing lights.  There were none. I rode down the block a bit, wondering if I'd be riding into the north wind alone.  Finally the riders started to trickle in, all a little late. Some were missing entirely, others had lost time searching for long-unused cool weather gear. Two of the missing would join up with us along the way. Out on Wisner Avenue there's an overpass alongside the bayou that crossed the railroad tracks and Interstate 610. It's been scheduled for demolition and replacement, and although the start date had been pushed back a couple of times, it is now imminent. This morning all of the light posts were gone, there was a big crane or pile-driver parked in the grass, and a new temporary access road for the construction trucks.  Perhaps it will still be open tomorrow morning for the WeMoRi, but clearly its days are numbered.  Once it's closed, it will be at least a year before the replacement bridge, complete with recreational bike lane, is ready.  The bike lane that's planned will likely be useless for us since it will be tied into the little winding bike path along the bayou and will be a 2-way path, all on one side of the bridge.

My fears of a low turnout were for naught today.  By the time we started into the Lakeshore Drive headwind the group was up to its normal count of 20 or so. I had already decided to stay as protected as possible.  I am sore in all sorts of odd places as a result of my recent cyclocross endeavors.  Surprisingly, my lower back isn't much of a problem (it was hurting quite a bit toward the end of the race despite my slow pace). My inner thighs, upper hips, shoulders and right arm, however, are still rather achy, and my quads feel like they got a pretty good workout too. Anyway, once we made the loop around Seabrook and started back down Lakeshore Drive with a nice tailwind the pace predictably picked up.  I was tucked in near the front as we approached the bridge when I heard someone say something way behind us.  It didn't quite sound it had the usual urgency of a flat tire, and the guys in front seemed to ignore it, but then we heard more yelling and finally realized someone had flatted. We all sat up, but by then we were approaching the traffic circle, so rather than turn around we continued on at an easy pace all the way to the end of Lakeshore Drive.  Looking back, we still couldn't see anyone coming. As it turned out it had been a big sidewall cut that had required a boot. When we got to the bike path I was with a couple other riders with the small lead group about fifteen seconds ahead of us.  I told them I was going to soft-pedal until the rest of the group arrived, so they went ahead and bridged up to the front group which then picked up its pace.

Out at the last little bridge I saw Robin stopped and realized he was watching a bald eagle that was eating a fish out on the breakwater and was being harassed by an osprey that was trying to steal his breakfast.  I stopped for a little while until the rest of the group finally caught up.

The ride back into the headwind was a long one.  I just glued myself to Brian's wheel for most of it since he always seems happy to sit on the front and tow everybody for miles on end.

Cross-Training

Saturday night an actual COLD front came through - the first real one this fall. And so, it was with a bag stuffed full of winter riding gear that I headed up to Natchez on Sunday morning for the third cyclocross race of the DSGP series. Although the temperature south of the lake was in the 40s thanks to all that nice warm water, up in Natchez it was somewhere around 34F when I fired up the Volvo around 6 am. It was supposed to warm up to around 40 by the 10 am start, so I didn't think that it would be an issue for the racers.  I was more worried about the officials, which included me, standing around in the shade. I was bringing the old Pennine along, with plans to ride the Cat. 1/2/3 race since the Masters race is combined with one or two others and officiating is a little more complicated. I was also going to be trying out CrossMgr, a cyclocross program for officials that I expected would help with tracking lapped riders.

The drive up to Natchez was really pretty beautiful.  I took the scenic route through St. Francisville and Woodville since the drive time is about the same anyway. With a clear blue sky and crisp fall air, it looked really nice.  Nice enough that I hardly noticed the strong north wind and steadily dropping thermometer.

