Tuesday Mornings

The Tuesday morning ride heads east into the rising sun along Lakeshore Drive before things get more serious   

Ever since the Mississippi River bike path was closed off for an apparently infinite amount of time, a few of us have been meeting down at the end of Nashville Avenue at 5:45 am on Tuesdays and Thursdays in order to ride out to the lakefront. There are usually only three to five of us meeting there. At first, we would then meet a handful of other riders coming from Metairie and Kenner, and the resulting group would do a lap of Lakeshore Drive and then ride out on the lakefront bike path to the casino at Williams Blvd. before returning back to the lakefront and eventually uptown. A little later, another group started riding from the Robert's grocery parking lot, where the WeMoRi starts, about the same time that we were leaving from uptown, so then there would be three groups meeting up on Lakeshore Drive at around 6:10 or so. Gradually, word got out about the ride and more and more riders started showing up. Now, on a good day, there are probably around 25. Such was the case on Tuesday.

There was still a big group heading west to the Casino.

Now, being old and weak and fat, I appreciate the benefits of a larger group. I can ride sheltered from the wind until I forget how old and weak I am, go up to the front and take a pull until I'm wheezing for breath, which takes about fifteen seconds, and still find enough wheels to keep from getting dropped after I pull off. For the past few days there's been hardly any wind at all in the  morning, making these rides particularly pleasant for wheelsuckers like myself. The downside, of course, is that it's so sublimely comfortable sitting in a pack like this just cruising along at 27 mph without hardly putting any pressure on the pedals, that it becomes really difficult to actually take a pull or, even worse, respond to an attack.  Because naturally those guys up at the front are not so old and weak and know they would be subjecting themselves to ridicule if one of the old and weak guys got to one end or the other ahead of them.

The weather on Tuesday morning seemed particularly nice, probably mostly because of the lack of significant wind which is otherwise standard fare along the lake. However, it didn't feel quite as hot as you would have expected, which means the relative humidity must have been slightly lower than "saturated." All of this was particularly nice for me since I swear I could still feel some soreness in my legs from the prior Saturday in Gulfport.

So Wednesday morning I headed out to meet the WeMoRi group a little earlier than usual, but not early enough to hit Lakeshore Drive ahead of them. I rode out Lakeshore Drive, trying to do the math in my head to guestimate where and when I'd seen the group coming toward me at 32 mph.  It was a little too close to call whether I would be able to make it over the Bayou St. John bridge in time to circle around the traffic circle on the other side ahead of them. Once you're on the bridge there's no making a U-turn, so I rode up to the base of the bridge and turned around, knowing they couldn't be too far behind.  I rode maybe half a mile and made another U-turn, only to be surprised to see Woody and Judd go flying by, so I had to make another fast u-turn, followed by a full-on sprint before just barely catching.  Of course I was completely gassed after that and it took me a while before I could take a pull. Luckily for me Judd was going a little slower than Woody when he'd hit the front, which was probably the only thing that allowed me to recover at all.  I eventually started taking some pulls, although not quite every one.  Woody was doing most of the work and Judd was starting to look kind of stressed, you know, like me. The rest of the group was apparently not far behind.  I never looked, though.  I'd probably have gotten dropped if I had. Back on Lakeshore Drive we went around the Elysian Fields traffic circle and as we headed back we could see the rest of the group.  I guess they were 30-40 seconds behind. By then it was obvious that Woody was nursing the two of us along by taking long pulls and somewhat slower speeds than before. So we made it to the end ahead of the group.  I gave myself a pat on the back and headed for Starbucks for my celebratory iced coffee where I stayed until 7:30 before heading back home.

After the WeMoRi and a relaxing cup of coffee, I always feel fast.  The feeling doesn't last long, but it's nice while it does!