Back to the Routine

Mardi Gras week was pretty nice this year. For a change we had good weather.  Granted, it was a little chilly and a lot windy, but compared to a freezing cold cloudy windy day it was spectacular.

Thoth

Saturday afternoon around 3 pm we headed downtown to the Tulane Tidewater building. The Endymion parade didn't start until something like 4:30, and wouldn't arrive downtown until after dark, but the parking garage wouldn't be accessible once the streets were closed, and traffic would only get worse. Fortunately there was wine and those little mini-muffelettas, and king cake and chips and fried chicken and finger sandwiches and perhaps one or two other things I didn't actually eat while we were waiting. The nice thing about waiting for the parade from a 10th floor office overlooking Canal Street is that you can just glance out the window every now and then, and wait until you see the flashing lights and people on horses before going outside. The parade went pretty much as usual until just a couple of floats before the end. Then everything came to a halt for some reason. By then the crowd was already thinning out and the temperature was dropping, so after waiting for fifteen minutes or so we went back upstairs. Naturally the parade started moving right about that time, so Danielle ran back down to catch the last of it. Now the downside of watching the parade from the Tidewater building and parking in the garage is that you really can't leave until at least half an hour after everything is over and the some of the streets are opened up again. We timed it pretty well this year and didn't get stuck in much traffic at all, which meant we got home around 11 pm or so.

Sunday morning I went out to do another Giro Ride. The wind wasn't quite as bad as it had been the day before and the pace was particularly smooth and steady. I'd swapped out the worn cassette for the one from my race wheel, so the bike felt smooth as silk.  There's nothing like a fresh drivetrain to make an old bike feel like new. Later that day I went out again on the commuter to catch three parades on Magazine Street. The first two were fairly short. The third was Thoth, which is now up to thirty-something floats. The sun was in our faces all day and the temperature was well up into the upper 50s or even lower 60s, so I think I actually got a little sunburned. Anyway, by the time I got home from that I was ready for a break and didn't even consider going out again that evening for the Bacchus parade.

Rex King and Queen, 7am, Audubon Park

Monday morning, since I was off work Monday and Tuesday for Mardi Gras, I waited until the sun was up before heading out for a solo ride on the levee. I rode out to where the construction area starts and then as I was heading back I saw Taco on his way out.  A little while later I saw one of the police cars heading the same direction. Since the river has been high lately they had removed the fence and barricade where the construction area starts, so there are just a few signs there. It was so that they could do regular levee inspections during the high water. Since that part of the construction area has had the asphalt bike path back in place for months, lots of people just keep riding. I wondered if Taco would make it to Williams Blvd. before the police car. I turned back to do another lap of that section and soon saw Taco coming my way. The police had made him turn around. So we had a nice ride back up uptown and did a lap or two around Audubon Park before I headed back home.

Mardi Gras morning started out pretty cold, but I went out anyway to welcome the king and queen of Rex at the start of the annual Royal Run. As usual, it was difficult to get any good photos, but I did manage a couple. The king this year is a tennis player and was a lot more animated than some of the others have been, so it was kind of fun seeing him having such a good time that early in the morning. After the race started I went off to the levee and put in a few miles before heading home to get ready for the usual Mardi Gras pilgrimage to the French Quarter.

We left on the bikes at just the right time to make it across Napoleon Avenue just barely ahead of the Rex parade, riding down to around the Columns Hotel to meet Ginger and some of her friends. After Rex we unlocked the bikes (three U-locks, three cable locks) only to find that Candy's front tire was flat. I changed it and we started heading downtown only to have it go flat just a few blocks later. I put the slow-leak tube back in and pumped it up but she decided to head back home anyway.  As it turned out she didn't get too far and ended up walking most of the way. Meanwhile Danielle and I worked out way downtown after getting across St. Charles during a lull in the parade. Taking Prytania to Camp and then Poydras to Convention Center Blvd. and little-known Badine St. East, we worked our way through the parking lots, eventually locking up on the fence alongside the Jax Brewery.

We made a couple of circuits of Royal and Bourbon streets, taking photos and generally enjoying the atmosphere. There were a lot of people in costumes this year, and it was hard to decide what to photograph. It was kind of photo-op overload. The streets were kind of half in shade and half in bright sunlight, which made it a little tricky to take any really good photos, but I guess I had taken at least 200 by the end of the day because even after narrowing them down and deleting the bad ones and some duplicate ones I still had over 150. They're posted on Picasa. By 3:30 or 4:00 we were pretty much done and headed back via the Lafitte Greenway and Jeff. Davis.

So I woke up Wednesday morning feeling pretty stiff, All of the walking and standing and riding had really taken a toll on my back and hips. I didn't even get out of bed before deciding to skip the early morning WeMoRi. It was still windy and the temperature was in the upper 30s so I didn't really feel too bad about it. Tomorrow I'll try and get back into the training routine. How much longer until Spring?