Arriving a bit before 9 am, I set up the laptop and got CrossMgr up and running so I'd be ready for the 10 am start. With a copy of the registration spreadsheet from Ricky linked to the program, I was ready to go right about the time I started shivering from the cold that was creeping through my jacket despite the fact I was also wearing my thermal knickers underneath my jeans. The Cat. 5 race went pretty well, and other than one rider I missed entering on the first lap, CrossMgr worked quite well.  I was almost disappointed we didn't have more lapped riders. Then I totally screwed up the Masters race when I tried to make a correction mid-race and mistakenly logged a number of riders as crossing the line when they hadn't yet.  Then, when I tried to fix that problem by starting over mid-race I didn't account for how the program used lap times to estimate number of laps and completely mangled those results. I guess I should have watched the instructional video first!

The 1/2/3 race was the last of the day, and although it had warmed up a bit by then, I dressed nice and warm since I was planning on using it more to practice neglected and non-existent CX skills while off the back.  I predicted I'd be lapped three times over the course of the 1-hour race (and I was). Most of the other riders were wearing basically summer kits or skinsuits with maybe a thin extra layer somewhere. My plan for the day was to start at the back and gradually work my way backward. With no warmup at all, I was well off the back of the fast-moving group by the time we were halfway around the course, so everything was going as planned.  I approached all of the technical sections with a great deal of caution, especially on the first lap, since my secondary goal for the day was to avoid crashing. Unfortunately, that over-abundance of caution brought me into a big patch of deep sand that I hadn't ridden yet way too slowly. I bogged down and had to walk out of it. OK, lesson learned. For the subsequent laps I just plowed through the sand, sometimes rather sideways, at full speed and in a big gear. It was so deep that my chainring was full of sand coming out the other side.

By the time the race was halfway over I'd already been lapped by Scott and a few others and my lower back was starting to ache.  Even so, I was finally starting to get a little more comfortable on the dirt and was in general negotiating the barriers and Belgian gates without a problem. What I wasn't doing, however, was powering through the fast sections and downhills, using them for recovery instead. There was one steep downhill that started with a root-infested drop-off to a concrete curb, across the street, and then a plunge down the other side with a sharp off-camber right turn at the bottom.  I was taking that one pretty gingerly, although I assumed the leaders were taking it mostly in the air judging by the destroyed stakes and tape around the bottom. Anyway, it was fun and although my legs, back, and certain more delicate anatomical structures took a bit of a beating, I was glad I'd been able to put in an hour on the old steel Pennine.  I was also quite pleased with CrossMgr and plan to study up on it a bit before the next officiating stint.

Gridlock and the Giro

The Tulane Cycling Center has six WattBikes.  They don't see a lot of use until the weather starts to get cold and rainy, like it is right now.  So naturally one of the head units stopped working a few weeks ago. The folks at Woodway, who handles them in the U.S. suggested that the battery might have gone bad, so I went out to Battery World to get them to put together a new battery pack, using the same odd connector that was on the original one.  I figured there was about a 30% chance that the problem was actually the battery, and so I wasn't surprised to find that after I'd installed it the unit would work but was continuously draining the battery. So I emailed our contact there and explained the problem, hoping for a replacement head unit. The next day I was surprised to get a reply indicating that they happened to be in New Orleans at a trade show at the Convention Center, and if I could get the old bike down there, they would swap it out for a new one at the end of the trade show that afternoon.  I rounded up Ben and after stuffing the WattBike into his car we headed down to the Convention Center at around 3:20 for the short drive down Tchoupitoulas, planning to get there by 3:45.  Well, about a mile or two from the Convention Center traffic on Tchoupitoulas was at a stop and we were basically trapped.  For the next TWO HOURS we inched forward, literally, finally arriving as they were tearing down the trade show. It looked like there was something going on at the upriver end of the Convention Center, but gridlock like that just doesn't happen in New Orleans, except when streets are closed off for Mardi Gras parades. I really don't know what caused such a backup, but by the time we got there we were hungry, irritated, and the car was almost out of gas. Although our original contact had already needed to leave for the airport, there were a couple others still there packing things up, so we finally swapped out the bikes. Anyway, we now have one of the newer models with the newer head unit that, I think, has Bluetooth, so that's good.

This morning I rode out to the Giro Ride wearing shorts, jersey and arm-warmers  It was a little cool, but I knew a cold front would be coming through later in the day dropping temperatures by a good 20 degrees before tomorrow. The Giro itself was remarkably smooth and steady.  All the way down Hayne and Chef highway it was smooth paceline at 24 mph with almost everyone taking pulls. Along the way we got a few raindrops here and there, but it wasn't until an hour or two after I got home that the rain really started.  It's looking like it will stay this way until evening when the cold front pushes all the way through. Tomorrow I'm planning on driving up to Natchez for the third cyclocross race of the DSGP series. The forecast for tomorrow morning in Natchez?  35 degrees at 7 am, 43 at 10:00 when the first race starts. On the plus side, zero chance of rain. I'll bring the bike and perhaps do the masters race if I'm not needed for officiating.  I'm planning to try out the CrossMgr software to see if that will help us keep track of the lapped riders.  Should be interesting.

Morning Ride Complications

A quick glance at the thermometer had me searching through the bike drawer for a long-sleeved jersey and knickers this morning. I figured it was a bit much, but knew I'd be chilled on the ride out to the lakefront without the fleecy comfort of those items. After waiting a few extra minutes for Brian, who didn't show up until we were out at the lakefront, we headed north in to a moderate headwind to meet the group. We were a bit late, but things went normally for the out-and-back on Lakeshore Drive, which is to say it started slow and ended fast.  I remarked to someone that perhaps there were a few people who were trying to make up for yesterday's rained-out WeMoRi.

Anyway, the ride out on the lakefront bike path to Kenner was pretty messy. There was still a lot of water on the path that was draining down from the levee, so every once in a while I'd get a face full of wheel spray. At least I wasn't worried about my headset getting water in it.  I'd finally pulled it apart last night and found the bottom race and bearings to be just completely rusted and trashed.  I cleaned them up as best I could, applied a liberal coating of grease, put it all back together, and fired off an email to Marc at the bike shop asking him to go ahead and order me a replacement. Trying to figure out which headset works for which bike nowadays is really difficult, so I figured I'd leave it to the experts this time.

So after a pretty fast ride out to the casino, we turned back toward town, still with a pretty good crosswind of course, but nobody seemed interested in pushing the pace much.  I guess we were halfway back when Will, who had been right in front of me, suddenly sat up and dropped back.  I looked down to see he had a flat rear tire. Everyone stopped, but it took forever for him to get that Continental tire back onto the Mavic rim, and as soon as he put the wheel back on the bike everyone started rolling out.  Problem was, his chain and derailleur were all jacked up, probably because he'd put the bike upside-down to take the wheel out. So one little group is rolling off ahead of a smaller group and we're chatting and soft-pedaling expecting Rich and him to catch up. Finally I look back and they are like half a mile back down the road and stopped. I figured the tire had gone flat again, but anyway we just continued out to Causeway where I stopped to wait.

As if the wheel spray in my face and up my ass, and the interminable tire change weren't enough, on the way back we had to detour from out usual route through the park because a film crew had taken over the main road and the circle around the art museum.  By the time I got home I was about half an hour behind schedule.  On the plus side, I got a new pair of mountain bike shoes today.  My old ones had literally come apart at the seams at the last cyclocross race, and when I found these on closeout, in my size, with an additional 20% off plus free shipping, I just couldn't resist. Perhaps I'll get to try them out this weekend at the cyclocross race up in Natchez.

The Next Front

It's 8 am on a Wednesday and it's been raining for hours.  The next cold front is moving through the area that will bring morning temperatures down into the 50s and upper 40s through the weekend. So rather than riding, I've been sitting around drinking coffee, eating more than I actually need, and watching the morning news shows. On the plus side, I guess that gives me a little time to catch up on the blog.

November started off with a cyclocross race just across the river in New Orleans. À propos to the event, it rained all morning, turning the course into a sloppy, muddy, partially flooded, fire-ant infested quagmire. Naturally, the riders loved it. I was signed up to help with officiating, along with a few others, and had brought my bike just for fun. After wading around in the water and mud for a while I slipped out in-between races to ride a lap around the course, largely out of curiosity but also to decide if I really wanted to spend an hour riding it in the Cat. 1/2/3 race, for which I was entirely unqualified. Although I was able to stay mostly upright, it was quite clear that my legs would not long survive pushing my low gear of 42x27 through the mud for an hour. The one lap I did, however, was reasonably satisfying. It turned out to be good that I decided not to race. When I took off my mountain bike shoes I discovered that the sole had pulled halfway off from the rest of the shoe. I took it as a sign.

The next weekend was the annual Varsity to Varsity ride that the LSU collegiate team hosts. I offered to drive a few of the Tulane riders up to Baton Rouge, after which I drove back to New Orleans, met up with another Tulane rider, and started riding upriver to meet the group somewhere along its 104+ mile route. Out around Ormond we ran into Steve, who turned around to join us.  We ended up a bit past Reserve by the time we met the group, so that turned into a 90-mile day, which was perfect.

Last Thursday I rode out with the usual 5:45 am group toward the lakefront. It was warm and humid and we were fully expecting to get in the usual morning ride before the next front came through.

Saturday Giro Paceline

Well, right when we got to Lakeshore Drive the temperature dropped about 10 degrees in literally 30 seconds and a 30+ mph wind swept across the lake as it started to rain.  We rolled along to the west debating what to do until everything to the west just turned to an opaque grey as if a big curtain had dropped. It was pouring rain at West End, so we quickly turned around, nearly getting blown right off the road in the process.  The rest of the group bailed out on Marconi, but I continued on Lakeshore Drive to look for Danielle who had turned east when we'd hit Lakeshore drive. I rode out almost to Elysian Fields, by which time I should have seen her coming toward me, so I stopped and tried, unsuccessfully, to call her.  Touch screens do not work well in the rain!  I figured she had turned back earlier and was already on her way home, so I headed home myself. The crosswind on Lakeshore Drive was scary strong, and riding over the Bayou St. John bridge was pretty much a white-knuckle affair.  As it turned out, I'd just missed Danielle who had bailed out at Elysian Fields or Franklin, stopped at a Burger King to try and call, and then headed home.  I got home shortly before she did. Anyway, it was a dramatic morning.

Coming over the firetower hill, heading north toward Enon

Last Sunday I ventured across the lake for a nice ride in the country.  The weather by then was nearly perfect and the pace was moderate, so it turned into a really good ride for this time of year. By yesterday morning it was already clear that the weather was going to go downhill by evening and there were already warnings about high winds and serious rain for that evening.  The morning ride featured a strong southeast wind but temperatures still rather warm.  Nobody seemed willing to ride at the front into the wind and I ended up riding out ahead of the group all the way past the turnaround at Seabrook. I eased up as the tailwind took effect and prepared to latch onto the group that I knew would be going 30 mph when it caught.  Everyone stayed together past Causeway on the bike path until someone let a little gap open as we went over the Suburban Canal bridge.  After rounding the two curves following the bridge a few of us took off in pursuit to try and make the bridge up to the front group that was probably 10-15 seconds ahead. I took a pretty hard pull at 30 mph and closed a lot of the gap, but then whoever was behind me basically attacked. I barely got his wheel when he went past at 33 mph, but then I blew up just about 50 meters before catching the group. So close!  I waited for a couple others to catch me and we ended up with a nice 3-person paceline the rest of the way out. Naturally, the ride back was into a nice headwind.  Brian spent most of the distance sitting at the front pulling everyone at a steady 20 mph with me on his wheel and Joe coming around to take a pull now and then.

Looks like the rain is finally ending.  Time to go to work.